Mackinnon Smith

Professor Helen Brown

H&S 328: Community Health
Communication Skills Artifact

TED Talk: How To Speak So That People Want To Listen by Julian Treasure
I chose to watch a TED Talk on how to make people listen to you when you speak. The reason I
chose this video is because it helps add to my knowledge in the sub-domain “Solicit input from
individuals and organizations for improving the health of a community”. By watching this video,
I have learned the different ways to use my voice, ways of talking to others that will lead to
unengaged listening to avoid, and the cornerstones of speaking. The TED Talk video really
emphasized how the “7 deadly sins of speaking” cause distrust and an unengaged audience.
While it would be unprofessional to use these ways of speaking when talking to the community,
even these behaviors in the workplace lower people’s standards of you. It’s also a common
feeling that a community feels as if they’re being judged by the public health workers who go
into their community to help. Because of this, it’s very important to use the “4 cornerstones of
speaking” when entering a new environment in order to establish a beneficial and trusting
relationship with the population. This video educated me on the importance of my voice and
how I can use my voice for many things, such as being a champion at a leadership level for the
community which I oversee.

TED Talk Video Notes:

• Habits to move away to move away from AKA 7 deadly sins of speaking:
o Gossiping
o Judging
o Negativity
o Complaining
o Excuses
o Exaggeration
o Dogmatism-confusion of facts with opinions

• These lead to an unengaged listening audience

• 4 cornerstones of speaking:
• HAIL: Great or acclaim enthusiastically
o Honesty
o Authenticity
o Integrity
o Love—not romantic but wishing people well

• Leads to conscious listening by the audience

• If you’re wishing someone well it’s hard to judge them at the same time
 • Increase power of speaking:
o Register of voice- speak from the chest…depth with power is associated
o Timbre—smoothness of voice and conversation
o Prosody—not being monotoned
o Pace—slow down to emphasize, silence makes you think and its powerful
o Pitch
o Volume—don’t broadcast the entire time

• Warm up your voice before you talk/give a presentation

Link:
https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_how_to_speak_so_that_people_want_to_listen?la
nguage=en#t-581065