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

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"Give a talk on a round, red rug."

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"Share a childhood story."

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"Divulge a personal secret."

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"End with an inspiring call to action."

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No.

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That's not how to think of a TED Talk.

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In fact, if you overuse those devices,

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you're just going to come across
as clichéd or emotionally manipulative.

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But there is one thing that all
great TED Talks have in common,

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and I would like to share
that thing with you,

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because over the past 12 years,
I've had a ringside seat,

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listening to many hundreds
of amazing TED speakers, like these.

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I've helped them prepare
their talks for prime time,

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and learned directly from them

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their secrets of what
makes for a great talk.

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And even though these speakers
and their topics all seem

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completely different,

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they actually do have
one key common ingredient.

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And it's this:

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Your number one task as a speaker

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is to transfer into your listeners' minds
an extraordinary gift --

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a strange and beautiful object
that we call an idea.

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Let me show you what I mean.

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Here's Haley.

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She is about to give a TED Talk

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and frankly, she's terrified.

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(Video) Presenter: Haley Van Dyck!

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(Applause)

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Over the course of 18 minutes,

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1,200 people, many of whom
have never seen each other before,

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are finding that their brains
are starting to sync with Haley's brain

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and with each other.

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They're literally beginning to exhibit
the same brain-wave patterns.

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And I don't just mean
they're feeling the same emotions.

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There's something even more
startling happening.

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Let's take a look inside
Haley's brain for a moment.

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There are billions of interconnected
neurons in an impossible tangle.

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But look here, right here --

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a few million of them
are linked to each other

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in a way which represents a single idea.

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And incredibly, this exact pattern
is being recreated in real time

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inside the minds of everyone listening.

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That's right; in just a few minutes,

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a pattern involving millions of neurons

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is being teleported into 1,200 minds,

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just by people listening to a voice
and watching a face.

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But wait -- what is an idea anyway?

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Well, you can think of it
as a pattern of information

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that helps you understand
and navigate the world.

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Ideas come in all shapes and sizes,

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from the complex and analytical

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to the simple and aesthetic.

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Here are just a few examples
shared from the TED stage.

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Sir Ken Robinson -- creativity
is key to our kids' future.

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(Video) Sir Ken Robinson:
My contention is that creativity now

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is as important in education as literacy,

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and we should treat it
with the same status.

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Chris Anderson: Elora Hardy --
building from bamboo is beautiful.

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(Video) Elora Hardy:
It is growing all around us,

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it's strong, it's elegant,
it's earthquake-resistant.

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CA: Chimamanda Adichie --
people are more than a single identity.

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(Video) Chimamanda Adichie:
The single story creates stereotypes,

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and the problem with stereotypes
is not that they are untrue,

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but that they are incomplete.

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CA: Your mind is teeming with ideas,

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and not just randomly.

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They're carefully linked together.

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Collectively they form
an amazingly complex structure

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that is your personal worldview.

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It's your brain's operating system.

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It's how you navigate the world.

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And it is built up out of millions
of individual ideas.

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So, for example, if one little
component of your worldview

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is the idea that kittens are adorable,

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then when you see this,

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you'll react like this.

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But if another component of your worldview

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is the idea that leopards are dangerous,

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then when you see this,

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you'll react a little bit differently.

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So, it's pretty obvious

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why the ideas that make up
your worldview are crucial.

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You need them to be as reliable
as possible -- a guide,

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to the scary but wonderful
real world out there.

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Now, different people's worldviews
can be dramatically different.

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For example,

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how does your worldview react
when you see this image:

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(Video) Dalia Mogahed:
What do you think when you look at me?

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"A woman of faith,"
"an expert," maybe even "a sister"?

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Or "oppressed," "brainwashed,"

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"a terrorist"?

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CA: Whatever your answer,

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there are millions of people out there
who would react very differently.

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So that's why ideas really matter.

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If communicated properly,
they're capable of changing, forever,

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how someone thinks about the world,

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and shaping their actions both now
and well into the future.

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Ideas are the most powerful force
shaping human culture.

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So if you accept

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that your number one task
as a speaker is to build an idea

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inside the minds of your audience,

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here are four guidelines
for how you should go about that task:

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One, limit your talk
to just one major idea.

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Ideas are complex things;

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you need to slash back your content
so that you can focus

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on the single idea
you're most passionate about,

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and give yourself a chance
to explain that one thing properly.

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You have to give context,
share examples, make it vivid.

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So pick one idea,

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and make it the through-line
running through your entire talk,

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so that everything you say
links back to it in some way.

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Two, give your listeners a reason to care.

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Before you can start building things
inside the minds of your audience,

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you have to get their permission
to welcome you in.

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And the main tool to achieve that?

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Curiosity.

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Stir your audience's curiosity.

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Use intriguing, provocative questions

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to identify why something
doesn't make sense and needs explaining.

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If you can reveal a disconnection
in someone's worldview,

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they'll feel the need
to bridge that knowledge gap.

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And once you've sparked that desire,

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it will be so much easier
to start building your idea.

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Three, build your idea, piece by piece,

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out of concepts that your audience
already understands.

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You use the power of language

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to weave together
concepts that already exist

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in your listeners' minds --

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but not your language, their language.

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You start where they are.

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The speakers often forget that many
of the terms and concepts they live with

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are completely unfamiliar
to their audiences.

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Now, metaphors can play a crucial role
in showing how the pieces fit together,

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because they reveal
the desired shape of the pattern,

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based on an idea that the listener
already understands.

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For example, when Jennifer Kahn

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wanted to explain the incredible
new biotechnology called CRISPR,

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she said, "It's as if, for the first time,

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you had a word processor to edit DNA.

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CRISPR allows you to cut and paste
genetic information really easily."

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Now, a vivid explanation like that
delivers a satisfying aha moment

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as it snaps into place in our minds.

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It's important, therefore,
to test your talk on trusted friends,

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and find out which parts
they get confused by.

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Four, here's the final tip:

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Make your idea worth sharing.

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By that I mean, ask yourself the question:

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"Who does this idea benefit?"

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And I need you to be honest
with the answer.

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If the idea only serves you
or your organization,

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then, I'm sorry to say,
it's probably not worth sharing.

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The audience will see right through you.

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But if you believe that the idea
has the potential

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to brighten up someone else's day

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or change someone else's
perspective for the better

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or inspire someone to do
something differently,

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then you have the core ingredient
to a truly great talk,

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one that can be a gift to them
and to all of us.