Now we go from hearing Ira Glass discuss the art of story-telling to listening to Chris Anderson explain the art of delivering a good 18 minute talk -- a TED Talk.
Anderson identifies at least 7 questions and points a person should consider while drafting a TED Talk:
1. Do you have something to say? Do you have an idea that the world really needs to know about?
2. Have you figured out a way to make this idea accessible to your audience?
3. Is there a journey that you can take the audience on during the time allotted?
4. If the journey, or the scope of your work, does not fit within the allotted time, what is the angle or piece of the idea, that you can realistically cover in your talk?
5. To figure out the angle, or what your most compelling story is, think of a potential headline for your talk. Thinking about a good headline forces you to think about a good angle for your talk.
6. Remember, "less is more": strip out the inessentials so that you go into greater depth on the essentials of the journey.
7. Think about the few things you can unpack during the allotted time that will make what you are saying understandable and believable.
What a good talk is, in a nutshell
It is a journey
The speaker has scoped the extent of the talk so that it does not cover too much territory and fits the allotted time with greater detail and depth than would an unmanageable talk that tries to tell everything.
The speaker takes the audience with him or her each step along the way.
Points to keep in mind in order to make the talk more accessible
Build your talk step-by-step for the audience, and let them see the next step ahead so that they don't feel as though they are in a fog.
Use accessible language; do not use jargon.
Give examples. Talks cannot advance original ideas without populating those ideas with examples. Without examples the people will be left behind.
Show vulnerability; let your audience know that you are taking a risk by sharing these things with them, and that you realize you are making yourself vulnerable by doing this and are entrusting yourself to them.
Ask them to go with you on this journey; do not just smugly assume that will go along.
Seduce them, as much as you can, with humor so that they will be more receptive to what you are saying when you get to the core of your talk.
What does it mean to take the audience on a Journey?
A journey of discovery: you reveal something, and that "something" leads to something else, and then something else, and on and on it goes -- it feels natural as the journey unfolds.
A journey of persuasion: go through it step-by-step -- making your argument one piece at a time.
The detective story: this is a story that starts with a riddle. It starts with a question or a problem. For example, you can share with them how your learned that everything you thought you knew about a certain topic was dead wrong.
Show the audience the clues you came across. Show them the "aha" moment of revelation. Allow the receiving brain to put the pieces together: clue, clue, clue -- conclusion.
You don't get inspiration in your talk by targeting it directly; you get inspiration by being authentic and by showing how you expanded your own sense of possibility in the world.
Other things to keep in mind
Think journey -- think story.
Start where your readers and audience is and meet them there. Give them a reason to come with you on this journey.
Mix story-telling and inspiration with analysis and issues.
Give them authenticity and vulnerability -- let them see that this is your passion that you are telling them about -- let them see that what you are talking about really matters -- let them see that you know you are taking a risk in trying to share these things with them.
The TED Essentials
TED is interested in ideas worth sharing and in minds being shifted.
What is the core idea that you have that is fresh and unique and worth sharing?
Why should someone else go along on this journey with you? Why should what you are sharing be important to them?
Why should they believe what you are telling them? Why is what you are saying so?
No comments:
Post a Comment