Social Action and Communication Skills

Today I am reading about social action and the importance of communication skills for effective social action. My response to the video and presentation are below the activity.
Activity:
3 Social Action Related Site:
1. http://www.dosomething.org/
This site would be appropriate for high school students and higher levels of middle schools. This site encourages teens to get involved in real world causes. This would be a good site for maybe a history teacher, who is teaching about social injustice. The teacher could have students use this site to find ways to help fight the repercussions of social injustices they have learned about.
2. http://redblueamerica.com/
This website could be used in a high school history or government class. Students could relate the history of government to what is going on the government currently. This site would allow them to view both viewpoints of a debate.
3. http://www.greenbin.com/
This site could be useful for high school students. Students in a science class could do a research project where they find an idea that someone posts about how to be green and then research the validity of if this "green idea" would really work and why and how it would work.

Communication Skills related Site:
1. http://www.communication-skills-4confidence.com/improve-communication-skills.html
This site could be useful for high school and college students. It is a site to help students improve their communication skills. An English or speech class could use this sites communication exercises to learn and become more confident with their communication.
2. http://www.communication-skills.info/
This site could be used for high schoolers and college students to learn how to communicate effectively.
3. http://www.kidscom.com/
This blog could be used for elementary school students. This site allows kids to chat with other kids in a safe environment. They could practice their communication skills online while playing games with other students.
Reflections:
Here are my thoughts on a video of Tony Robins:
What Skills being demonstrated? Tony is an extremely gifted speaker that immediately drew me in to what he was saying. I was watching the video in the morning and was certain I was going to fall asleep if I was going to try and watch it, but I didn't because he was such a good speaker. He basically used all of the skills of effective speaking, especially taking command of his message and doing so with passion.
Is he acknowledging differences? Yes, he acknowledged several types of differences in his examples. He often used examples which could apply to a borad spectrum of people who think and feel differently.
Is he being assertive? He was very assertive and confident in his speaking. That is definitely what drew me in to listen. He used creativity and humor to get people's attention, which I really enjoyed.
Is he sharing his feelings? He shared his feelings about how important this message was to him and how it has personally affected him in his own life. What really stood out to me was his idea that strangers DO care about you, so you should care about them.
Is he aware of the information that is "coming in"? He was aware of incoming information. He made real world connections with 9/11 and he made use of Al Gore being in the audience to play into his ideas.
Is he being concise, clear, and providing specific details supported by concrete examples? He was very clear and concise. He didn't try to over complicate what he was saying. He just made some very simple points with very strong examples to help visualize what he was saying. He made all of his examples relatable to audience members.

I then watched a presentation by Simon Jones about using technology to communicate effectively. More specifically he addressed slide presentations. I agreed with most of what he was saying as far as not putting too much information on a slide and using repetition when necessary. I was not sure about his ideas on not using bullet points. I use bullet points in personal work when studying because I am comfortable with them. His reason for not using them was because students quickly tire of them. I think bullets can be used in moderation, especially when making a point. For me, having a bulleted form, or outlined form, better helps me to organize the incoming information in my brain.