MightyRecruiterAfter 30 years of dedicated work, TED and leadership talks are now a staple for intellectuals of all ages. These talks are not just a great way of discussing issues, but the presenters themselves are some of the best in the world. What can you learn from their presentation style? Well, here are a few key TED talk guidelines to incorporate into your presentation.
1. Get Personal With Your Anecdotes
If you’ve ever seen a TED talk, you understand how powerful personal stories can be when trying to convey a point or get the audience to consider a different perspective. In fact, even if you haven’t seen a TED talk, you could probably still attest to the power of a personal story. Why does these anecdotes have such power? The foster a personal connection with your listener, which means you’ve really got their attention. TED and leadership talks don’t have to be long. They need to be effective. You don’t need more than three to five anecdotes, but you should choose stories that are relevant and genuine. Don’t be afraid to let a little passion come through in your presentation, because your audience will connect with that touch of humanity.
2. 18 Minutes or Less
Have you ever seen a TED and leadership talk exceed 18 minutes? That’s because speakers are limited to 18-minute presentations. The organizations believes this is the perfect amount of time to give you audience a thought provoking and engaging discussion without boring your audience. If you speak for much longer, chances are you’ve given your audience too much information to digest in one sitting. If you can give an effective presentation within this time limit, you’ll get the chance to show off your communication skills. Remember, successful communication doesn’t mean throwing every piece of data you can at your audience. Instead, tell them what they need to know and nothing more. If your associates need to analyze the spreadsheets, let them do it outside the meeting room and keep the presentation short and sweet.
3. Be Funny, but Skip the Jokes
You can find many examples of humor in TED and leadership talks, but some of the most viewed and hilarious speakers didn’t actually tell a formal joke. For example, ïI was invited to a party ï a rare occurrence for a principalï .ï If you plan a joke, it can feel forced (just like when you memorize every word of your presentation). Allow yourself a more room for a playful attitude. As a speaker, you want your audience to relax and enjoy themselves, so allow yourself a bit of anecdotal humor here and there. Your show of personality may not result in an uproar or laughter, but you can probably get your audience to smile and chuckle. This will lift both the mood and the overall level of engagement.
4. Hit the Trifecta
TED and leadership talks function with a key fact in mind: our short-term memory has room for three to five messages at a time. If you’ve ever noticed, many authors and other writer like to use lists of three. Most TED talks have a message that is divided into three main sections, which helps the audience easily digest the information at hand. Especially if you need to explain a difficult concept, it’s most effective to break everything into distinctive pieces. If you audience can follow and remember your presentation, there are more likely to be open to your ideas, changes or whatever you may be presenting. Many businesses presentations are design to be persuasive, so as you plan, keep in mind the power of a trifecta.
5. Practice. Again.
Just like with anything worth doing at a high level, you should practice more than you need to so you can ensure a great performance when it counts. Especially if you get a touch of stage fright, it’s important to be comfortable with the information you’re presenting. Even if you put the entire presentation together yourself, things like transitions or even technical issues can cause problems. Practice for your worst case scenarios (like your PowerPoint doesn’t work), but also run through your presentation many times as it should be. Take the extra step and practice the QandA session as well. When you get in front of your audience, make sure your prepared so you can focus on presenting in an engaging and informative way. The business presentation is an essential part of any enterprise whether you need new investors or want to inform your employees about a policy change. To learn more about excelling in the presentation room, check out other Resume Builder resources.