How to Deliver a Great TED Talk

Summary Notes from the book by Akash KariaAmazon Books 2012 ISBN:1484021851

Six Elements of a Great Presentation

• Simple

• Unexpected

• Concrete

• Credible

• Stories

Simple

• How to find your core message

• How to create your Power Phrase

• Rhetorical techniques to make your Power Phrase memorable

• The simple ABC-C structure for presentations

• The opening mistakes to avoid

• Five Opening Gambits to create an attention-grabbing opening

Simple Continued

• How to make your structure clear using a Roadmap

• Ten anchors to make your presentation memorable

• How to craft a compelling conclusion

How to find your core message

• TED speakers are people who are passionate about their messages.

• If you have a message that you genuinely believe in, delivering your speech will be easy because the passion will fuel the excitement.

• I your audience was to forget everything else that you said, what is the one single thing that you would want them to remember?

Identifying and writing down your core message

• Two key benefits

• Helps you decide what to keep and what to throw out

• Helps the audience remember and understand your message.

Creating a repeatable Power Phrase

• Use one or a combination of the following rhetorical techniques

• Contrast

• Chiasmus

• Rhyme

• Alliteration

Contrast

• Use contrast to make your phrase catchy

• Using opposites such as light and darkness is effective

Chiasmus

• This is a rhetorical device in which the order of the words in the second of two paired phrases is the reverse order in the first phrase.

• Example: “Ask not what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country.”

Rhyme

• Rhyme is easy to remember

• People perceive rhyming statements to be truer than non-rhyming statements

Alliteration

• Repetition of an initial consonant sound

• “If you can dream it, you can do it.” –Walt Disney

ABC-C Formula

• A=Attention grabbing• You have 30 seconds to gab your audience’s

attention

B=Body

main arguments and points

C=Conclusion

clear, positive final impression

C= Clear Call to Action

What do you want your audience to do differently?

What is the “next-step?”

Speech Structures

• Problem Solution

• Chronological

• Step-by-Step

• Features/Benefits

Problem/SolutionStructure

• Open with an attention grabbing description of a problem

• Build up the pain and have the audience wanting a solution

• Present your solution to alleviate the pain and offer advantages of the solution

• In the conclusion, restate the problem and the consequences of not solving it.

• Remind the audience the advantages of your solution and add a call to action

Chronological Structure

• Organize and explain events in order

Step-by-Step Structure

• Walk your audience through the different steps of an event

Features/Benefits Structure

• Most presenters focus on the features of a product.

• Steve Jobs of Apple was a master of selling the benefits of those features.

• Audiences remember the benefits

Five Brilliant Ways to Start your Presentation

• Start with a Story

• Use Questions to Create Knowledge Gaps

• Quotable Quotes

• Interesting/Startling Statement

• Call-Back

Start with a Story

• The best speakers are master storytellers.

• A well-told story will be remembered

• Stories captivate people

• Stories make connections between the listeners and the speaker

Use Questions to Create Knowledge Gaps

• Questions creates a knowledge gap between what the listeners know and what they don’t know

• Questions create curiosity and people are hard-wired with desire to fill the knowledge gap

Quotable Quotes

• A short quote that illustrates your main point will create support for your speech.

• Keep it short

• Make sure it is relevant

• Check the source

• Quote a well known authority

• Choose a quote that has not been over-used

Interesting/Startling Statement

• You don’t have to be shocking

• Intriguing statements create mystery

• Interesting, startling, or intriguing statements back up your core message

Call-Back

• Refer back to something that happened before or during the event

• It personalizes the speech and lets the audience members know that the speech is customized for them

Include a Big Promise

• The big promise can win people’s time, attention, and money.

Include a Pain Statement

• Gain pleasure- People take action if they gain some benefit

• Avoid pain or loss- People are more motivated to avoid pain than they are to gain benefit of an equal amount.

Include a Roadmap

• Include a short roadmap as part of your opening to let the audience know how your presentation is structured.

Building the Body of your Presentation

• Tie your point to an anchor to make it stick

• 8 anchors to hook your points• Anecdotes• Acronyms• Analogies/Similes or Metaphors• Activities• Academic research• Statistics• Case Studies• Product Demonstrations• Customer Testimonials• Quotes

Anecdotes

• Tell a story- they are memorable

Acronyms

• If you have a list of points, an acronym can help the audience remember them.

• Example: BRASS to a soldier is the techniques to shoot a gun- breathe, relax, aim, slack, and squeeze

Activities

• If you are giving a workshop, seminar or presentation, you might split up the audience and give them an activity to find a creative solution to a problem.

• It gets your audience physically mooving and doing something.

