Brooke Gladstone and Kirsten Johnson had very different ways of approaching an audience. Yet, the two of them were both very effective in execution. Kirsten’s aim seemed to be centered around engagement with the students in class. She surfed around the classroom; making a point to get very close to every student she spoke with. She was dynamic in speech as she would switch from being very loud and excited to being relatively calm and sincere. I really loved how she could read a moment and use her voice and actions to get her point across. On the contrary, Brooke remained poised and relatively stationary throughout her presentation. While this was very different from Kirsten’s approach, I still believe Brooke led a very insightful discussion. Brooke really understood that her job in the classroom that day was to inform and to provide new perspective. She did just that. She came with heaps of reliable information and she related her points to issues that were current and relevant. Overall, she offered an interesting presentation that anyone could draw something from. As a future artist and documentarian, I am expecting to be put into situations where I am going to have to share something with an audience. Seeing both Brooke Gladstone and Kirsten Johnson do this was very inspiring and I am sure I will be influenced by both of their approaches in my future presentations.
I agree, the way both KJ and Brooke approached their presentations clearly affected the way we audience absorbed their words. I felt much more of a teacher student tone with Brooke. Her body language naturally gave off a confidence that comes with success. KJ on the other hand was amazingly warm and dynamic presenter it’s safe to say that she made people feel as if they had made a friend just by sitting and listening to her words. Both ways worked well, and I think came naturally to the two. It is always interesting to consider how a speaker very much sets the dynamic for an audience during a presentation. KJ and Brooke were amazing in their own rights and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to hear them speak.