PSO comparison of Ken Robinson and Phil Plait.

1. Phil Plait: Defending the Earth from
Asteroids
How we don’t end up
like the Dinosaurs

2. 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.

3. In his presentation “Defending
the Earth from Asteroids”
Phil Plait explains the power an asteroid impact
has, and how we can prepare ourselves accordingly.

4. “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.”

5. From Star Trek to Ghostbusters, Phil keeps the
audience engaged with references that the attendees
can relate to and understand.

6. 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?)

7. 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.

8. 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.)

9. 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.

10. “Death from the skies!
Is the end near!? No.”
“If you’re not
prepared to be
wrong, you’ll
never be original”
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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. Images Provided By: Presentations
Google.com/images Provided by: TED.com