TED Talks
Part
2 Talk Tools
Our
first idea building tool is connection. According to Anderson, author of TED Talks, to make a connection as a
speaker we have to go to where the audience is and win them over. We do this by
not rushing into our speech, but by taking a moment to smile and make eye
contact. It also helps to show a little vulnerability. It’s okay to be nervous.
The audience will see our humanity and root for us to succeed. Our nervousness
pushes their empathy buttons. Also, let’s try to make them laugh at least once.
But no corny jokes. Laughing breaks the tension and makes everyone feel like
they are on the same side. Laughter is a great tool for connecting and gets
everyone to listen closer to us.
Narration
is our second idea building tool. Narration is simply a good story. So, let’s
tell a good story. Anthropologist and professor Wiessner shares that ancient
campfire stories played a crucial role in helping expand people’s abilities to
imagine, dream, and understand the minds of others. Basically, our minds
co-evolved through storytelling over many, many campfires. We can’t help but
like stories. It’s in our DNA. And every one of us gets something out of
stories because every one of us has some level of understanding, regardless of
where we are on the age spectrum, experience spectrum, or intelligence
spectrum. There is something for everyone in a good story.
Telling
our own stories is the simplest talk to give. But, beware. According to
Anderson, there is a danger to taking this simpler road. The majority of talks
that TED Talks turns down are talks people have about themselves because they
lack a central idea that ties the narrative together. Remember the take-away
has to be obvious for everyone in the crowd.
Overcoming
the curse of knowledge may be one of the most important things we can do as
speakers. Making the speech as simple as it can be, but no simpler is how the
best speakers use the third tool of building ideas through explanations. For
the explanation method to be effective it has to start where the audience is.
Build curiosity. And it has to be delivered piece by piece with metaphors built
in to show how it all fits together with clear and easy to follow examples.
The
best explainers say just enough to let people feel like they’re coming up with
the idea themselves. The best speakers bring in new concepts and describe them
just enough so that the prepared minds of the audience can slide these concepts
together into place for themselves. This strategy is time efficient for
speakers doing the short 18 minute TED Talk, and it’s deeply satisfying for the
audience members who like to feel clever.
One
more thought on explanations. According to Anderson, sometimes it helps to
clear the muddy water by beginning our talks with what it isn’t. By sharing
what it isn’t with our audience we make it easier for them to close in on what
we have in our mind of what it is.
Our
fourth tool for speakers to build ideas in others’ heads is persuasion.
Persuasion is the act of replacing someone’s world view with something a little
better. This won’t be an easy thing to do, however. People cling to what they
think they know because it’s the only way they know how to make sense of their
world at the moment. No one wants to live in a senseless world turned upside
down. To be effective in the art of persuasion, a speaker has to have the
element of reason as a central building block of their persuasive speech.
Reason is best accomplished through intuition pumps or a detective story
approach. Adding some humor early on, adding an anecdote, offering vivid
examples, using 3rd party validation, using powerful visuals and
other plausible priming devices helps one persuade others to their vision of a
better world.
The
fifth talk tool of a speaker trying to build ideas is the revelation. The
revelation is the most direct way of gifting an idea to an audience because it
just simply shows something new to them. However, let’s not simply just walk
our audience through bullets in a power-point presentation. That’s boring.
Instead, let’s figure out a way that engages, intrigues and enlightens our
audience. This route will bring some wonder and delight. Some of TED Talk
speakers have achieved this wonder and delight through “Wonder Walks”. Others
have done it through Dynamic Demos. Some have even done it through
“Dreamscapes”. Ultimately, what we want to do as speakers is to paint a bold
picture of the future. And we want to do this in a way that will make them
desire that future!
Dan Blanchard is an award-winning author, speaker and educator. To
learn more about Dan please visit his website at: www.DanBlanchard.net.
Thanks.
