Are you looking to make a great impression in an interview, in a talk, or during a meeting? Even if you are a confident and grounded person, it can be difficult to convey your intention when you are put on the spot. Thankfully, TED Talks presentations offer a great deal of insight, with tips we can use at work every day. Here are some ideas that you can use.
Before listing some of the most-loved presentation tips from TED Talks, keep in mind that the best way to learn is to actually watch what people do in the series. Better yet, read over these suggestions, and then watch the lecturers to see how they use their pointers. Use a pen and notebook to take notes on what you like about their presentations. By reading and internalizing these ideas as well as observing how they are applied, you are sure to be able to reproduce the excellent methods you see.
Here are some ways you can present yourself just like a TED Talks pro:
1. Eat well. What eating well means will certainly vary extensively from person to person. Adults know how and what to eat and which ingredients help their mind work the best. If you’re unsure, do a trial run the week before. Prepare a healthy meal, eat, wait an hour, and then practice your speech. Do you feel energized? Can you think clearly? This is a great way to experiment with an ideal food regimen. If you don’t know what foods to eat, try a high protein, low carb meal. For many people, strong proteins help sharpen their minds, whereas heavy carbs can weigh their bodies down and cause fatigue.
2. Burn stress. Another activity to do before getting on stage or sitting down for a meeting is engaging in some high cardio exercise. Go for a run or use machines at a local gym. Get your heart rate soaring (in a healthy way, slowly building up and releasing afterward) for at least 20 minutes. This is likely to increase dopamine and help you feel relaxed and happy.
3. Emergency plan. Ideally and most likely, all will be well, and you’ll make a grand speech and a grand exit to match. But what if you don’t? What if you have bad luck, the technology fails, you have a non-preventable crisis that morning, or you just wake up and feel low in energy that day? Weeks before the big day, arrange a detailed backup plan to help protect your TED presentation skills. This may involve hand-written notes, backup technology, or another speech altogether. Whatever it is, make sure it’s a process you would feel comfortable with. Imagine the worst day you’ve ever had and then devise a plan that would save you from that potential day.
4. Be real. It’s important to impress, to practice, and to be professional. But it’s also just as important to show yourself as an authentic person who is taking a chance by revealing your ideas to a respectable audience. This is one of the many essential TED presentation skills. To put it another way, you can choose to display yourself as an authentic professional, someone who has experience as an employee but also as a person. One way to do this well is to offer a story from your personal life, but to also mention your professional life within it (or vice versa). For example, “When I was volunteering for a local NGO, my best friend told me…” This reveals you as both a person and a worker. People relate to that. If you can share this, while being emotional (without overdoing it), you’re on the right track.
5. Speak slowly. This may sound quite simple, but the reality is that some people quicken their speech when they are nervous. There are a number of downsides to this. First, the audience may not be able to decipher what you say clearly enough. Second, even if your listeners can hear you, you may not be speaking with a profound emphasis when you discuss meaningful ideas that should be deeply expressed. Third, when you speak quickly, you lose those extra seconds which may be important for you to think, to pause, to survey the room, and to make eye contact, as well as to think on your feet if a question is posed. Finally, when you speak quickly, you lose out on the time you need to breathe deeply. This means that your heart rate may quicken, and you may begin to sweat and lose focus. If you’re out of breath, you’ll have a harder time using your TED Talks communication skills.
6. Think rhetorically. One of the best ways to engage a listener is to propose a question you truly do not know the answer to. How easy is it to answer an easy question or to make an introductory remark, and then fill the remaining time with the various solutions to that idea? Regardless of how creative your solutions are, if you’re responding to a question you are already know the answer to, it’s likely that your audience has answers to it also. Phrase a question that’s unthinkable to respond to, or a problem you know can never be completely resolved. Hopefully, the rhetorical question will also have some emotion to it, some yearning, or some hopefulness.
7. Answer queries. Rarely, but sometimes, people will propose challenges or queries to you while you’re in midst of a lecture. Never tell a participant who dares courageously to speak up to wait until after you’re done speaking to receive an answer. Be diplomatic instead. Stop your train of thought, stand still a moment to consider, and then give a concise but thoughtful response. This conveys respect to your participant, and it also furthers the dialogue, gets people interested, and helps you expand on your idea. Come to think of those questions as helping rather than hindering your speech. Such inclusive behavior will encourage others to take your words seriously, even if they question them all the same.
8. Take your time. One way TED Talks presentation skills famously create attention and drama is when speakers take luxurious pauses between climactic moments. Distilling thoughts—breaking them down in such a digestible way—can be indispensable for speakers and listeners. Listen to TED Talks speeches to get a sense of how this is done.
9. Watch your body. Many TED Talks speakers don’t stand perfectly still as they speak, but nor do they rummage back and forth across the stage in a nervous frenzy. Rather, consider taking a few steps forward to create emphasis or look left or right to gradually survey the room. Always maintain eye contact and distribute it across the audience evenly. This will help the audience connect with you and with your words, without becoming distracted by significant movements.
10. Have a message. Although this may seem relatively obvious, it can be so easy to generate a discussion without a climax that keeps people thinking. It’s important to leave the audience with food for thought, and with a way that they too can exercise their independent thinking. Do they agree or disagree with the ideas you provided? If they agree, what can they do about it? How can they follow your team’s example, make the world a better place, or improve on their work-life balance? Leave a message that is both utilitarian—a call to action—and that also leaves an emotional flavor. When you move people, they are likely to remember you and to take action.
TED Talks communication skills
There is a lot we can learn from the TED Talks communication skills of today, and we should be thankful that we live in a time when such knowledge, confidence, and wisdom is available to us via people who have worked hard to try to develop their communication skills. The best way to make yourself into a sophisticated speaker is by practicing, by working on your confidence, and by establishing healthy routines. Review the TED Talks presentation skills tips regularly and watch their educational videos. Very soon, it will be you standing in center stage.
