How to Deliver a Great TED Talk: Presentation Secrets of the World's Best Speakers (How to Give a TED Talk) (4 page)

Since stories are such an important tool in effective communication, you will discover the essentials of great storytelling in a later chapter. These secrets will allow you to become a master storyteller and speaker, entertaining your friends as well as your audiences.

2. USE QUESTIONS TO CREATE KNOWLEDGE GAPS

Starting with a question creates a knowledge gap:
a gap between what the listeners know and what they don’t know.
This gap creates curiosity because people are hard-wired with a desire to fill knowledge gaps.

For example, starting with a question such as “What’s the number one reason that most people fail to advance in their careers, working harder and longer, yet never achieving their dreams?” gets your audience thinking and starting to formulate their answers. You’ve got them hooked!

In his TED talk,
Simon Sinek
began his speech with a series of powerful questions:

“How do you explain when things don’t go as we assume? Or better, how do you explain when others are able to achieve things that seem to defy all of the assumptions? For example: Why is Apple so innovative? Year after year, after year, after year, they’re more innovative than all their competition. And yet, they’re just a computer company. They’re just like everyone else. They have the same access to the same talent, the same agencies, the same consultants, the same media. Then why is it that they seem to have something different? Why is it that Martin Luther King led the Civil Rights Movement? He wasn’t the only man who suffered a pre-civil rights America. And he certainly wasn’t the only great orator of the day. Why him? And why is it that the Wright brothers were able to figure out control-powered, manned flight when there were certainly other teams who were better qualified, better funded, and they achieve powered man flight, and the Wright brothers beat them to it. There’s something else at play here.”

One important thing to note about asking questions is you must make sure that you
pause after your question
so that the audience has enough time to reflect on your question. If you don’t pause after your questions, you’ll be trampling over their thoughts and they won’t pay attention to what you’re saying.

The final benefit of opening with a question is that it allows you to create a connection with the audience. For example, in his winning speech at the Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking, Darren LaCroix opened with the following question:

“Can you remember a moment when a brilliant idea flashed into your head?” –
Darren LaCroix, 2001 World Champion of Public Speaking

If you were in this audience, you would naturally think to yourself, “Yes! I know what you’re talking about!”

When your audience can relate to a question you’ve asked, you’ve successfully created a connection.

In your next presentation, open with a question that the audience can relate to or with a question that creates a knowledge gap and creates curiosity in your listeners. Once you do this, your listeners will be hooked onto your every word!

You can deliver the perfect opening by first starting with a question that builds curiosity, and then filling that knowledge gap by telling a story that illustrates the main point of your speech.

For example, let us say that you opened with the following question:

“What’s the number one reason that most people fail to advance in their careers, working harder and longer, yet never achieving their dreams?”

At this point, if you were an average speaker you could immediately reveal your answer and tell the audience, “
The number one reason most people fail is because they do not set goals for themselves.”

However, as a reader of this book, you can do something even better. You can let the listeners
discover
the answer rather than simply handing it to them. You can prolong their curiosity by diving into a story that illustrates your point. For example, after asking your opening question, you could tell the story of your friend Jerry, who worked long hours each night at the office but never achieved any success. You can then reveal how Jerry discovered the power of goal-setting and went on to become vice president of his company.

In this way, instead of simply handing your answer to your audience, you’ve let them discover it for themselves through Jerry’s story. You’ve successfully captured your audience’s interest, and you’ve made an impact because they’ll remember Jerry’s story.

So, create a knowledge gap using a question and then fill the gap using a compelling story.

3. QUOTABLE QUOTES

Would you like to add credibility to your speech?

Would you build the credibility of your message by borrowing credibility from a third-party source?

Consider opening with a quote.

A short quote that illustrates your main point will create support for your speech. For example, if you are giving a speech about the need to keep things simple, then you could borrow Einstein’s credibility by starting like this:

Einstein said, “Imagination is more important … than knowledge!”

However, here are a few pointers to keep in mind when choosing your quotes:

• Shorter is sweeter:
  The shorter your quote, the greater the impact. A long quote will end up boring your audience.
  
• Make sure it’s relevant
  : Make sure the quote is relevant to your main point, and relevant for the atmosphere. A playful quotation from Homer Simpson may not be appropriate during a tear-filled funeral.
  
• Check the source!
  Check the source’s credibility. Don’t quote Hitler if you’re delivering a speech about the importance of ethics!
  
• Quote a well-known authority:
  Quoting your high school friend may please your friend, but it’s not going to earn you extra points from the audience. Quote someone who is familiar to everyone in the audience.
  
• Choose a quote that hasn’t been overused.
  Some quotes have been overused so much that audience members are tired of listening to them. Try to use a quote that audience members may not have heard before.
  

For example, in his speech for the 2003 Toastmasters International World Championship of Public Speaking, when he talked about the importance of dreaming, Jim Key used a quote by Martin Luther King. However, instead of going with Dr. King’s overused “I have a dream” quote, Jim Key used another one which also fit perfectly into his speech:

Martin Luther King, one of the greatest dreamers of our age said, “The time is always right to do what is right!”, which means that if it was right for us to dream as children, it’s also right for us to dream as adults.

4. INTERESTING/STARTLING STATEMENT

Dale Carnegie said, “Begin with something interesting in your first sentence. Not the second. Not the third. The First! F-I-R-S-T! First!”

You can immediately differentiate yourself and your topic from most other speakers by shocking your listeners with a startling statement. For example, if you’re talking about the importance of avoiding fast food, you could start with the following statement:

“
If you eat a McDonald’s quarter pounder with cheese, you’ll instantly gain almost half a pound of weight!”

