A Critique of David Kelly's TED Talk, "How to Build Your Creative Confidence"

1. Creative Confidence
Encouraging Creative Growth
and Development and its Impact
A Critique of David Kelly’s TED Talk,
“How to Build Your Creative Confidence”
Vicente Martinez Jr.

2. David Kelly's lecture regarding how to build one's
creative confidence. He suggests, creativity is not the
domain of only a chosen few. Telling stories from his
legendary design career and his own life, he offers ways
to build the confidence to create.1
1. http://www.ted.com/talks/david_kelley_how_to_build_your_creative_confidence.html

3. How did the speaker capture the attention of the
audience in his or her introduction?
How did the speaker maintain the engagement
of the audience throughout the speech?

4. David Kelly starts with a childhood memory of a fellow
student who was chastised for not sculpting a clay horse
“correctly” by a teacher, someone who should have been
supportive.
Throughout his speech, he hones in on the inherent fear
people have throughout their lives of doing something
wrong and being judged on their perceived inabilities.
Thereby hampering their ability to overcome their fears
and inhibitions.

5. Citing an experiment by Albert Bandura on overcoming a fear
of snakes, for example: a step-by-step process that led from
not being able to be in a room with a snake to holding one in
their hands remarking on their beauty. The process was called
“Guided Mastery”
When these people applied the lesson and strengths learned
from the process to other areas of their lives, they became
confident in their own abilities to meet a set of goals; known as
Bandura’s theory of Self-Efficacy2
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bandura

6. Kelly cites a specific case of how Doug Deitz, a medical
equipment technician, solved an inherent problem of fear
in child patients who are about to undergo an
MRI, necessitating sedation.
Deitz repainted the entire room, including the machine to
a brightly colored room in a cartoonish pirate ship
theme, and retraining staff to better cater to children and
made the entire experience significantly less intimidating
to their patients.

7. David Kelly himself had to overcome a fear of his own: he was
diagnosed with cancer after he felt a lump in his neck. He used his
recovery as a moment to “find [his] calling,” and help as many
people as he could to regain as much of their creativite confidence
as possible and founded IDEO.
Their focus is on Design thinking, a “deeply human process that
taps into abilities we all have but get overlooked by more
conventional problem-solving practices…a system of overlapping
spaces rather than a sequence of orderly steps… [in which] there
are three spaces to keep in mind: inspiration, ideation, and
implementation.3”
3. http://www.ideo.com/about/

8. Which of the ten TED Commandments
does the speaker best follow?

9. “1. Dream Big:” The ideas behind IDEO, based on Bandura’s
theories of Guided Master and Self-Efficacy; showing how a shift in
how creative design/thinking can be applied to any aspect in life.
“2. Show us the real you:” Not only did he share a personal and
serious moment about surviving cancer, but his entire presentation
embodied the spirit of the drive he felt after his diagnosis; one can
overcome their fears and become confident in their abilities to reach
their goals.
“4. Connect with people's emotions:” Fear of failure in the face of
adversity is a common facet of human development; something that
children and adults can experience and relate to.

10. Evaluate the speaker in terms of
dynamism from 1 (lowest) to 5
(highest). What could the speaker have
done to increase his/her dynamism?

11. I would rate Kelly’s presentation at a 3. This is not to say that
the presentation was bad.
• He moved little and spoke with an even and soft, but understandable tone.
• There were a total 4 image shown during the speech.
• He spoke directly to the audience as if he were telling a story
• In short, he was efficient and to the point.
To be “more dynamic” would hamper what is a simple, but
effective delivery and risk sounding more like a sales pitch.
It is “just right.” However if more dynamism was required:
• Videos of the ophidiophobics and children overcoming their fears
• Cite more specific examples of IDEO’s impact in various fields

12. What tips were used from
Garr Reynolds or Nancy Duarte?

13. He usedboth of Nancy Duarte’sconcepts of a speech
structure’s showing what is, and what could be, and using a
story telling approach to his presentation.
•From having fears of failure and judgment to becoming
self-confident in one’s skills and applying that confidence
across a broader gamut of one’s life.
•He introduced us to Bandura’s theories by relating the
story of the people who feared snakes, and how those
theories manifested themselves in Dietz’s work and in his
own calling to found IDEO after surviving cancer.

14. What have you learned about delivery
based upon watching your presenter?

15. David Kelly demonstrated the effectiveness of a simple and
straightforward presentation
•Minimal amount of slides
•Used a story telling approach to his speech
•Spoke in soft and simple tones to get his point across
•Keep things lighthearted, even when speaking of a subject
of a serious nature (e.g., his cancer)
•Echoes the theme of overcoming fears across each
example
•Open and closed his speech with the same general
sentiment of overcoming the fear to touch a snake.

16. Compare and contrast your speaker to
Sir Ken Robinson from the two videos,
“Schools Kill Creativity” and “Changing
Education Paradigms.”

17. Some Similarities:
•Both Robinson’s and Kelly’s presentations challenge the fundamental
processes in which creativity is stifled and not encouraged, and how to go
about changing that
•They both offer examples of how creativity can drive innovation and empower
the “greater good”
•Changing how creativity is encouraged and developed
Some Differences:
•Robinson focuses specifically on changing public education to foster creativity;
Kelly focuses on a broader application of creative empowerment
•Stylistically, Robinson is more upbeat and animated in his delivery with much
more humor, whereas Kelly is more sedate and even-keeled.
•Richard’s second TED talk, “Changing Education Paradigms” is more of an
animated presentation, versus Kelly’s minimalistic approach

18. What tips can you give your classmates
on delivery for their upcoming speeches
based ONLY on your TED Talk?

19. A Few Pointers:
•Keep your discussion simple and straightforward
•It is possible to have a small number of slides and major points if your
speech delivery is more of a story-driven narrative.
•You can be soft-spoken if you speak clearly and address your
audience directly.
•You can be upbeat and light-hearted without being overly animated or
vocal in your delivery
•The audience will have an easier time following, understanding, and
retaining your presentation if you approach it from a common human
denominator (in Kelly’s case, the psychological fear of failure and
judgment). Adding a personal touch/experience will also help to make
it more relatable.

20. Creative Confidence
Encouraging Creative Growth
and Development and its Impact
Thanks for watching!
-Vicente Martinez Jr.