Rodney Mullen is a skateboarding legend who began skating in 1977. He has won many competitions and invented about 28 skateboarding tricks, revolutionizing street skating. In his presentation, Rodney engaged the audience by starting with video clips and then skating onto the stage. He maintained engagement through passionate stories about his experiences developing new tricks and his love of skateboarding. His presentation style was dynamic though it jumped between topics. He tried to engage the audience through storytelling and using skateboarding as a prop during his presentation.

2. RODNEY MULLEN
“Pop an ollie and innovate!”
Skateboarding legend, entrepreneur, public
speaker and inventor. He was born in
Gainesville, FL in 1966 and began skating in
1977. Since, he has won a multitude of
competitions and invented about 28 different
tricks, revolutionizing the sport of street
skating as we know it today.

3. THESIS:
The way I understood, in this presentation,
Rodney shared many stories with the audience
which gave insight into the way he came up
with a lot of the ideas he had in skateboarding.
He did this in ways that could be applied to
many other aspects of life, which was rather
inspiring in a way.

4. HOW DID RODNEY He started his presentation
with a series of video clips and
ENGAGE THE then skated onto the stage.
AUDIENCE WITH
HIS
INTRODUCTION?

5. HOW DID HE
MAINTAIN THE
ENGAGEMENT
OF THE
AUDIENCE?
I think he kept their attention through the stories that he told, along with his rather goofy
personality and passion for what he does.

6. DYNAMISM:
5/5
I think that he was a very dynamic speaker, though this presentation seemed a bit disjointed
as he jumped between topics. However I did really enjoy his passion about the sport he loves
so much.

7. WHAT TIPS WERE
USED FROM NANCY
DUARTE OR GARR
REYNOLDS?
I would say that it would be that he tried to make the presentation engaging through his
storytelling and the fact that did skate onto the stage, giving him a prop to work with as well.

10. COMPARE/CONTRAST
cont.
Sir Ken Robinson used storytelling and humor to both convey his message and to engage the
audience as well in both of his presentations. His method was more polished, professional and
linear than Rodney’s, and he also comes from an academic background as opposed to one
immersed in the world of sports. They both provided good stories and engaging content, for
me at least.

11. TIPS:

12. Try to relate to your
audience through
engaging and/or humorous
stories.

13. Just be yourself.

14. If applicable, use
a prop of some
kind, relevant to
what you are
talking about.

15. Thanks for watching!
Take care.
- JD Williams