Phil Plait: Defending the Earth from Asteroids

How we don’t end up like the Dinosaurs

Phil Plait runs Science Getaways, a vacation company that provides science based adventures, and had a three part documentary called

“Phil Plait’s Bad Universe” on the Discovery Channel.

In his presentation “Defending the Earth from Asteroids”

Phil Plait explains the power an asteroid impact has, and how we can prepare ourselves accordingly.

“A chunk of rock, 6 miles across, going 50x the speed of a bullet. If you took every nuclear weapon built at the

height of the cold war and lumped them together and blew

them up at the same time, that would be 1/1 millionth of the energy released at that moment.”

From Star Trek to Ghostbusters, Phil keeps the audience engaged with references that the attendees

can relate to and understand.

Phil keeps his slides very simple, only using a single, dominant image to illustrate a point, letting the Power Point act as an aid. Not as the presentation. Something Garr Reynolds emphasis in all of his

slides.(Is this dominant enough for you?)

Phil’s presentation has elements of Nancy Duarte’s diagram of a speech. With him

describing what the current state of an earth defense against asteroids is, and what we hope to accomplish soon with ion drives and pushing

the asteroids away gently instead of blowing them up. Apparently keeping a probe in orbit around an asteroid is easier than detonating a

nuke on impact.

DYNAMISM RATING 5/5

With a quick delivery, supplemented by clever

images, video, and jokes, Phil Plait kept the audience

engaged and interested. He clearly has a passion for what he’s talking about, and with a clear understanding he belays

a message in the simplest terms for everybody who’s

hearing him speak. His presentation is easy to follow,

engaging, and speaks to people of all educational

levels because of it’s simplicity. Dynamism is

energy, and Phil Plait has tons. (Maybe a bit too much. Calm down there

Phil.)

Phil’s delivery is fast, but clear. Adding humor and references that your audience can understand make the presentation that much more

interesting. Don’t be afraid to throw in a joke to lighten the mood. Laughter isn’t something to be feared. It can turn a dry presentation into a memorable

one.

Both Phil and Sir Ken Robinson work the crowd, in a lot of ways the two are almost like stand up comedians in the vain of Ricky Gervais, using humor to

get the point across.

“Death from the skies! Is the end near!? No.”

“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never be original”

Besides the obvious difference of subject matter, Ken Robinson tends to infuse his messages with a lot more personal stories. His presentations fall in line with Nancy Duarte’s. From his son’s girlfriend, to his own personal experiences, everything comes together in an engaging story.

Phil Plait’s presentation is a bit less impersonal and relies more on slides for visual aid. His delivery is much faster and more urgent than Ken Robinson’s, almost as if he’s constantly running out of time. Instead of using personal examples, he uses actual events or pop culture references to get the point across and connect with his audience.

While their messages are completely different, it’s

the delivery and inflection in their voices which relay a message with the same

amount of punch and fervor.

If there is ONE thing that I can take away from these two speakers about how to deliver a speech: BE ENGAGING. Find a way to connect to the audience. If you can strike a cord with them, through story, jokes etc. you have them in the palm of your hand. They are going to listen to you, and remember what you have to say.

Images Provided By:Google.com/images

Presentations Provided by: TED.com