How Do Contrast and Subtle Movements Shape our Experiences and Interactions? Presentation Review 6: Wajeeha Khan

Do you struggle with fear, doubt and worry in your public speaking? Do you find it difficult to connect with your audience and deliver presentations that leave a lasting, positive, unforgettable impact? If yes, then let's dive in the world of public speaking and presentation skills with your host, Eric Edmeads. Welcome to the Unforgettable podcast with guest host David Wood.

You know, Eric, we're going back to, you know, reviewing these great talks and there's something about this one. You know, you talk about grace and elegance and that softness and then the subject matter. Right.

They're going to have fun with this one.

Yeah.

She does such a great job. And I think, you know, sometimes contrast is important. In other words, if you were to make a judgment about her when she first walks on the stage, you're probably going to assume that it's going to be a manicured, conservative, ish, you know, safe. There's nothing about this that's safe.

No, no.

And she does it so beautifully. The, the, the timing and the acting out, I'm looking forward to.

Yeah. And I want you to look as you watch her. I want you to look at the subtlety of movement. It's not overdone, it's subtle, and yet she conveys so much. Right.

Yeah.

So let's roll it on. Wa He.

Is there an age when we should stop learning? Do you think it's 50? Do you think it's 65? Or maybe even 75? About 10 years ago, I had volunteered to teach computers to elderly ladies from our community. And to give you context, these are ladies who are above 65 and plus who have lived most of their years either serving their husbands, their kids, their in laws, and some of them even their grandkids. We started these classes on Saturday mornings from 8 to 10. They were committed. Every Saturday they were here. We started right from the basics to how do I plug in the monitor to the PC, which plug belongs to which. How do I plug in the mouse? Back then we actually had. The mouse. Didn't have the. It was not cordless. And during the early days, there was a question that came when one of the student aunties, I used to call them said, would you come please, please. Jaldi acha. Mouse. Mouse. What to do? Mouse. And I was like, oh, Auntie, just, just pick it up and put it. Auntie. Like this. Oh, that's easy. I'm like, yeah, yeah, you can. You, you got it. But you're telling me to select. Look, not moving. I got, I got something else. Oh, Auntie, you actually have to do left click, click, click, click, click. Sorry, sorry. You have to do two left clicks to select click, click, click, click, click. I took a moment back and I thought about, is this what my mom goes through? Because I've actually never noticed she uses a tablet, she's never used a mouse, and she's never used a computer. And I thought, what have I taken for granted? And that we took it as a second nature to know how to operate a computer. Fast forward 10 months, sorry, 10 months down, and we've now advanced and we've gone into using emails. We decided to use Hotmail. At that time, I was emailing the assignments to the students that they would be able to access their accounts, open up the assignments, and start the class. One such morning, the computer class was set up in such a way that I could see their monitors with their backs. At any given time, I could have a vision of what they were doing as they came in. I go, please settle down. We're going to log into your Hotmail accounts and we're going to start shortly. In the meantime, I'm just going to get started with having some of the half of the assignment on the board. As I turned to write down, I heard, oh, my goodness. And I turned around and to my horror, I saw one of my aunties. She wrote hot male. There was pornography. And as I came closer, all I could hear was, astaghfallah, astakhfirullah. Astag for la. Astak for la means God forgive me. But they were actually just. They just kept looking. And all I had to come and do was click, click. But more penises just kept coming and coming and coming. And I was like, oh, my goodness, how am I going to do this? So I kept clicking, clicking. That day, we learned more than just computers. That was awesome. I think one of my favorite things that you did this time was really get into the different characters with your mannerisms and your gestures. And that really helped differentiate between when it was your auntie or yourself. And I thought that really enhanced your speech. So I enjoyed that. Thank you.

I so agree. I love being surprised. And you were able to surprise me because your, your ability to. To bring a character alive with a very subtle movement. But I love looking at humanity. And you have an elegance and a grace and a presence which is really, really profound. And so I really, I love listening to you. You have a great voice, too. Thank you.

Thank you. Wow.

So, so nice with the extra time compared to when you delivered before you were able to paint the picture, even more clearly and act out the roles and give us more. And you really took the feedback from this morning and integrated and that's one of the most important things that each time you practice, you iterate, you improve and you definitely improved it. You have a delightful style and a delightful presence and a gorgeous way of putting the information and telling a story and a relaxed way of acting out the parts and making it all seem very real. There's just a gorgeous authenticity in it. Keep up the good work.

Well done. Thank you. Thank you.

Well, we definitely learned more than just computers.

Yeah.

Yeah, we learned. We learned some things.

Yeah. I love how culture translates with her, how her respect for elders, which you don't see in every culture, but it's just so evident in her language. And again, going back to those tiny gestures, how she uses her shawl in such a subtle way. Right. Yeah.

And she leans in to demonstrate the like. It's almost like she's using props, but there are no props. But because she does it so well, you kind of feel the computer is really there and the people are really there. She acts it out so well.

Yeah, absolutely. So again, you know, this is really about your story. So as you're watching or listening to these incredible talk, we really want you to be thinking about your story, your Rembrandt, and allowing your voice.

Boy, beat her.

So that's it for today's episode of Unforgettable. Head on over to itunes or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on itunes will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a private $25,000 VIP day with Eric Edmeads himself. Be sure to head on over to unforgettable show and pick up a free copy of Eric's gift and join us on the next episode.