video reflection

This is a video reflection on what I have done so far for Kentucky Smoke Free. I am also attaching the link below just in case the video does not play above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-d-bDpKdBU#action=share

Ted Talk Analysis

Reducing Smoking Deaths: Is it Rocket Science?

Today I am analyzing a Ted Talk given by Linda M. Collins at a TEDx event at Pennsylvania State University entitled "Reducing Smoking Deaths: Is it Rocket Science?". In her talk Collins presents behavioral interventions, like counseling, to meet the goal of lowering the amount of people who smoke in the United States to 12% by the year 2020. She uses the example of NASA's successful moon landing to detail a way to design interventions methodically and analytically so that we can be sure the interventions are working to lower the number of smoking adults. After all, NASA met there goal of putting a man on the moon in ten years, why should this goal be any different?

The title of the speech sets up the subject quite nicely. From the title the audience, and I, knew she would be talking about the smoking epidemic in this country. Everyone knows that smoking is bad, and they should try to quit. But because so few do quit successfully, the audience was expecting the speech to lay out a new method to encourage stopping tobacco use. This she did, but she also criticized the way that clinical trials that try to determine the way to help people stop smoking are run. I, for one, also did not expect the use of the NASA example, however I thought it tied in nicely to the lesson of the talk.

The ideal shape of  a presentation

I think that the speaker did a very good job of setting up the contrast between what is and what could be. She begins by setting up why smoking is bad. She puts the statistics in terms which her audience can understand, saying that "the equivalent of the entire population of Atlanta dies because of cigarette smoking" and "the equivalent of the entire undergraduate population here" die because of second hand smoking every year. That created a jaw-dropping moment, because it put the statistics into tangible amounts the audience could grasp. People on the campus of Penn State know how massive the undergraduate population is (about 46,000 students according to Google). She then contrasts our failure to lower these numbers with our great success of landing someone on the moon. She jumps back and forth from how we currently help people quit smoking and how we worked to get to the moon to show how, if we applied the same concepts to smoking, we might get the same results. She then presents utopia, the study she is collaborating on to determine behavioral interventions that have the greatest chances of helping someone stop smoking. She talks about how this study could also be applied to help those with substance abuse problems or other disorders. This helps the audience to see her solution as the ideal way to approach the future.

her facial expressions do not convey excitement about her ideas

I think that Collins could have improved this talk by working on her delivery. For most of the speech her face was impassive, and, although she spoke passionate words, her vocal inflection did not reflect passion. She also shifted awkwardly on the stage as she spoke, and this left the impression that she felt uncomfortable. She also had no visual aids. I feel that some graphs depicting the smoking trends in America, or even a picture of an early NASA prototype would have helped the audience have a clearer understanding of the message. Improving the nonverbal aspects of her speech would help Collins become a more effective speaker and share her message easily.

This applies to my service learning organization because Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free policy routinely works on clinical studies to help people quit smoking. Many of Collins' ideas would be helpful for them to utilize as they work towards a smoke-free tomorrow. If you would like to learn more, you can visit the Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free Policy here.

Smoking Deconstructed Ted Talk

James Monsees is the CEO and co founder of the tobacco company, Ploom. He stated in the beginning of the speech that he loves smoking. His company works to redesign the smoking stigma. He has developed many consumer products for the past twelve years. He is an entrepreneur who graduated from Stanford University.

Overall, this speech was boring, and he was very monotone the entire time. He had no emotion or power behind the facts that he was just spitting out of his mouth. I have to give him credit because he seemed to know a lot of information on smoking and how people have a certain stigma about it. He was very professional and made great eye contact with the audience. He did not have images and facts on the screen behind him which did not help the presentation because the audience was probably falling asleep during it. He definitely needed to incorporate images or powerful facts on the screen to capture the audience's attention. He also did not really use any nonverbal communication to fully engage the audience. He just stood there and spoke the entire time, about how "smoking tobacco is a prestigious social behavior." During the Ted Talk, James could have improved with his tone by changing the pitch of his voice to emphasize the importance of certain facts or points during his speech. I also felt that he needed to be more loose and relaxed. It seemed like everything he stated was very rehearsed/memorized and just stated a bunch of facts (some were basic common knowledge that everyone already knows about smoking).
The name of this Ted Talk was "Smoking Deconstructed". This is basically what he was talking about the entire time. He was breaking down the act of smoking and its effects on people. Everyone already knows that smoking is bad for you, and people should not smoke. James stated facts that reached people; he stated that over a billion people smoke everyday, and that smoking is responsible for 5 million deaths per year. However, he states positive facts that focuses on the consumer and not smoking itself. He states that on one side of the spectrum it connects us to the past and on the other it is very dangerous.Tobacco companies and pharmaceutical companies are trying to innovate smoking (patch, nicotine gum). These focus more on the consumer staying abstinent from it, instead of what smoking does.This Ted Talk was directly related to my service learning organization because Kentucky Smoke Free is all about preventing people from starting to smoke and helping those who are already smoking, to quit.

