TED Talk Analysis
TED Talk: “Don’t suffer from your depression in silence”
Speaker: Nikki Webber Allen
Written by: Araceli Cotto
In Nikki Webber Allens TED Talk, “Don’t suffer from your depression alone” she wants for people who may be suffering for them to talk to a friend or maybe even a family member. She opens her TED Talk with a light hearted tone and joke to establish a sense of comfort for the audience. By doing so it allows her to transition more smoothly into a serious tone later on. When she begins sharing her own personal struggles she is being very vulnerable with her audience and is using pathos. This helps she shift into the positive tone she has next. She began sharing all her accomplishments while battling with depression and how it didn’t stop her. She is shining light towards her ultimate goal in the end. Later on towards the middle of her speech she begins to share personal thoughts she had within her battle. Within sharing these thoughts it allows there to be a deepened connection between the audience and her. The tone begins to take a turn to the more sorrow side. She shares the story of her nephew battling from depression alone. The audience is able to pick on how hard this talk for her is but also how close to her it is. By sharing this personal story it all connects back to her whole message. She really highlights how people shouldn’t deal with it alone because it can be very hard for them and the people around them. She shifts more to a formal tone afterwards by sharing a statistic that people of color mistake depression for weakness and they do not seek help as commonly as a white person would. Within this information she wants people to not see it as a weakness and know it is okay to seek help. In the end she wants people of color to feel it’s okay to seek help and they shouldn’t be alone. Throughout her TED Talk she was being very strong and shared some personal stories. With doing so she was able to connect with her audience and truly get her argument across.
I feel like with most other Ted Talks I’ve seen emotion and experience are two strong ways to convey one’s point as those two are the basis of what many people consider truth. So I felt it was very smart of Allen to exert emotion in her Ted Talk concerning people’s emotions as well as use the example of her nephew.
I think that this is a strong analysis. You clearly mention her exigence of the talk and the goal she wants to achieve by informing the audience, which is one of if not the most important pieces. You also walk the reader through her TED Talk from beginning, middle, and end, describing the rhetorical devices she uses, such as tone shifts. I like that this analysis has a lot to do with how sharing personal experiences can be used to the advantage of the speaker to reach their goal, even if it places them in a vulnerable state. A small suggestion for a future analysis would be to include that statistic you mentioned, or include a quote from the talk somewhere in your analysis.