Public Speaking

February 2010
Response to Obama War and Peace – Excellence not Dominance

CLICK HERE for a video by Jocelyn Ajami
a talk called “Excellence not Dominance” on youtube.com

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Jocelyn M. Ajami is a fee paid speaker with a unique global perspective. Topics may be designed for a client, around a particular topic or event.  Ajami also does private, one to one coaching for clients  seeking mastery of public speaking techniques.

SAMPLE TOPICS

PUBLIC SPEAKING:  Building a credible stage presence:
authority and style
presentation skills
enunciation and regional accents
on camera skills
foreign word pronunciation

SELECTED LECTURE TOPICS  (Click on topics for brief description)

CONFLICT, PEACE  AND JUST PEACE

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Accompanied with a screening of OASIS OF PEACE.

This talk is based on the methodology created by the SCHOOL FOR PEACE in NS/WAS (OASIS OF PEACE), in Israel, five times nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and on the teachings of Martin Luther King Jr. “ Peace does not exist in the absence of violence, but in the presence of justice”.
We examine the phenomena of conflict and issues such as:

Fighting without penalty
Shifting the balance of power
Responsible anger
The fantasy of goodwill
Terms of coexistence
Majority-minority dynamics
Self monitoring
Getting to Justice

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A CALL  TO DISARM

As an activist in the effort to ban cluster bombs, in this  lecture I ask some radical questions which challenge our evolutionary status as a species. Accompanied by a screening of Postcard from Lebanon, this lecture covers the legacy of cluster bombs and questions our definition of genocide, terrorism, resistance and humanity.
Can we call ourselves human if we are unwilling to disarm?

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FLAMENCO AND  ROMANI CULTURE

accompanied by screenings of GYPSY HEART and  or QUEEN OF THE GYPSIES

An overview of Romani history and values from the origins of the Roma in India through the 300 years of Spanish persecution, to the Holocaust (Porraimos) of the Roma during WWII. Finally an emphasis on the Calo (Gypsies of Spain ) brings us to a  survey of Flamenco as one of the greatest manifestations of Romani culture and Gypsy survival. From the myth of the nails to the song of the blacksmith, Martinete, to the development of Flamenco as a contemporary art form,this topic also covers the relationship between art and leadership and the capacity for art to triumph over  genocide.

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INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING FROM ZERO

From pre-production through production and distribution , a survey of the various steps involved in following your vision:
How to proceed from idea to resolution and how to hang through to the bitter end. With selections from my own videos we can also examine the pitfalls of the process.

PRE-PRODUCTION
The idea: The dream the passion
Research and fundraising
Donations or investors? Fiscal sponsors.
The Budget
The Grant or Business proposal,
Raising money, strategies.

PRODUCTION
What format to shoot in and why?
The camera and equipment
The crew
Releases
From A roll to B roll
Trust and the interview
Pre-interviews and interviews
Sound and light with no crew
Is a crew relevant?
Location scouting and B-roll gathering
Common pitfalls

POST-PRODUCTION
Editing systems and steps, PC OR MAC
The transcript Edit/Offline Process: The most important script of all is here!
Revisions to the final Edit
Final Cut, trauma and compromise.
In the can, now what?
Distribution, from cable to the internet and beyond.
Film festivals and the lecture circuit. Events and parties to fund ongoing expenses.

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MODERNISM  TO DIGITAL ART

Kandinsky, the “father of abstract art” declared
In 1915 that he saw “no essential difference between an abstract line and a fish”.
Even though we are living in a “post-modern” digital era, we are still baffled by some of the Modernist movements which have changed the aesthetic of contemporary life. This is a survey of Modern Art, from Impressionism to   Contemporary Art with an emphasis on the abstract image as a revolutionary element in modernist thought. We examine the roots of Modernism in the Italian Renaissance and their conclusion in contemporary art, particularly Conceptual art and Digital art, including web portals such as Second Life.
This talk examines how art is a “way of seeing”,
a way of “thinking about seeing”, as a challenge to the status quo. Today, through internet access, contemporary art is also a way of sharing and building community. Accompanied by an experimental video, THE TIGER AND THE CUBE.

For  information contact:

Jocelyn Ajami
ajami@gypsyheartproductions.com