It’s a good time of year to talk about thankfulness. When it comes to delivering a presentation, there are two camps out there trying to answer this question. Should you thank your audience, and if so, when? Some theorists seem to think you can’t say it enough. Others say a “thank you” takes away from your content.
We aren’t going to attempt to settle the debate. After all, it’s probably a matter of personal preference and presentation context. But we are going to take a look at current trends. We’ll study a few of the top TED talks and explore whether they thank their audiences, and if so, when and how they do.
3 Popular Presentations
In the list of the top 24 most popular TED talks, the following three have over 50 million views each. So these speakers are clearly doing something right. Let’s see how and when they say thanks.
“Do Schools Kill Creativity?”
With over 68 million views, Sir Ken Robinson’s talk is certainly a popular one. During his presentation, which runs the standard TED time of about 20 minutes, he says thanks 4 times. Twice in reference to audience applause near the beginning of his talk. Once during a joke about his wife’s cooking. And then he ends his talk by saying, “thank you very much.”
“How Great Leaders Inspire Action”
Simon Sinek’s talk has had approximately 52 million views. During his presentation, he says “thanks” only once. It comes right at the end of his message and mirrors Robinson’s conclusion. He simply ends by saying, “thank you very much.”
“The Power of Vulnerability”
Brené Brown’s talk is certainly near the top of the list with over 50 million views. In her presentation, she says thanks twice. And her patterns mirror that of Robinson and Sinek. She says thanks once in response to audience applause. And she ends with a brief, “That’s all I have. Thank you.”
The Patterns of “Thanks”
Two patterns seem to emerge from looking at these top speakers and others. Experts seem to thank the audience regularly in two scenarios:
1. After lengthy audience applause.
When the speaker says something particularly motivating or funny, the audience will often applaud. Top speakers seem to be using “thank you” as a way to acknowledge the affirmation and appreciation of their audience members. But in my study of how top TED speakers use “thanks,” I noticed something interesting. The speakers only said thanks when the applause was a little longer than normal. I’m assuming that’s because it serves two purposes in these cases. It does acknowledge the audience’s response, but it also is a subtle clue that the applause can die down so the speaker can move on. After all, it would be strange to thank the audience after every time they laugh or clap. But when it lasts a little longer, it serves two important purposes.
2. At the end of the presentation.
Out of the 24 top talks, 21 of the speakers end by saying some form of “thank you.” The other three? Two of them are interview formats which end differently. And the other one, the real outlier, is Dan Pink’s talk, “The Puzzle of Motivation,” which ends with “I rest my case” rather than the traditional “thank you.” So if we take out the interview formatted talks, speakers end with “thank you” 95% of the time. So if you are going to use a “thank you” during your presentation, it seems like the conclusion is a great place to do so.
At Ethos3 we love studying the trends of top speakers as our patterns for presentations adapt and change. We’d love to help you with your presentation development, design, or delivery.
