(Editor's note: Vancouver-based speaker coach Janice Tomich of Calculated Presentations worked with speakers at TEDxChange in that city earlier this year. I asked her to share this speaker's story as a Famous Speech Friday. UPDATE: We've adjusted the text below to clarify that only one of the assaults described was a rape.)
On two occasions Devon Brooks
was assaulted; in one assault, she was raped. The assaults happened when she was 18 and 21—the first time in
Montreal, Canada and the second time in London, UK.
Jump ahead to April 2012
where a group of grade 10 - 12 students sat in complete silence as they
listened to Brooks tell her story at the TEDxChange event held in Vancouver,
BC, Canada. A pin could have dropped.
Brooks spoke with bare honesty.
She spoke from a vulnerable place with the intent of creating awareness and
hoping to change conversations about sexual violation. She said, “It's painful
to talk about someone who you know and love getting hurt. So we just don’t —but
we cannot live in fear of conversation.”
While having the pleasure to
work with Brooks on her presentation, we had lengthy discussions about how our
culture’s inability to speak about the atrocity of rape or violence lets perpetrators hide
and continue violating. Lots of consideration was given to what she wanted her
audience to take away and how to ignite them to take their part in changing
conversations about rape and assault.
Brooks’ call to action was simple and clear. She asked
that we be open to having difficult conversations. She said, “While we can't
legislate humanity each of us plays a role in changing the dialogue and
perception of trauma, in order to see less victims and assailants. There is no
in between—it's time for you to figure out whether you are a bystander, or a difference
maker."
Here’s what can you learn
from Brooks’ presentation:
- Speaking from the heart: Brooks’ presentation is one of the most difficult to for a speaker to do—her story is so raw and vulnerable. The repercussions both good and bad need to be considered before committing to such an open and vulnerable platform.
- Using “visual only” support: The choice of visuals that Brooks chose was perfectly aligned to her presentation. Each image drew you in, and then allowed you to redirect yourself to her spoken word. The use of the Munch’s “The Scream” in tandem with Brooks speaking about the circumstance of the rape still holds vividly in my mind months later.
- Knowing her audience: The audience was challenged with difficult and uncomfortable content. But Brooks did not take them so far that they would or could not listen. Post presentation, a few attendees approached her and said that they had been silent about being victimized themselves but now their perspective was changed.
