Talk like TED
By Carmine Gallo
Emotional – they touch my heart.
- Master the art of Passion
Passion is contagious
You cannot inspire others if not inspired yourself.
The greatest speakers don’t have a job, they have a passion.
Motivated and energized speakers are always more interesting than boring and passive speakers.
Speakers that show their enthusiasm and passion inspire others.
A passion is not something that is a hobby or that you do, it is your identity.
What makes your heart sing?
If your only goal is to make a sale, you will fail
If you love what you do, you will enjoy it truly do a great work.
Passion defines a person, it is their identity, it is the core of who they are.
If you find your topic interesting, speak with passion others will as well.
Positive leaders persuade there was more than others do.
If something is your passion, you will inevitably succeed.
You can be taught how to tell a story or how to use your voice, but if you do not have passion it does very little good.
The secret of others become passionate is to make sure that you are passionate yourself.
- Master the art of Storytelling.
Stories are just data with a soul.
You can tell stories to engage people who may disagree with you or are not interested.
Yes you need data and good information, but stories will keep the people on the journey with you.
Storytelling is the ultimate tool of persuasion.
Stories plant ideas and emotions in the listeners brain.
Our brains are more active when we hear a story.
There are three affective types of stories:
- Personal, that relate directly to the situation. if you’re going to tell a personal story, make a personal – give details and imagery so they can imagine that they are with you in that event. People love personal stories.
- Stories about other people, we learned a lesson others can relate to.
- Stories of success or failures of other brands. Every brand and every product has a story – share it and someone could be inspired.
Stories make things real and tangible.
Storytelling should be the part of every discussion, it backs up what is being said.
Stories have a powerful effect
To become a better speaker: passion (get it), practice (keep it), and presence (do it).
Four elements of speaking:
- Rate (the speed at which you speak)
- Volume (loudness or softness)
- Pitch (inflection)
- Causes (short pauses between keywords. This is the verbal equivalent of highlighting something)
How you say something to an audience is nearly just as important as what you say to an audience.
Great speakers act out a story.
You cannot reach people if you deliver poorly.
Entertainers use their voices, body language gestures and all to get their point across – and so do good communicators.
A small % of speech is conveyed through words while the largest percentage is conveyed nonverbally.
If you do not believe the message you are speaking, you cannot fool your body into believing it… and it will show.
Talk, walk and look like a leader Whom people want to follow.
Gestures get the audience confidence in the speaker.
Some of the best speakers use hand gestures as a window for speaking.
There are four tips to improve the way that you use your hands:
- Use gestures. Don’t put them in your pocket or let them be bound up, let them free and use them.
- Use gestures sparingly. Be careful not to go overboard, your gestures should be natural. Don’t think too hard about what gestures to use. Let your story got your gestures.
- Use gestures at key moments. Save your gestures for key moments and reinforce what you’re saying with gestures.
- Keep your gestures within your power sphere. Keep them from the level of your eyes to your midsection.
Three mistakes most speakers make:
- Fidgeting, tapping and jiggling. Fidgeting makes you look unsure and unprepared. To fix it, record yourself and watch it. See yourself in action will make you realize how you come across to others.
- Standing in one spot. Great speakers move around. Standing in one spot makes you look boring. To fix it, start working the room, walking around it. Do not stand behind the lecture, move around. Moving is not only acceptable, it is welcome. Conversations are not stiff. Some of the greatest speakers walk amongst the audience. Imagine you are in a frame and get out of it.
- Hands in pockets. Most people keep their hands in the pockets and this makes them look nervous. One hand in your pocket is acceptable as long as the other one is used for gestures. Best to take both out of your pocket. Keep them free.
How we use our bodies, our gestures, can change people’s perception of us. Simply changing how you are standing can change the way you think about yourself. Our minds change our bodies.
The secret is not to eliminate nerves but manage them.
Have a conversation with your audience.
Novel – something new.
Only what is unique and what stands out will last or be remembered.
Our brains are taught to look for something different, something rare, and something that stands out.
Everyone likes the “new way” of learning: Schools get excited with textbooks, Teams like new jerseys, etc. New energizes people. So be novel the way you present information.
The data or information does not have to be new, but that does not mean you cannot present it in a fresh way.
Get out-of-the-norm experiences. Then incorporate those experiences you’re your presentation.
Great speakers take you on a journey.
Presenting in a novel way will make you become a more interesting person.
Are you remarkable?
Everyone loves to hear about new and novel ways to solve problems; we are wired for it.
Create a “Twitter friendly” headline – 140 characters that will embody the big picture.
