Our world is changing faster than ever before, however, there are a few areas that are still in the 1970s and most of the public speaking we see at conferences is right there. How can you spice up your presentations by inserting a few elements that speakers often use on TED stage? Carmine Gallo analyzed more than 500 TED talks in this book Talk like TED and here are three elements that will bring your next presentation from the 1970s to 2020.
Make your talk EMOTIONAL
Since we were kids, we love stories that bring out emotions in us. We like stories that are personal and people that open up on stage – we can relate to stories and find ourselves in them. Anyone can talk about sth technical on stage but not everyone manages to include a personal element in their talk. Why did you get into the topic? What has inspired you to pursue it? The beginning of the talk is a perfect time to share a story and attract the attention of your audience.
Example of great storytelling: Juan Serrano, Loyalty, meaning and ingrown olive trees.
Make your talk NOVEL
Our brain shines on dopamine when we learn something new. Novelty is the single most effective way to capture a person’s attention. When you prepare your next talk or a presentation, keep this in mind – am I sharing any original thoughts? What does my audience already know? Which data can I find and include?
Example with a lot of novel data: Samuel Cohen, Alzheimer’s is not normal aging and we can cure it.
Make your talk MEMORABLE
The way you share and present your content is partially even more important than the content itself. What can we do to boost the retention rate of our talk? How can we stand out among 40 other talks? Consider capturing the attention of your audience in a different way. For example, when Jill Bolte was explaining her stroke, she explained the functions of the left and right brain hemisphere. Her bringing the actual brain on the stage truly made it memorable – just imagine that she would do the same with a boring PowerPoint slide.
Example of a memorable talk: Jill Bolte, My stroke of insight.
Find out more about TED talks and their speaker preparation guidelines here. Don’t know how to rehearse, receive efficient feedback or craft the story? Our CorpoHub team is delivering a lot of pitching workshops, where we practice storytelling and insert TED elements in pitches or presentations.