• It reinforces your poit.

Analogies, Similes or Metaphors

• They anchor a subject with what the audience is already familiar with and creates a connection to the new information you are sharing.

Statistics

• Makes your points memorable

• Provides evidence that your points are true

Academic Research

• Anchors your points

• Adds credibility

Case Studies

• Case studies highlight major points and provide insights on why a strategy worked and what could have been done better.

Product Demonstrations

• Win your audience’s trust and makes your points memorable.

Customer testimonials

• Video testimonials are best or use photos of clients

• Include names

• Be specific

Quotes

• Borrow credibility from a third-party source

• Anchors your message

• Makes it memorable

Crafting a Compelling Conclusion

• Signaling you are closing

• Summarizing your main points

• Linking it to the conference

• Providing hope for a better future

• Providing a clear call to action

• Selling the benefits

Signaling your closing

• The audience knows the speech is wrapping up and the main points will be summarized and there may be some call to action.

• The audience pays attention

Summarizing your main points

• Reinforces your points

• Take 2-3 minutes

Linking it to the conference

• It leaves a lasting impression

Call to Action

• Be realistic of what you can expect from your audience

• Include only one call to action

Selling the benefits

• Summarize the benefits your audience will get if they act on what they have learned from your speech.

Part Two Unexpected

• Using shocking statistics and facts to grab the audiences attention

• Offer the audience something new or unconventional

• Create a WOW moment

Using statistics and facts

• Shocking statistics captures your audience

• Add credibility

• Memorable

• Relate it to the audience

• Compare and contrast

• Make it visual

Offer the audience something new

• Talk about something new

• Look at an old topic from a new perspective

• Argue against conventional wisdom

• Dig out stories fro academic research

• Interview interesting people for a good story

• Use personal stories

Create a WOW moment

• Create a WOW moment

• Demonstrate a remarkable product or use a prop to make your idea more concrete

• Do something that will get your audience buzzing

Part Three: Concrete

• Use specific, concrete language

• Bringing your characters to life by providing specific details

• Turning your stories into mental movies

• Use analogies, metaphors and examples to turn abstract ideas into images

Use specific, Concrete Language

• Use specific , concrete language

• Bring characters to life by using details about their appearance

• Give sensory information

• Show, don’t tell

Turning your stories into mental movies

•Visual- what could you see?

•Auditory- what could you hear?

•Kinesthetic- what could you feel?

•Smell- what could you smell?

•Pack in as many senses as possible

•Keep your descriptions short

Use analogies, metaphors and examples

• What can this idea be compared to?

Part Four: Credible

Build your credibility during your introduction

Add internal credibility to your messages

Build your credibility

• Build your credibility during your introduction.• Share credentials

• Add internal credibility to your messages.

Share your struggles before your successes

Part FivE: Emotional

• Addressing the elephant in the room

• Uniting people towards a common goal

• Uniting people by focusing on a common enemy

• Highlighting the problem and building their pain

• Building the we-connection

Use compelling Visuals

• Use a Powerpoint only if you have lots of visuals to display

• If you and your Powerpoint are saying the same thing, one of you is not needed

• Use large stunning pictures

• Use large fonts

• Only one idea per slide

Arousing their Curiosity

• Don’t take their curiosity for granted

• Tease before you reveal an important point of information

• Tease about what is coming in the next segment before any breaks in your presentation

How to add Humor

• Create an expectation, then suddenly break it

• Poke fun at yourself using self-deprecating humor

• Playfully over-exaggerate to get a laugh

Use Rhetorical Questions

• Ask your audience to imagine

• Ask your audience to reflect

• Reflect on your audience’s thoughts

• Ask your audience to compare

Part Six: Story

• Importance of Storytelling

• 5C’s of great stories

• Delivery techniques for dynamic storytelling

Stories are Powerful

• Engage your audience emotionally

• Create mental movies in your audience’s mind

• Make abstract ideas visual

The 5 C’s of Great Stories

• Characters

• Conflict

• Cure

• Change in Character

• Carryout message

Delivery Techniques for Dynamic Storytelling

• Pause before you begin

• Smile

• Make Eye Contact

• Get rid of filler words

• Gesture naturally

• Use posture to bring your characters to life

Delivery Techniques continued

• Keep facial expressions congruent with your story

• Show, don’t tell

• Bigger audience means a bigger you

• Match the audience’s energy level

• Make full use of the stage

• Use vocal variety

8 Ways to prepare

• Rehearse your talk

• Get some exercise to release endorphins

• Walk around the room you will be speaking in

• Get familiar with the stage

• Test the equipment

• Rehearse your opening

• Listen to music

• Visualize success