TED's secret to public speaking

TED

’

s secret to great public speaking

Chris Anderson,Mar 2016

Some people think that there's a TED Talk formula:

0:14

0:16

0:17

0:19

0:22

No. That's not how to think of a TED Talk. In fact, if you overuse those devices, you're just

going to come across as clichéd or emotionally manipulative.

0:31

But there is one thing that all great TED Talks have in common, and I would like to share that

thing with you,

0:38

because

over

the

past

12

years,

I've

had

a

ringside

seat,

listening

to

many

hundreds

of

amazing

TED

speakers,

like

these.

I've

helped

them

prepare

their

talks

for

prime

time,

and

learned directly from them their secrets of what makes for a great talk.

0:52

And even though these speakers and their topics all seem completely different, they actually

do

have

one

key

common

ingredient.

And

it's

this:

Your

number

one

task

as

a

speaker

is

to

transfer into your listeners' minds an extraordinary gift -- a strange and beautiful object that we

call an idea.

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Let me show you what I mean. Here's Haley. She is about to give a TED Talk and frankly, she's

terrified.

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(Video) Presenter: Haley Van Dyck!

1:23

(Applause)

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Over the course of 18 minutes, 1,200 people, many of whom have never seen each other

before, are finding that their brains are starting to sync with Haley's brain and with each other.

They're literally beginning to exhibit the same brain-wave patterns. And I don't just mean they're

feeling the same emotions. There's something even more startling happening.

1:49

Let's

take

a

look

inside

Haley's

brain

for

a

moment.

There

are

billions

of

interconnected

neurons in an impossible tangle. But look here, right here -- a few million of them are linked to

each

other

in

a

way

which

represents

a

single

idea.

And

incredibly,

this

exact

pattern

is

being

recreated in real time inside the minds of everyone listening. That's right; in just a few minutes, a