Want To Become A Better Public Speaker? Read This Book.

Want To Become A Better Public Speaker? Read This Book.

There are many great books and resources available for speakers who want to improve their communication skills. For example, these lists share some of the many options available:

9 Books To Help You Improve Your Presentations

Communication At Work: 13 Books To Help You To Excel at Communication

However, of all the presentation related books I have read in the past year, one book stands out, Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top MindsTalk Like TED, presents brilliant tips and and helpful insights that resulted from a comprehensive study and thoughtful analysis of TED talks.

In the introduction to Talk Like TED, author Carmine Gallo explains how he uncovered the secrets to successful TED talks:

After analyzing more than 500 TED presentations (more than 150 hours) and speaking directly to successful TED speakers, I’ve discovered that the most popular TED presentations share nine common elements. I’ve also interviewed some of the world’s leading neuroscientists, psychologists, and communications experts to gain a better understanding of why the principles that underlie these elements work as well as they do. Best of all, once you learn the secrets these communicators share, you can adopt them and stand out in your very next pitch or presentation.

As mentioned in the introduction, Talk Like TED can help you become a more effective public speaker, even if you never plan to present at TED or a TEDx event.

To inspire you to purchase and peruse Talk Like TED, here are 3 of my favorite lessons from this exceptional book:

#1. Paint a Mental Picture with Multisensory Experiences

One of the key lessons shared in Talk Like TED is the importance of creating a multisensory experience for the audience.

In Talk Like TED, Dr. Richard Mayer, a professor of psychology at UC Santa Barbara, helps readers understand why a multisensory experience is important when sharing new ideas with an audience:

When the brain is allowed to build two mental representations of an explanation— a verbal model and a visual model— the mental connections are not just a little stronger. They are much, much stronger. Add touch and you’ve got a winner!

Author Carmine Gallo uses Michael Pritchard’s TED talk as an example of a multisensory presentation. During his TED talk, Pritchard uses stats, photographs, and statistics to create a memorable and impactful experience for the audience. 

#2. Deliver Jaw-Dropping Moments

According to Talk Like TED, when you add a jaw-dropping moment to your presentation, you help solidify the presentation experience in the minds of audience members.

In Chapter 5 of Talk Like TED, a quote from molecular scientist John Medina explains why a shocking, impressive, or surprising moment will make your message more memorable:

When the brain detects an emotionally charged event, the amygdala releases dopamine into the system. Because dopamine greatly aids memory and information processing, you could say the Post-it note reads ‘Remember This!’ Getting the brain to put a chemical Post-it note on a given piece of information means that information is going to be more robustly processed.

Mosquitos, malaria and education, the wildly popular 2009 TED talk by Bill Gates, is a great example of a presentation with a jaw-dropping moment. (Experience the shocking moment at 5:12 mark in the video below.)

#3. Teach Me Something New

In Chapter 4 of Talk Like TED, readers are reminded of the power of novelty for presentations.

Speakers are encouraged to:

–     Reveal information that’s completely new to the audience

–     Share information that’s packaged in a unique, and unexpected way

–     Or, offer a fresh and novel way to solve an old problem.

John Medina explains why the human brain loves unfamiliar, unusual, or unexpected experiences:

Babies are born with a deep desire to understand the world around them and an incessant curiosity that compels them to aggressively explore it. This need for exploration is so powerfully stitched into their experience that some scientists describe it as a drive, just as hunger and thirst and sex are drives.” 

To help drive home the power of novelty, Talk Like TED points to the TED talk The astonishing hidden world of the deep ocean by Robert Ballard, an ocean explorer who has made many major natural discoveries, such as the deep-sea vents, as well as finding the sunken Titanic. 

In his talk, Ballard reveals surprising facts, such as:

–     Fifty percent of the United States of America lies beneath the sea.

–      The greatest mountain range on Earth lies under the ocean.

–      Most of our planet is in eternal darkness.

Conclusion:

To deliver exceptional presentations, learn from some of the brightest minds in the world: TED speakers. To learn from these brilliant innovators and leaders, watch TED talks, attend TED as well as your local TEDx event if you can, and read Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds.

Additional Resources:

The Advice I Give To All TEDx Speakers

The TED staff answers: What Makes A Great TED Talk?

News and Updates from the 2015 TED Conference

5 TED Talks To Help You Work Smarter





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