The Secret to TEDs Excellent Talks

It might not be an understatement claiming that our lives revolve around presentations. From school projects to college assignments to projecting the work-plan to our colleagues.

But despite being a crucial part of our careers, we often forget to take time and sharpen our presentation skills. For which we have to pay a hefty price by pushing our classmates into boredom and colleagues into uninterest about our ideas.

But on the other hand, if executed properly, good presentations can start a chain reaction that starts by connecting people.

What do people care about?

As Chris Anderson, founder of TED puts it: “There’s no way you can give a good talk unless you have something worth talking about.”

The biggest problem in a lot of presentations is that they try to cover too much ground. It’s important to find the right place to begin and to develop a simple, convincing, and engaging story that the audience is willing to invest their time in. So limit the scope of your talk to that which can be explained, and brought to life with examples, in the available time. Engaging speakers make a point of quickly introducing the topic, explaining why they care so deeply about it, and convincing the audience members that they should, too.

Keep it Simple

As a general rule, people are not very interested in talks about organizations or institutions (unless they’re members of them). Put it together. Play your strengths and be authentic. Ideas and stories fascinate us; organizations bore us — they’re much harder to relate to.

Don’t bore

First of all: Never, ever, ever read from the PowerPoint. As soon as the audience senses it, the way they receive your talk will shift. It’s usually much better to just sound conversational. Don’t force it. Don’t orate. Just be you. As Chris Anderson tells us, Many of the best TED speakers don’t use slides at all, and many talks don’t require them. The central idea is to bring the audience along on a remarkable creative journey.

Use your body

The other way to interest the audience, apart from choosing a compelling topic, is to engage them through your stage presence. The most important physical act onstage is making eye contact. Pick some friendly-looking people in different parts of the audience and look them in the eye as you speak.

This not only makes the audience more attentive but enhances the human element that makes your presentation stand out as fresh.

But, though stage presence is really helpful, people tend to overestimate its importance. Getting the words, story, and substance right is a much bigger determinant of success or failure than how you stand or whether you’re visibly nervous.

Amy Cuddy, a Harvard Business School professor recommends that people spend time before a talk striding around, standing tall, and extending their bodies; these poses make you feel more powerful. The biggest mistake we see in early rehearsals is that people move their bodies too much.

Practice, practice, practice

The tricky part about rehearsing a presentation in front of other people is that they will feel obligated to offer feedback and constructive criticism. Presentations rise or fall on the quality of the idea, the narrative, and the passion of the speaker. It’s about substance, not speaking style or multimedia pyrotechnics.

There is no one good way to do a talk. The most memorable talks offer something fresh, something no one has seen before. The worst ones are those that feel formulaic.

Giving a good presentation can be instrumental in projecting your ideas and perceptions to the audience. It can make other people connect with the idea and may help it grow and spread beyond the boundaries that you might have never imagined. But it all starts with sharing an idea.

And don’t forget to “Play to your strengths and give a talk that is truly authentic to you,” as Chris Anderson reminds us.