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 with 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 clichéd 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 prime time,

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 listeners' 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,

1,200 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 each other.

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

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

There's something even more
startling happening.

Let's take a look inside
Haley'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 recreated 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 1,200 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.

Sir Ken Robinson: My contention
is that creativity now

is as important in education as literacy,

and we should treat it with
the same status.

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

Elora Hardy: It is growing all around us,

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

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

Chimamanda Adichie:
The single story creates stereotypes

and the problem with stereotypes
is not that they are untrue

but that they are incomplete.

CA: Your mind is teeming with ideas,

and not just randomly.

They're carefully linked together.

Collectively they form an amazingly
complex structure

that is your personal worldview.

It's your brain's operating system.

It's how you navigate the world.

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

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

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 wonderful
real world out there.

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

For example, how does your worldview react

when you see this image:

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

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

or oppressed, brainwashed, a terrorist.

CA: 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.

Ideas 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 context,
share examples, make it vivid.

So pick one idea,
and make it the through line

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 audiences' 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 unfamiliar
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 to all of us.