Ted Talk Blog

Ted Talk Review
By Libby Rose

Click here for Ted Talk on the Importance of ______ In Community Service

To the left is a six minute Ted Talk about the importance of two things when it comes to community service, "warm and fuzziness", and "awkwardness". The speaker is giving this speech on account of her own personal experience of volunteering for something called "Midnight Shifts".

Beginning of the TED talk.

During these midnight shifts a truck full of students goes downtown to homeless people on the street and gives them things like a boxed meal, clothing, and toiletries. The speaker seemed to be passionate about her service work and the cause. She mentioned that midnight runs "aren't permanent solutions" which is something the world needs to realize about service work. No, giving someone a meal and clothes isn't going to get them out of homelessness, but it builds the connections and regular human interaction that they can use to help themselves. Because my Service Learning organization provides books for homeless people through Triangle Park, it relates to the Ted Talk in that both are providing a tangible good for those in need.

In the screen shot to the left, the speaker is focusing on how awkward moments in community service are really valuable in the take aways. I didn't totally agree with this/ thought it could have been said in a different way because I myself have done community service and yes those you are helping might make you feel uncomfortable at times but it's up to you to just ignore the awkwardness and do your job as to not make them feel that they have done something wrong. The speaker talks about compassion and gaining compassion from awkwardness but I believe that if you have compassion that can limit the awkwardness right off the bat.

I also thought that her visuals were a little awkward. She used a picture of a cat and a picture of a pad to demonstrate "warm and fuzzy" and then awkward. While the multi media aspects might have caught the audiences attention I thought they were kind of bizarre. She did however seem well rehearsed and like she knew what she was talking about but use of statistics could have been incorporated to make her point seem more astounding or important.