Talk like TED

I have always admired the power and effectiveness of TED talks.  This book was a quick read and helped to reinforce the best practices that the most successful TED presenters employ.

My notes and key excerpts are below.

 

Unleash the master within

• Dig deep to identify your unique and meaningful connection to your presentation topic.
• “Nothing great has ever been achieved without enthusiasm.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
  

Master the art of storytelling

• You need data, facts, and analysis to challenge people, but you also need narrative to get people comfortable enough to care about the community that you are advocating for. Your audience needs to be willing to go with you on a journey.”
• Aristotle believed that persuasion occurs when three components are represented: ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos is credibility. We tend to agree with people whom we respect for their achievements, title, experience, etc. Logos is the means of persuasion through logic, data, and statistics. Pathos is the act of appealing to emotions.
  

Three types of stories

• The first are personal stories that relate directly to the theme of the conversation or presentation; second are stories about other people who have learned a lesson the audience can relate to; third are stories involving the success or failure of products or brands.
• Personal stories are the most effective.
• The TED 10 commandments: https://www.phoenixpubliclibraryorg/tedx/10-commandments-of-ted
  

Have a conversation

• Practice relentlessly and internalize your content so that you can deliver the presentation as comfortably as having a conversation with a close friend.
  

Teach me something new

• Gregory Berns: “The brain must be provided with something that it has never before processed to force it out of predictable perceptions.”
• What is the one thing I want my audience to know? Make sure it easily fits within a Twitter post, what I call a “Twitter-friendly headline.”  Support the headline with three key messages.  Reinforce the messages with stories, statistics, and examples.
  

Deliver jaw-dropping moments

• Rose George’s formula: Humor, shock, statistics.
• Stick to the 18-minute rule
• Matthew May: “Creativity thrives under intelligent constraints.”

Paint a mental picture with multi-sensory experiences

• Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”