Title: Why I Have Coffee with People Who Send Me Hate Mail

Presenter: Özlem Cekic

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Content

• Your introduction described your situation well and forecasted the presentation topic. I was confused at first why people are sending hate mail to you. Then you told us that you're a member of parliament. It would help to let us know that sooner. I think your first line could being "Soon after I was elected to the Danish Parliament in 2007, I began receiving hate email."
• I thought the transition between Ingolf's story and what you've learned was effective. You described your methodology/rules for the coffee meetings and what made them effective. After describing the meeting, it felt like now I was hearing your insights about the meetings and that led to greater insights about the situation. I also liked another effective transition as you described asking the racists what they can do to create change, to recognizing your own power to create change, and then leading to your audience's power to create change.
• I thought your phrase "has vaccinated me against my own prejudices" was very vivid and memorable.
• I liked that you ended with a challenge. You told your listeners what you want them to do. You also included some ruminations about democracy in your conclusion. To me, I felt that it distracted from your challenge and wasn't needed. Your story and the results are powerful. You don't need to explain the democratic theory that these dialogues support; I feel it's enough that you so clearly showed us how it has changed you. That part was brief, though, and you repeated the challenge and released us with concrete instructions on how to be courageous and do our part to restore civility.

Delivery

• You have a very nice sense of tining. I particularly like how comfortable you seem using pauses.
• I don't think you needed the papers in your hand. The only time I saw you look down at them is when you moved to the next page. It made me wonder if you wrote this yourself or had a speech writer do it. And it forced you to shift them from one hand to the other so you could gesture with both hands.
• You seem very composed and comfortable speaking to an audience. The only sign of nervousness I saw is that you occasionally sway back and forth. It's  not severe, and I think that most peope won't be distracted by it. But be aware of it as something you may want to work to overcome.
• You use humor very well in a very serious topic. 
• You are very good at telling stories. Your vocal variety describing your meeting with Ingolf made the story personal and alive.
• Personally, I don't like the telephone gesture. I don't think it's effective to have your hands near your mouth as you speak, and that telephone gesture is trite and outdated. You've already told us that this is a phone call. Instead of using the different hands to indicate who's speaking (which is a very good thing to do), all you have to do is shift your eye contact to make it clear to us who's talking. I think you'll find that more satisfying.