The brain does not capture boring things
Unleash an emotional & unexpected event.
You are more likely to remember events or something that triggers your emotional charge more than anything else – that’s why you remember what happened on September 11th even though you don’t remember where you left your keys that morning.
Emotional event could be fear, shock, surprise, etc. – because of these things you vividly remember that specific event.
People remember vivid events and forget mundane ones.
Why is it that your brain remembers a specific illustration but forgets 99% of the rest of the speech? It’s because our brain forgets the ordinary and remembers the vivid things.
Every speech needs a wow moment.
Use novel approaches when saying statistics or other truths.
Create a holy smokes moment – that is the moment in your speech when you drive it home. It is the first thing that people say about your presentation and the first thing that people remember about it.
Here are five ways to create a holy smokes moment in your presentation:
- Props and demos. (A memorable demo that everyone will remember)
- Pictures, images and video. (Visuals have punch – funny slide, interesting picture, etc.)
- Memorable headlines. (Hook people)
Draw dropping moments. If you can combine humor with novelty it will be a hit.
Humor lowers defenses, making your audience more receptive. It makes you more likable people will do business much more with someone that they like.
You do not have to jokes, you could give observation way.
The brain loves humor. Humorous people are seen as interesting, likable, intelligent, and perceptive and emotionally stable.
Don’t tell jokes. Jokes are usually only told well by professionals.
To be humorous:
- Tell anecdotes about the world or personal stories. Short stories or small observations. Don’t go for the big laugh, you might bomb. Just get a smile.
You don’t have to go for the big laugh every time. You don’t have to force people to laugh, just reveal the humor in the story or situation.
Too much humor may take away from a topic, too many statistics maybe boring, and too much information may be an overload. But if you add humor with statistics and information, you have an excellent speech.
Humor is good for your health, laughter will lower blood pressure, it will strengthen your immune system, and it just makes you feel good.
Memorable – teach me in a way I’ll never forget.
Stick to the 18-minute rule. It is the ideal time for a presentation. If you have to go longer, put in “soft brakes” like videos, stories, clear points, etc.
Too much information prevents the acceptance of good ideas.
If you have to say everything in 18 minutes, it forces you to narrow down the information and find out only what you want to say. It brings discipline. It brings clarification.
Our brains get tired and exhausted easily. It is better to break things up instead of cramming all the information into one setting.
Why is it that college-age students finish a class and run straight to a pizza joint or coffee shop – it is because the brain can only take so much.
If you talk too long, people will find something else to think about.
Creativity thrives under constraints; so setting an 18-minute time will only improve speech.
Shorter than 18–20 minutes may not seem important or serious, but if longer than 18–20 minutes, you will likely lose your audience.
Build a message map:
- Have a “Twitter headline” – a concise heading that says everything about your presentation. If you can’t explain what you want to say in a short sentence or phrase, go back to the drawing board.
- Support your headline with three key messages/sections/ideas. Our brains divide most information into three sections.
- Reinforce the three messages with stories, statistics and examples. Add Bullet points to each of the three messages.
The entire message map must fit on one page. You do not have to write out every word you want to say, but you have a map to show the way.
Multitasking, when it comes to paying attention, is a myth.
Instead of showing the presentation and talking at the same time hoping people grasp everything, realize that pictures have a superior effect.
Visuals matter a lot. People remember much more the picture or visual than just words.
You’re likely to only remember a percent of what you hear after three days, but add a picture and it sores up to 65% what you will remember.
Add a picture and people will remember up to 6 times more than just what you say.
Pictures are stamped on our brain and therefore more easily to recall. For example, if someone says the word “dog”, you may remember; but if someone shows you a picture of a dog and says it, you will remember it much better and much longer.
One person said that people will forget what you said and people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. So don’t say just what you want people to know, think about what you want people to feel.
How you say something – pitch, volume, voice, words, etc. – will affect your listeners.
How you say something can be as powerful as showing something.
Make mind pictures. Use your words in a story in a way that creates images in the minds of your listeners.
It is said that if you can think about something so vividly, it is just as if you could see it.
To boost your memory, transform verbal information into visual information. You could do it with pictures, visuals, words, etc.
Anaphora – Repeating something over and over. This could be used to make something memorable or leave an image in the audiences’ mind.
The next time you give a presentation, do your best to touch all the senses by using your voice, visuals, and using a prop.
Be authentic, open and transparent. Most people can spot a phony so don’t try to be someone else – an audience will detect it.
Do not separate your true self from the persona you are on the stage.
You cannot move people if they do not think you are real. People will not trust you if you are not being real.
Prepare but then relax and speak from your heart.
