Jeff Smith Speech

     The speech I chose to watch was given by Jeff Smith. Jeff Smith was supposed to be a big role in the Missouri State Senate. However, when he was charged with covering up an election law violation, he instead went to prison. In his speech, Mr.Smith addresses a few things that he learned and saw while he was in prison. The biggest one however, was the potential that he saw in the men that he spent his time in jail with.
    At the beginning of his speech, Mr.Smith begins by telling people about one of his inmates named E.J. He tells viewers about E.J's future visions of leaving the drug dealing business and entering into the adult film industry. He informs listeners that E.J. spent ten thousand dollars to buy an adult website that features women having sex on top of sports cars. This, Mr.Smith explained was the beginning of what opened his eyes about what prison really is. By opening his speech with this segment, I found Mr.Smith to be an extremely "personal" individual. Although his humor may actually be discussing serious events, the way that Mr.Smith displays his sense of humor and relaxed personality gives viewers right off the bat a very relaxed feeling while listening to his speech. As I myself began watching the speech, I felt a very humble connection with Mr.Smith. His peacefulness and sense of humor gave him a "human" personality, as opposed to just sounding like a robot like many other speakers.
     In the rest of his speech, Mr.Smith then continues to inform listeners about how the men in jail are in reality, extremely talented businessmen that aren't given the chance to use their integrity for success. Everything, he explained, in prison is a business deal. Some men he explained, would actually work for their money and success, while others would do the dirty work such as sell cigarettes, dirty magazines, and even give jail cell tattoos. In my eyes, Mr.Smith did an outstanding job with his speech. He was confident, relaxed, and personal when explaining his opinions and the events he witnessed. By doing this, Mr.Smith gained my trust and support for his cause.
    In conclusion, I found Mr.Smith's speech to be informative and helpful. In my eyes, it helped me look at the bigger picture of things when looking at people who are in prison. Sometimes society will look at these people as being "lower" then the rest of us, but I find this to be extremely inaccurate. Mr.Smith's speech proved that people sometimes have more potential then we as society give them credit for. I personally related to this because of a family member I have who had gone to prison for drug dealing. In the end, Mr.Smith's speech helped me understand not only what prison life is like, but how we as society have a mission to help those in prison to use their integrity and successful business plans to succeed in life.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_smith_lessons_in_business_from_prison.html