TED's secret to great public speaking

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

give a talk on a round, red rug.

share a childhood story,

divulge a personal secret,

end to an inspiring
call-to-action.

No, that's not how to think
of a TED Talk.

In fact, if you overuse those devices,

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

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

and I would like to share
that thing with you.

Because over the past 12 years,

I've had a ringside seat listening
to many hundreds

of amazing TED speakers,
like these.

I've helped them prepare
their talks for primetime

and learned directly from them
their secrets

of what makes for a great talk.

And even though these speakers
and their topics

all seem completely different,

they actually do have one key
common ingredient.

And it's this: your number one task
as a speaker

is to transfer into your listener's minds
an extraordinary gift.

A strange and beautiful object
that we call an idea.

Let me show you what I mean.

Here's Haley.

She is about to give a TED Talk

and frankly, she's terrified.

"Haley Van Dyck"

(Applause)

Over the course of 18 minutes,

12,000 people, many of whom
have never seen each other before

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

and with eachtoher.

They're literally beginning to exhibit
the same brainwave patterns.

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

they're something even more
startling happening.

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

There are billions of interconnected
neurons

that are in an impossible tangle.

But look here, right here,

a few million of them are linked
to each other

in a way which represents
a single idea.

And incredibly, this exact pattern
is being recreted in real-time

inside the minds of everyone listening.

That's right, in just a few minutes,

a pattern involving millions of neurons

is being teleported into 12,000 minds

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

But wait, what is an idea anyway?

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

that helps you understand
and navigate the world.

Ideas come in all shapes and sizes,

from the complex and analytical

to the simple and aesthetic.

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

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

"My contention is that creativity
now is as important in education

as literacy,

and we should treat it with
the same status."

Elora Hardy: building from
bamboo is beautiful.

"It is growing all around us,

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

Chimamanda Adichie:
people are more than a single identity.

"The single story creates stereotypes

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

but that they are incomplete."

Your mind is teeming with ideas,

and not just randomly,

they are carefully linked togehter.

Collectively they form an amazingly
complex structure

that is your personal worldview.

It's your brain's operating system.

It's how you naviagte the world.

And it's build up out of millions
of individual ideas.

So, for example, if one little
component is the idea

that kittens are adorable,

Then when you see this, you'll
react like this.

But if another component
of your worldview

is the idea that leopards
are dangerous,

then when you see this,

you'll react a little bit differently.

So, it's pretty obvious why
the ideas

that make up your worldview
are crucial.

You need them to be
as reliable as possible

a guide to the scary but wonderdul
real world out there.

Now, different people's world views
can be dramatically different.

For example, how does
your worldview react

when you see this image:

"What do you think when you
look at me?

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

or oppressed, brainwashed,
a terrorist."

Whatever your answer,

there are millions of people
out there

who would react very differently.

So that's why ideas really matter.

If communicated properly,

they are capable of changing,
forever,

how someone thinks about the world

and shaping their actions
both now

and well into the future.

Ides are the most powerful force
shaping human culture.

So if you accept that your
number one task as a speaker

is to build an idea inside
the minds of your audience,

here are four guidelines

for how you should
go about that task.

1. Limit your talk to just
one major idea.

Ideas are complex things,

you need to slash back
your content

so that you can focus on
the single idea

you are most passionate about

and give yourself a chance to explain

that one thing properly.

You have to give content,
share examples,

make it vivid.

So pick one idea and make
it the throughline

running through your entire talk

so that everything you say
links back to it

in some way.

2. Give your listeners
a reason to care.

Before you can start
building things

inside the minds of your audience,

you have to get their permission
to welcome you in.

And the main tool to achieve that?

Curiosity.

Stir your audience's curiosity.

Use intriguing, provocative questions

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

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

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

And once you've sparked
that desire,

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

3. Build your idea, piece by piece,

out of concepts that your audience
already understands.

You use the power of language
to weave together

concepts that already exist
in your listeners' minds.

But not your language,
their language.

You start where they are.

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

are completely unfamialiar
to their audiences.

Now, metaphors can play
a crucial role

in showing how the pieces
fit together

because they reveal the desired shape
of the pattern

based on an idea that the listener
already understands.

For example, when Jennifer Kahn
wanted to explain

the incredible new biotechnology
called CRISPR.

She said, "It's as if, for the first time,
you had a world processor to edit DNA.

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

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

as it snaps into place in our minds.

It's important, therefore,
to test your talk

on trusted friends and find out
which parts they get confused by.

4. Here's the final tip:

Make your idea worth sharing.

By that I mean, as yourself the question,

"Who does this idea benefit?"

And I need you to be honest
with the answer.

If the idea only serves you
or your organization,

then, I'm sorry to say,

it's probably not worth sharing.

The audience will see right through you.

But if you believe that the idea
has the potential

to brighten up someone else's day

or change someone else's perspective
for the better

or inspire someone to do
something differently,

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

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