Learning from TED Talks: Public-speaking 101

9 Public-Speaking Lessons From The World's Greatest TED Talks

Depending on your perspective, 2006 was either a really bad year for public speaking or the start of a world-changing transformation. In that year the famous TED conference began streaming 18-minute presentations from the world’s top minds for free. Today TED talks are viewed more than two million times a day and, in my opinion, they have become the gold standard in public speaking and presentation skills. It also means that, like it or your not, your next presentation will be compared to a TED talk.

During a trip to Paris last December I met with a group of young business professionals who said they were tired of speakers who gave “old school” PowerPoint presentations.

“What exactly would you consider ‘new’ school?” I asked.

“You know, like TED,” they said.

The South China Post newspaper recently reported that TED-style events are exploding in Hong Kong “in a big way.” Independently organized “TEDx” events are catching on across Asia. On a trip to Japan where I gave a keynote I was approached by several people who said, “We love the American style of speaking.”

“The American style?”

Yes, you know, like TED.”

FIND THE NINE LESSONS ON PUBLIC SPEAKING AT FORBES:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2014/03/04/9-public-speaking-lessons-from-the-worlds-greatest-ted-talks/

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