Talk like TED by Carmine Gallo

Nine steps to make you a better speaker

Talk like TED by Carmine Gallo is a book written by a professional speaker and communications expert. It takes you through top tips on how to give presentations according to the TED talks format.

Key points:

1. You must be truly passionate about what you are talking about. This will translate into mastery of the topic and your audience will recognise it.
2. Tell three stories, or make three key points. Three is the magic number.
   • But there should be a single message for the whole talk; one that could be summarised in a Twitter post
3. Practice extremely heavily. Do it live, video yourself, and get discerning feedback from objective individuals.
4. Convey something new. Novelty grabs an audience’s attention so there must be a unique aspect to your talk.
5. Have one emotionally-charged moment that will make it particularly memorable. People remember events when they are linked to strong emotions.
6. Use humour but avoid telling jokes. Either use observational humour or borrow a quote from someone else.
   • Keep your hands in the ‘power circle’ (above hips and below shoulders)
7. Stick to 18-20minutes and the optimum pace is 160 words/minute. People often talk too slowly.
8. Slides should be mostly pictures with very few words.
9. Remain authentic and be honest. Audiences will know when you are putting it on.

At this point I’d like to also draw your attention to p-cubed (p³), which is an excellent resource from Mr. Ross Fisher. His work is even more practical and I would highly recommend spending time going through his suggestions.

More books like this:

• The charisma myth by Olivia Fox Cabane

Useful links:

• Here are one, two, and three further summaries/reflections on this book for comparison