Description: MIT 20.219 Becoming the Next Bill Nye: Writing and Hosting the Educational Show, IAP 2015. View the complete course: http://ocw.mit.edu/20-219IAP15.
Instructor: Paul (PJ) Folino
License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA
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GUEST SPEAKER: Hi. I'm taking [INAUDIBLE] advice and trying to desensitize myself to speaking on camera. So that's why I'm doing a vlog instead of blog. I thought today was really a good class. It was good having George come and share some of his wisdom with us and also being able to give us some sort of critique on our scripts and what we should change about them.
Some of things I wrote down that I thought were particularly important that I'm going to take away from it is that a lot is making sure that you're able to relate with your audience. And, with that, being able to kind of be personal with them and create an environment where it's not just you presenting or talking to the students but something that you're trying to figure this out-- you and them. It's not just-- you get my drift.
Also another thing that I got out of it was how it takes 8 to 12 scripts, and not just revising scripts, but actually doing the entire thing over again. And I was jotting down some notes about how I would change mine, and I was looking at specific sentences. Then I shied away from that, and I actually tried to rewrite some of it.
And I can see what you're saying, that you definitely-- you don't have any bias, you're not thinking of what you said and what you're trying to force into place from your previous script. You're just able to have a clear mind and to present it in a new way now.
So that's what I did with my pitch. I'm going to post it right after this video. But the pitch was definitely a lot easier. I'm speaking to a subject that I am personally familiar with, so I don't have to fake it as much. And the other part that I thought was good with pitching something that I know is, I'm somewhat a little bit more excited about it, even though I think naturally I don't project a very excited tone, I guess. So that's something I have to work on.
And actually the piece of advice that George gave about trying to step up your video, because the video naturally makes you a little bit more boring. That's something I really have to work on, and the video I'm going to post, I'm not perfect at it yet. I still sound pretty monotone, but I think that will come with time. So I'm excited to see what tomorrow's class has in store. And, yeah, I think I'm going in the right direction. So I'm excited about that. All right. Bye.