Hey so I did a reflection video! Im going to go ahead and post the video that I am commenting on below.  In case you're extra curious about the health cost, and emotional costs associated with smoking. Enjoy!

Ted Talk Analysis - Smoking Deconstructed

The Ted Talk I observed was titled “Smoking Deconstructed” by James Monsees. The speaker is a graduate of Stanford University and the CEO of PAX labs, a company that produces premium vaporizers. The speaker, at Brussels in 2013, attempted to deconstruct the stigma against smoking, providing historical examples in the process. He seemed be vying for the then upcoming changes in the tobacco industry, namely vaporizers and electronic cigarettes. As my service learning organization is Kentucky Smoke Free Policy, I thought the Ted Talk was an obvious and relatable choice.

James Monsees at his talk in Brussels

The audience knew the general information about smoking – that a lot of people do it, despite the known, hazardous health effects. The audience then expected the speaker to provide more specific insight such as statistics, and perhaps even the human psychology behind smoking. I expected, more or less, the same things as the audience.

In my opinion, the speaker had some good examples and support. He definitely knew what he was talking about; for example, he cited the CDC to provide some startling statistics about smoking. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths, it accounts for 1 in 5 deaths in the U.S. each year, and people who smoke on average live 10 years less than others. He also brought up some good points about the positives associated with smoking - how it looks cool, even elegant – and provided historical figures such as Marilyn Monroe and James Deen who through smoking, “exuded personality”.  

Overall, the Ted Talk was quite lackluster. First, I have to mention how dull, dry, and monotone the speaker’s delivery was. He basically used the same tone for the duration of the 18 minutes, creating this very unappealing performance. The most important thing about his lack of tone variance was that he seemed dispassionate. While he certainly seemed to be an authority on the talk he was giving (based on some examples), he didn’t know how to effectively deliver his knowledge to inspire the audience. He also did not have a single visual example, which might have helped to make his presentation more interesting. Perhaps most critically, he started looking at his notecard towards the end. This severely lowered his credibility, as he didn’t seem fully prepared.

From 15:05~15:20, the speaker has some awkard pauses

In terms of content, the speaker could have had better organization and clarity. At one point, he starts talking about this one experiment conducted in the 1970s by Bruce Alexander. He then continues to elaborate on the specifics of the experiment conducted on rats for several minutes. The problem was that while he did explain how the experiment was related to his topic, it was done only in a very loose manner. He didn’t quite elaborate fully on how the example he provided was actually relevant to the act of smoking. Also, he seemed to jump around with his points, not proceeding in a logical and cohesive manner. Right after the experiment example, he suddenly started talking about his past experiences, without really transitioning properly. This lack of clear organization further made the presentation as a whole quite boring. If he could have presented in a more engaging and clear manner, the talk would have been many times more effective. 

TED Talk Reflection

The TED Talk I watched was entitled Smoking.  This talk was given in Toledo, Ohio, in September 2014 by Jonathan Ross, MD.  In his TED Talk, Jonathan speaks about the dangers of smoking and what it is costing the American public, both smokers and non-smokers.  He then proposes solutions to end smoking, thus making America better and safer.  This topic relates very closely to my service learning organization, Kentucky Center for Smoke-Free Policy, in that both Jonathan and KCSP are working to build smoke-free communities across America.

A very compelling visual aid used in Jonathan's talk

In the beginning of his talk, the audience knew the basic facts that most everyone knows about smoking: it causes death, cancer, and other health related problems.  However, I do not believe many, if any, of the audience members knew much about the actual cost of smoking and how to prevent and decrease smoking in America.  The audience was expecting to hear about the dangerous health effects that smoking causes and why they are terrible.  They may have also assumed that Jonathan would propose solutions to these problems, just not the solutions he actually proposed.  For myself, I can say that I expected Jonathan to use smoking to unveil a new medical breakthrough, seeing as he is a doctor.  I certainly did not expect his talk to be focused around marketing strategies and the economical impact smoking has in our society.

