Storytelling Lessons from TED: “What a driverless world could look like”

Presentation stories are a lot like candy. They come in a variety of wrappings and taste a little different, but all of them please the audience consuming them. Wanis Kabbaj’s recent TED Talk, “What a driverless world could look like,” was just one piece of the presentation storytelling assortment. Watch it here:

Through his use of observation, illustration, and motivation, Wanis created a narrative flow most presenters only dream of creating. Here’s how…

1. Observe

The first step to developing your presentation narrative is conducting research on your topic and gathering evidence to support your message. Maybe you frequent scientific journals and studies. Or perhaps you have a tendency to go straight to Google. Wanis demonstrates through his TED Talk that research can come in the form of general day-to-day observations in addition to other avenues. For example, from :31 to 1:37, Wanis crafts the scene for his presentation message.

“Some cities are calmly industrious, like Dusseldorf or Louisville. Others project an energy that they can hardly contain, like New York or Hong Kong. And then you have Paris or Istanbul, and their patina full of history.” – Wanis Kabbaj

Source: What a driverless world could look like

He has a peculiar obsession. This is something he has gathered through meticulous observation.

2. Illustrate

Because his obsession is so unique, statistics and information that might be startling to him are not necessarily startling to audience members. Wanis uses a storytelling technique integrated in much journalism writing to provide context for the numbers. An example of this occurs around the 1:49 mark of Wanis’ TED Talk:

Storytelling Lessons from TED: “What a driverless world could look like”-image

Source: What a driverless world could look like

Implement this illustrative tool in your next presentation to enhance your storytelling and give your audience the background they need to have a reason to care.

3. Motivate

At the conclusion of his TED Talk, Wanis speculates about the future of transportation. He creates a sense of urgency to implement his solutions and ideas. At 10:54 he says, “We can’t wait billions of years to evolve our transportation system.” And to inspire his audience to action, he ends with “Let’s do it.” Simple, but effective.

Wanis’ TED Talk is the perfect blueprint for comprehensive presentation storytelling – from initial research to descriptive narrative and impactful call to action. How will you utilize his techniques in your presentations? Find out other storytelling tactics courtesy of TED Talk through the resources listed below:

Searching for Stories: Storytelling Lessons from Dave Isay

Commonality in a TED Talk: “The shared experience of absurdity”

Watch Now! Baba Shiv’s TED Talk “Sometimes it’s good to give up the driver’s seat”

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