Talk Nerdy to Me - Rebecca Leary

In this TED talk, Melissa Marshall really focuses on how important communication is in our lives, and she has a clever way of doing so with her catch line, “talk nerdy to me”. It can sometimes be easy to be intimidated by the way that others, such as people who are engineers or scientists, communicate because it is believed that they are so much more sophisticated than the rest of society.  But like Marshall says, there are definitely ways to make the knowledge that these professions possess accessible to the rest of society. However, I believe that great communication is needed from everyone all over world, not just scientists and engineers. Everybody has different ideas, and when we are able to put these ideas together, as Marshall states, a “wonderland” opens up.  Marshall also expands on this idea of the “wonderland” by making the point that we can be opened up into a “whole new world” simply by communicating with one another. If we didn’t communicate with one another, there would be no way for people to take the ideas and information that we already have to create new ideas and information. Furthermore, I think that Marshall’s point of relevance is crucial when it comes to communication. No one wants to talk about something that doesn’t relate to him or her in any way. From personal experience, I have always appreciated when a teacher is able to find a way to make a topic that I don’t fully understand relatable to my life, and I believe that a topic is much easier to remember when I am able to see its relevance to my life. Along with relevance, Marshall’s idea of simplicity is also important when communicating with others. Expanding on the quote from Einstein, people want things to be as simple as possible. Bottom line. So when we communicate with one another, we want to be sure that we are doing so in the simplest way, where everyone understands. Concluding, Marshall’s TED talk was very interesting and enlightening on the idea of communication and why it is important in our lives.