Throughout his talk, Jonathan did a great job with presenting his topic.  He did not use note cards and his visual aids were interesting and effective, while not distracting from the meat of the presentation.  His visual aids included statistics and bullet points, multimedia depictions, and his key ideas for solving the smoking dilemma.  He also included personal stories of how smoking has affected his life through the people he cares about.  His use of pathos draws the audience in and makes them draw connections to their own lives and situations.  Another aspect Jonathan did well with was the idea of relating the dangers of smoking to people’s own values.  Instead of always relating the detrimental effects of smoking to health, you may relate them to appearance or money.  In fact, he pointed out that America is losing a great deal of money on smokers due to increased cost of healthcare, work absences, illnesses, etc.  In the beginning of his, Jonathan proposes two main solutions to ending smoking: make expert counseling and medications free and prevent the start of smoking.  Throughout the middle he proposes ways to achieve these by present statistical facts.  By the end of his presentation, he reiterates his proposed solutions and shows how these can build a better tomorrow.

Even non-smoking Americans are paying for smokers

 Although Jonathan gave a very compelling talk, there was still area for improvement.  Throughout his talk, he seemed to maintain the same level of emotion.  While this is good in some cases, I felt that his speech needed more passion and more excitement.  Additionally, Jonathon only makes a few brief personal references to his wife’s parents and the fatal result smoking had on their lives.  While this may induce empathy and gives that audience real examples of the harmful effects of smoking, it would have helped his speech to have given more in-depth stories that related to the topic.  Nevertheless, Jonathan’s speech proved to be very interesting and offered some new ideas and visions for our world today.

More Reflections on KCSP

Since my last blog post not much has changed.  However, we have received some information regarding the content of the social media messages we will be expected to create.  This is a very exciting step, and because November is Lung Cancer Awareness month I know there will be a great deal of involvement with KCSP and much to look forward to throughout the month.

Smoke-free? Or maybe not

Is the University of Kentucky truly smoke-free? I don't think so. Laws in dusty books that cannot be enforced do very little to change anything practically. I feel that the only way to truly achieve a smoke-free tomorrow is to work together as a community to change the way we view smoking and value the our lives and the lives of those around us. 

I finally figured out how to fix my issues with uploading my video! Enjoy everyone! Comment if you have any questions.

Video Reflection

Not much has changed since the previous reflection, but here goes. I am just waiting until Monica contacts the group regarding more volunteering opportunities.

My first experience with Kentucky smoke free

My first experience with the organization was tedious and did not have anything to do with the actual service learning organization. That being said, I understand that the organization is in the process of moving to a new location, therefore all the boring office work has to be taken care of in order for them to have a successful transition to a new place. Ms. Monica Mundy asked everyone in our group to scan piles upon piles of papers. I was sitting in a chair, scanning papers for two hours, and constantly having to get up because the printer would get jammed every two seconds (it felt like). There was a lot of repetitiveness, and I did get aggravated because of the amount of papers that had to be scanned, but mostly because scanning papers has nothing to do with the smoke free topic that this organization focuses on. Overall, my first experience with the organization seemed pointless to me because it did not feel like I was doing anything of value to help society and the community as a whole. In summary, I picked up piles of paper, sorted through them, removed staples to make sure they didn't go through the printer, and then scanned them to Monica's email so she could peruse through what was necessary to keep versus what should be trashed.

 A printer room that depicts where I was sitting to scan papers to Monica's email

Even though my first experience did not specifically relate to a smoke-free campus, it had to get done in order for the organization to launch campaigns, and move to a better space to be better inform students about the harms involved with smoking. Monica informed the group that the bulk of the campaigning and volunteering would be done in November; November is Lung Cancer Awareness month, which is one of the main effects of smoking. As with any growth of an association, they all have to go through the laborious process in order to do more fun and interesting activities. Some of the upcoming activities that were brought to my attention were tabling to students so they have the opportunity to receive extra information regarding smoking, and participating in social media campaigns. Both of these actions can reach out to thousands of people, and hopefully persuade people to think twice before sticking a cigarette in their mouths.

Just an example of a campaign that can speak to people