The Communication Arts Studio and head coach Charlene Eberly helped turn eight members of the FIU family into polished, inspiring speakers for TEDxFIU 2015, held on November 5th at the Wertheim Performing Arts Theatre. Helping speakers develop their talks and deliver their stories in the most compelling way is all in a day’s work for Eberly and her Studio staff, but the stakes are high for what is arguably one of FIU’s best showcase events. This year’s challenges included “roughing up” an overly polished speaker so he could better connect with the audience; helping a speaker get through emotional parts of his talk without losing touch with the emotions; showing the bond between a sister and her brother without appearing exploitative; and breaking down complicated science into easily understood concepts. From the response of the live crowd and post-event comments in social media, it seems the effort paid off. As one audience member put it: “There is no other word for it; I am gobsmacked!”
To learn more about the CommArts Studio, go to communicate.fiu.edu.
To read about TEDxFIU 2015, click here.
