“Our Loss of Wisdom”

Barry Schwartz is an American psychologist that has studied modern human society and has written The Paradox of Choice, which discusses the anomaly of freedom of choice and depression that is directly related to anxiety of too many options that people have these days.

In Barry Schwartz’s speech, “Our Loss of Wisdom”, he discusses our ability use common wisdom to articulate right and wrong and how the procedure of bureaucracy interferes with morality with humans in modern times.

Barry Schwartz begins his speech very strongly with a story of real-life human interaction which grabs the audience’s attention and he keeps his momentum throughout his presentation by continually building on his thoughts.

Schwartz uses an example of a job description of a janitor working in a hospital which has a list of tasks that involves little human interaction.

but still that worker uses their basic wisdom to improvise and interact with humans and performs good deeds.

…using the notes on the page, but dancing around them. Inventing combinations that are appropriate for the situation and the people at hand.”

“A wise person is like a jazz musician…

Too many rules interferes from improvising and can cause lack of moral wisdom

Schwartz emphasizes that moraldecisions from people creates positivity among humans which leads to an overall shift of humanity where less is more.

Schwartz engages the audience and leans in to speak directly to the audience as well as using hand gestures.

These actions create a sense of fluidity and add to the emphases of his speech.

because he built up a great source of momentum and his passion is felt from the audience throughout his speech. He used strong vocal reflection and repetition on his most powerful points to emphasize his concern. He also eased tension by speaking softer while approaching the end of his thoughts.

Barry’s dynamism is a 5/5

Barry Schwartz kept his slides simple and limited of bullet points. He also used clear, easy to read fonts and quality pictures for his examples as recommended by Garr Reynolds.

From the very beginning, Barry uses a powerful method of delivery of strong and concise vocal reflection which continues to connect and drive his points to the audience.

This is an effective method of presenting that allows his audience to become engaged and relate to his examples and stories.

Sir Ken Robinson is different in the sense that he strongly relies on humor and punch lines to gain his audience’s attention. This is a good technique to connect with a crowd, but it can defer from a topic and lose energy if overused.

Robinson and Schwartz are both great story tellers which is a defining trait

of a good presenter.

In “Changing Education Paradigms”, Robinson asks and answers a lot of his own questions for the audience, which gets them thinking effectively. While Schwartz remains directly informative.

It is crucial to open with a strong introduction and gain the audience’s attention immediately and hold on to it throughout a presentation using examples, stories, and scenarios while remaining passionate on the topic.

Keeping the steam of the speech going all the way until the end is sure to engage the audience during the length of the presentation. This also helps the presenter stay focused and remain on track.

SlideShow Presented by Zach Anderson