For a statement to be shocking, it has to be something that is not common knowledge. When you provide a fact that most people are unaware of, you’ve instantly added value to their lives and made a positive impression on them.

You don’t necessarily have to use shocking statements to get people to listen. An intriguing statement can do an equally good job. For example:

“In 1989, when I was graduating from college, my professor told me something which changed my life … and it could change yours too.”

The above statement intrigues the listeners. It causes them to wonder, “What did your professor say? How did it change your life? And how can it change my life?”

Intriguing statements create a mystery. They create knowledge gaps that the audience feels compelled to fill.

If you can find an interesting or startling statement that backs up your speech’s core message, be sure to open with it and you’ll have your listeners wrapped up in your presentation.

5. CALL-BACK

A call-back is when you refer back to something that happened before or during the event. For example, in his TED talk,
Sir Ken Robinson
called back to the presentations that had taken place before his. He said:

There have been three themes, haven’t there, running through the conference, which are relevant to what I want to talk about. One is the extraordinary evidence of human creativity in all of the presentations that we’ve had and in all of the people here. Just the variety of it and the range of it. The second is that it’s put us in a place where we have no idea what’s going to happen, in terms of the future…

Later in the speech, he called back to an event that had taken place the night before:

And the third part of this is that we’ve all agreed, nonetheless, on the really extraordinary capacities that children have — their capacities for innovation. I mean, Sirena last night was a marvel, wasn’t she? Just seeing what she could do. And she’s exceptional, but I think she’s not, so to speak, exceptional in the whole of childhood. What you have there is a person of extraordinary dedication who found a talent. And my contention is, all kids have tremendous talents.

Calling back to earlier presentations gives Ken Robinson’s speech a personalized feel. It lets the audience members know that the speech is customized for them, as opposed to being an off-the-shelf speech.

In your speeches and presentations, you can call back to previous speakers or to events that took place before you spoke.

Opening with a story, question, quote, interesting/startling statement or call-back of an earlier event is just one aspect of creating a powerful opening. After opening with one of the five proven openers, you may sometimes need to include a Big Promise, a Pain Statement and a Roadmap. Let’s start with the Big Promise:

INCLUDE A BIG PROMISE

If you’ve ever stayed up late at night watching infomercials that are selling electronic ab belts, you’ve probably heard some of these phrases:

• Now you can get rock-hard abs…with no sweat!
  
• Lose 4 inches in 30 days – Guaranteed!
  
• 30% More Effective than Normal Exercise
  

The above phrases are the
Big Promises
of electronic ab belts. The electronic ab belts work on the basis that the electronic signals from the belt provides muscle stimulation…hence, you can sit around and just “watch the fat melt away” – without breaking a sweat! As a result of these Big Promises, the electronic ab belts became a “must-have” (I will admit that after hearing these Big Promises, I wanted one too!). However, in 2002, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission charged the three best-selling electronic ab belts with making false claims such as the ones listed above.

The Big Promise can be very effective in winning people’s time, attention and money. Hopefully you also realize how easy it is to abuse the Big Promise, and I hope that you’ll make sure your Big Promises are never Empty Promises.

In the business world, there are lots of examples of companies that are using the Big Promise ethically and honestly. Here are a few:

RYANAIR
: Ryanair’s Lowest Fare Guarantee – Or We Pay You Double The Difference

FACEBOOK:
Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your lives

WALMART:
Save money. Live better.

So, what does all this have to do with creative powerfully persuasive presentations?

Simply, make sure that your presentation offers your audience members a Big Promise.

What is the Big Promise of your presentation? What benefit does your presentation offer your audience? Why should they listen to you? What’s in it for them?

Give your audience members such a compelling reason to listen to your speech that they have no choice but to be curious and excited about what you have to offer them.

Create the most compelling Big Promise that you possibly can and put it somewhere near the beginning of your presentation.

For example, during my workshops on public speaking skills, I offer the participants the following Big Promise:

“By the end of this half-day workshop, you will have the tools and techniques to become a powerfully persuasive speaker. If you apply the techniques you learn today, I almost guarantee that you’ll walk away twice as good as when you first came in. The five tools you’re going to pick up today will shave years off your learning curve. Plus, you’ll become the kind of confident speaker who keeps their audiences engaged, excited and entertained! The first tool…”

The Big Promise always has audience members leaning in closer, wanting to hear more. When you use the Big Promise in your presentations, your audience won’t be able to wait to hear what you have to say!

Your Big Promise doesn’t need to be as long and as elaborate as mine. It could be just a sentence or two. For example, if you’re pitching a new idea to your boss, you could say:

“In this presentation, we’re going to discuss ways our business can tap into an untapped market that’s worth $400 million!”

Here’s another example. If you’re a sales trainer, you could start your seminar with:

“Over the next 20 minutes, you’re going to pick up tools on how to double your sales and triple your revenue”

When creating your Big Promise, there are several things to keep in mind:

• Answer the WIIFM Question:
  At the beginning of every presentation or speech, audience members are asking themselves, “WIIFM: What’s in it for me?” Make sure your Big Promise gives your audience members a compelling reason to listen to the rest of your presentation.
  
• Include Your Biggest Benefits in the Big Promise:
  What are the biggest benefits your audience members will gain from listening to you? Include the top three biggest benefits in your Big Promise.
  
• Cover the EDGE Benefits:
  Audience members are motivated by different things. Some are motivated by the prospect of making more money. Others are motivated by having more time. Others want more enjoyment.