Robin Chase is the genius behind the Zipcar, the urban solution to the hassle of owning a car that allows you to pick up the kind of car you need when and where you need it and then leave it parked on the street when you’re done.  I’ve always been impressed with the concept, and so I looked forward to her talk on TED.com with great interest. 
(http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robin_chase_on_zipcar_and_her_next_big_idea.html)

Unfortunately, her manner of delivery seemed to put off the audience and get in the way of receiving those good ideas.  The reaction of the audience in the room is difficult to gauge precisely, but if the reactions of the commentators on the TED.com site are any indication, people really disliked her presentation.  Part of the problem may simply have been that she was threatening to take away their cars, but the personal nature of the vitriol suggests there was a strong visceral reaction to her presentation manner as well.

What went wrong?  Chiefly, Chase’s introversion comes across as arrogance, a common problem.  She keeps her eyes down and away from her audience, her tone of voice sounds uncommitted mainly because she’s not taking full breaths, and she’s got happy feet.  She looks like she’s talking to herself.  Her happy feet settled down as she got into the talk, but the other defensive gestures and mechanisms stayed.  Her hands fluttered around in front of her in gestures that were at once self-protective and dismissive (again, probably without intending the latter).  She’s closed off to the audience, and it responds by closing off to her.  She was a lost cause 30 seconds into her talk. 

Her message, beyond the idea of congestion pricing for cars, was about creating a giant peer-to-peer network created by all the cars on the road, to help with a host of problems from pollution to traffic control.  I have no idea about the technical feasibility of the idea, but it sounds good.  Free wi-fi for all!  And all we have to do is keep driving!  But wait a minute – didn’t she want to get the cars off the road? 

That’s the problem when the delivery is poor – you starting picking holes in the argument, if you can be bothered to listen.