Delivery Analysis Of The Power Of Vulnerabilty By Brene Brown Essay Samples

The following delivery analysis is of a TED talk presented by Brene Brown, a researcher whose main focus has been on shame and vulnerability. In the talk she discusses the findings of the qualitative research she carried out on vulnerability. She found that although vulnerability is uncomfortable, it is absolutely necessary for human connection, creativity, joy, happiness, innovative thinking etc. and that the research participants she defined as ‘wholehearted,’ were far more accepting of feeling vulnerable than other participants who struggled with vulnerability. Her talk was engaging for a number of reasons which I will now discuss.
Brene initiated her talk by sharing an anecdote from a previous situation she was in where she was asked to do a talk for another audience. She explained that the women who had contracted her to do the talk wanted to portray her as a story teller rather than a researcher because she thought more people would turn up to the talk if she was branded in this way. Brene explained how she felt insecure about this but reasoned with herself that because she was a qualitative researcher (who gathers data about others experiences) she could technically be described as a story teller. By sharing this experience with her audience, Brene creates an emotional connection with the audience because she is sharing part of herself. She describes her insecurity with the ‘story teller’ description, which in itself is vulnerable and consequently, introduces the key note of the speech.
Throughout the talk, Brene is standing with her hands by her waist, shoulders slightly tilted forward and her legs are almost as wide apart as her shoulders. She subtly paces up and down the stage during the speech. She does slouch slightly which was initially deterring. Brene also moved her hands a lot initially but only close to her abdomen, which was distracting. However as the talk went on her hand gestures were more fluent with the themes she was discussing.
When describing key terms I noted that she lowered her voice and paused beforehand so as to amplify the importance of her findings. During the talk, and especially when sharing experiences, she focused on one part of the audience while speaking and paused before moving her focus and continuing to speak.
Brene’s facial expressions change continuously throughout the presentation and are directly related to the content of her talk. For example, she found that whole hearted individuals possessed the capacity for courage, compassion and connection and that all of them were able to feel vulnerable. She gives situational examples for vulnerability; uncertain situations that each person was able to live through and accept. When describing each situation e.g. waiting on test results from the doctor, her expression is one of uncertainty. When talking of personal experiences she also smiles at the audience which helps to build a connection.
Brown, Brene. "The Power of Vulnerability." TED Talk . Houston, Texas. 3 Jan. 2011 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o>.