The TED Commandments

 

TED is an organization dedicated to sharing the best thinkers and presenters of our time. Their speakers demonstrate excellent speaking skills and thought provoking information.

The TED Commandments

These 10 tips are given to all TED Conference speakers as they prepare their TEDTalks. They will help your TEDx speakers craft talks that will have a profound impact on your audience.

1.  Dream big. Strive to create the best talk you have ever given. Reveal something never seen before. Do something the audience will remember forever. Share an idea that could change the world.

2.  Show us the real you. Share your passions, your dreams … and also your fears. Be vulnerable. Speak of failure as well as success.

3.  Make the complex plain. Don’t try to dazzle intellectually. Don’t speak in abstractions. Explain! Give examples. Tell stories. Be specific.

4.  Connect with people’s emotions. Make us laugh! Make us cry!

5.  Don’t flaunt your ego. Don’t boast. It’s the surest way to switch everyone off.

6.  No selling from the stage! Unless we have specifically asked you to, do not talk about your company or organization. And don’t even think about pitching your products or services or asking for funding from stage.

7.  Feel free to comment on other speakers’ talks, to praise or to criticize. Controversy energizes! Enthusiastic endorsement is powerful!

8.  Don’t read your talk. Notes are fine. But if the choice is between reading or rambling, then read!

9.  End your talk on time. Doing otherwise is to steal time from the people that follow you. We won’t allow it.

10.  Rehearse your talk in front of a trusted friend … for timing, for clarity, for impact.

This original document can be found at http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/360

Visit TED at www.TED.com

Preparing Speakers

 

 

Preparing Speakers

TED is an organization dedicated to sharing the best thinkers and presenters of our time. Their speakers demonstrate excellent speaking skills and thought provoking information.

TED’s format may be different than what many speakers are accustomed to. (Long talks, podiums and readings are discouraged by TED.) To get the best out of your speakers, prepare them for what to expect. These are excellent tips for you to use when organizing a conference. As a speaker, you can gleen many good ideas on how you should prepare each talk you deliver.

How to prepare your speakers:

• Talk to every speaker (by phone or in person) weeks, if not months, before the event. Make sure they understand the format, and know who their audience is.
• From the earliest conversation, reinforce key points: Their talk should be directed at a smart general audience. (Avoid industry jargon.) It should focus on one unique aspect of their story. (Don’t try to cover too much.) It should not be a sales pitch. (Absolutely no corporate plugs.)
• Have your speakers send you their presentation two weeks before the event so you can review it and make suggestions.
• Regroup with all of your speakers on the day of the event to refresh them. If possible, offer them rehearsal time before the actual event begins.
• Repeatedly reinforce the fact that they will be held to a strict time limit; encourage rehearsal.
• Make sure they sign the speaker release form. Each speaker must affirm that they are the sole author of their presentation, that they own all rights to the content in their presentation, that they will inform you about any third-party material in their presentation, and that use of their presentation won’t violate the rights of any third party.

What speakers need to know

• At the event: They will sit in the audience and enter the stage from the audience. They are encouraged to stay for the whole event, and to mingle during breaks.
• During the talk: The talk must not go over the allotted time. Let them know how you’ll cue them when their time has run out.
• After the talk: They are expected to remain at the event throughout the day; at minimum, they’re expected to stay through the conversation break following their talk, so attendees can approach them and ask questions.

 

This original document can be found at http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/360

Visit TED at www.TED.com

Training Is A Neccessity During Tough Economic Times, Not A Luxury

"Gary is a promising young man"

“Gary is a promising young man. He has good looks, personality, and he is likable. Our company has a good product but his numbers just aren’t where we need them to be” The CEO told me over the phone. “He is our worst performing sales rep and if he doesn’t bring his numbers up, we are going to cut him loose. We really don’t want to do that”.  

A week later, I met Gary and the CEO over lunch. Gary was everything he was made out to be. It was hard to pinpoint why Gary was having trouble until I heard him talk about the product.  

Gary and I spent 3 sessions together determining his message, finding visual aids and improving his delivery techniques. He learned how to create a presentation that was meaningful to the audience; he learned to have a conversation that made the other person want to know more.  

Other sales reps in the company noticed the change in Gary. His confidence was stronger, he was quieter, he smiled more, but mostly, they watched his sales figures grow. Over the next several months, every other sales rep requested to work with me. The CEO was beaming as his sales were through the roof. Gary, his once bottom performer, was now his second highest performer with a sales increase of 600%. (yes, those are real numbers). He was giving a good chase to the number one performer and competition among the sales team was friendly, but very fierce. New incentives were offered and everyone was working on improving their presentations.  

This company has a good product: literally a no-brainer to qualified customers: It provides a higher level of service at a lower cost. The solution was to help sales reps speak a language the customers could understand. They knew their product, believed it was good, but needed help conveying this in a manner the clients could understand.  

Times are tough: we are all expected to do more with less. Sweat, determination, and hard work help, but new skills and tools will get you much farther. Finding new ways to present information, re-working your presentations and improving the visual aids you use will allow you to literally do more with less. Non-profits can raise more money in less time. For-profits can sell more and close more deals with less effort.  

iSpeakEASY can help your company grow. Our custom workshops help you present your story in a manner that makes the client understand why they want (or even need) what you are offering.  

Call us at 415 342-7106 or email us at ethan@iSpeakEASY.net to discuss how we can help your company grow.

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