TED TALK ANALYSIS

Group Members: Yana Walia, Alvaro Corral, Moriah Gilmore 

Video Essay: 8 Secrets of Success 

Ted talk by richard St John 

 

The ted talk by Richard St. John, elaborates on his advice on how to succeed in life. 

He starts the ted talk by sharing his story of how he derived these 8 tips from his own life experiences of 500 interviews. Which instantly builds up his credibility for the audience as he has experienced being in a position of an interviewee and needing a job like many others he is giving advice to, which is adding to his ethos as a speaker

He also quotes several famously successful people’s advice  like Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates and Carol Corletta . This also adds to his reliability as a speaker as it lets the audience know that he is following in the footsteps of people that have already been successful and hence has knowledge about how to succeed. Also basing his argument on facts about real-life successful people and tips from their life also adds logos to his argument as it is factually true that the tips he is giving have proven to be true in real life for several successful people including extremely famous people like Rupert Murdoch, which helps his advice be proven factually and statistically. 

 

 RIchard St. John argues that if you follow his 8 tips, then you will lead to success. He emphasizes how everyone wants to be millionaires but doesn’t even know the first step in doing so. Through the video, the visual appeal was very neat and direct. Richard was very engaging and quite humorous through his visual situations, which persuaded the audience even more! 

He constantly brings up passion for work that drives him, which is a form of pathos as the emotional appeal to loving your job and working hard to achieve your dreams is reflected by him which makes the audience more susceptible to his advice as he portrays that his advice will lead to this amazing goal of their life coming true to reality.

Also, him talking about his own struggles regarding being shy and anxious also acts as pathos as it must’ve struck a chord with people in the audience who are similar and have lost opportunities because they were anxious about asking for them. Having that emotional connection with the audience also makes them more likely to trust the speaker and hence be more welcoming of his advice and argument.