Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/melissa_marshall_talk_nerdy_to_me#t-224404


The argument of this talk was that people are often scared or uninterested in what scientists have to say, not because of the content but because of how it is presented. She calls for scientists to present their findings in an accessible way to everyday people. Throughout her presentations she gives advice to scientists and engineers on how to do that. She says they should first relate their research to our everyday lives and use more visuals and less words so whoever they are presenting to can understand the topic. She starts out the presentation with ethos. She makes herself credible by saying that she had experience with engineering students and when she finally understood what they were talking about it was like "Alice in Wonderland". By doing this she kind of makes herself seem empathetic to the audience in the sense that she has been through what they have been through, so they will listen to her solution.  In addition to this she tries to use humor to get her point across at the end by summarizing what she had to say into an equation. She does not really play on any of the audiences emotions, unless humor is considered an emotion.

The purpose of this presentation was to try to get scientists and engineers to be able to communicate their ideas to everyday people. She says that their ideas would be much better received if they would put it into everyday language and make them engaging.