Laura Tobin has a talent for talking about climate change
I've fast become a fan of British meteorologist Laura Tobin for the wonderfully clear, concise, and engaging way she presents on climate science. Consider the first video below. In just over 2 minutes, she offers one of the most effective talks on climate change that I have yet to see.
The clip begins with a rather cheeky setup by the show's co-anchor Richard Madeley. And then Laura does her thing.
What do I love about this clip? Let me count the ways:
The delivery. A perfect balance of approachable and no-nonsense: From the outset, Laura establishes herself as an expert with clear, confident statements of fact. But, importantly, she delivers those statements in a wonderfully conversational way. And because she's speaking from a relaxed, conversational place, everything about her delivery – facial expressions, body language, tone of voice– stays grounded in genuine human warmth. That's invaluable for helping us to hear and understand the content.
Clear, powerful opening sentences: "I want to reply with science. I think it's the best thing to do. And I can categorically say that if we look at predictions that we've seen over the last 50 years–what climate scientists were saying, what the UN was saying was going to happen–it exactly happened. So the UN is certainly not wrong." It sets the table perfectly.
An efficient and understandable tour through the graphics: Good graphics can be very useful in a presentation. But only if they're used well. Good graphics, presented poorly, can just as quickly ruin a talk. We've all seen it.
Laura chose two highly effective graphics for this presentation. And then she guides us through them in way that's both clear and efficient. No distracting detours or unnecessary info. Just a concise tour through the key points that she wants us to understand.
Dynamic vocal pacing and emphasis: Laura modulates her pacing and vocal emphasis to great effect. She takes us through easy content very quickly. But when she comes to more technical content, or key points she wants us to remember, she slows way down. And her tone changes in subtle but important ways to lend those ideas more emphasis.
You might say, "of course she's good at that... she's a professional TV presenter." To which I'd say, "True. But the real magic here–the thing that's allowing her to keep her pacing and dynamics natural and effective–is the conversational approach I mentioned above. She's simply speaking to those two people who are in the studio with her, rather than trying to "present" to the camera. We can all harness that same power. If you have a conversation with your audience, rather then present to them, your own natural vocal cadence and dynamics will shine through too.
That ending: "Climate scientists across the world say that it is not a con. It is greenhouse gases and humans causing the warming. Hotter heat waves, more rainfall. It is undeniable." A perfect bookend to the powerful words with which she launched the piece.
There's more that I could unpack about this piece. But I'll leave it there, and let you enjoy the video:
More examples
Below are two more videos that feature Laura Tobin's effective approach to communicating complex topics.
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