Science & Tech, Home & Lifestyle, Community & Government

Communication (Cont'd)

Dr. Jane Goodall

Lesson time 10:15 min

Dr. Jane shares her tips for making presentations fun for her audiences - and for herself.

Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars

Topics include: Use Humor • Presentations • Nerves & Speaking From the Heart • Communicating Findings You Can’t Prove

Preview

He said, well, never mind. Take him where you go and you know my spirit's with you. So we've been to 59 countries. He's very famous. He's been touched by about three million people because I say the inspiration rubs off. When I'm traveling around the world, I talk to a lot of young people, as well as adults, about all these problems including the harmful effect of intensive animal agriculture. And so in order to bring a few smiles into a subject that really is very grim, I have a little prop. This is Cow, and Cow was given to me by a small child, just as a little joke, really. She came from Wisconsin, the Dairy State. She had a little jacket on which said, I love Wisconsin. And I was going to give her away and I thought no, Cow can help me. So when I'm talking about becoming a vegetarian or, at least, the bad effect of heavy meat eating, I can demonstrate because cows, you feed them one end and gas comes out the other. And children laugh at that and they say, well, you've probably got a rude word for it, and you can supply that. But, in addition, cattle are ruminants so that means they belch. We all do this. We humans, we create this gas. And we belch and that's methane. And so Cow actually has helped me create vegetarians, even in places like Argentina where eating beef is the big thing. So Cow is one of the ways in which I like to talk about things so that people have to think in a different way. And if you're just too serious and too solemn, people don't want to listen. [MUSIC PLAYING] The first time that I had to give a presentation, I was terrified. And at school, I never stood up in front of the class and given a presentation, like happens so often in school today. We were never asked to. And so the first time I had to give this talk, it was a bit intimidating. It was for the National Geographic who had been sponsoring me, and it was to 5,000 people, that was my first presentation. And so I worked out what I was going to say. And I practiced on my poor family. And I made a vow-- two vows. One, I will never, ever read a presentation. Two, I will never say um or uh. Occasionally, I do, but if you listen to all my talks, you'll find it's very rare. And there are some people, particularly scientists, and every other word is um or uh. If you start thinking about it, it's unbelievably frustrating. It's better to be silent. So I practiced that. And when I got up in front of the people, I found some kind of magic which actually happens to quite a few people who go into public speaking. One thing that I find absolutely appalling in scientific presentations, presentations made by young people, whatever, are these PowerPoints where you have a picture, you have words, and you're speaking. And sometimes, the speaking is reading out the lines. And sometimes, the person is a little more mature and so they'...

About the Instructor

There is still a window of time. Nature can win if we give her a chance. In her first ever online class, Dr. Jane Goodall teaches how you can conserve the environment. She also shares her research on the behavioral patterns of chimpanzees and what they taught her about conservation. You'll learn how to act locally and protect the planet.

Featured MasterClass Instructor

Dr. Jane Goodall

Dr. Jane Goodall shares her insights into animal intelligence, conservation, and activism.

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