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The perfect presentation

How to Deliver a Great TED Talk by Akash Karia

If you have never watched a TED talk, you should. TED is a non-profit organisation devoted to spreading brilliant ideas about technology, entertainment and design (TED is an acronym.)

The talks are delivered, for the most part, by the most engaging speakers in the English-speaking world. They are all under 20 minutes.

Author and presentation trainer, Akash Karia, has carefully analysed over 200 of the best TED talks, line by line, and has identified the common elements that make them successful. These findings are the topic of this extremely useful book.

I have not come across another book on presentation skills that are based on such a large body of universally acknowledged great talks. The conclusions she draws are reliable and implementable. Managers and leaders are required to present their ideas to others.

However, presentation competence is a rather rare skill in business.

All compelling speeches must contain a core message that the presenter is passionate about. All TED talks are about topics the speaker is passionate about, whether it is a scientific discovery or a personal experience. Passion is a key to connecting to the audience.

The ‘core message’ of a presentation is what you want the audience to remember; even if they forget everything else you have said. Karia recommends formulating this in 20 words or fewer, as a technique for getting to the essence of your idea.

Once you have this core idea, discard everything that is not directly connected to it. Everything else only distracts the audience from what you are trying to communicate.

When your audience leaves the room after your presentation, they will forget 20% of what you have said. The following day, they will have forgotten 50% of what you said, and within four days, 80%.

Find your perfect catch phrase

An effective way to ensure your message is remembered is to distil the core message down into a single, catchy phrase. Then repeat that phrase several times throughout the presentation. Karia calls this the “Power Phrase.”

Bill Clinton’s memorable election power phrase was “It’s the economy, stupid.”

A speech needs an attention-grabbing opening because if you do not secure the audience’s attention within the first 30 seconds, they tend to ‘tune out’ of your presentation. So many presentations begin with the thoroughly predictable opening “Good afternoon, my name is Pete and it is a pleasure to be here.”

The ‘Primacy and Recency Effect’ is a psychological phenomenon that causes us to remember the first few and the last few things we hear, rather than those in the middle.

The opening of your speech is the most important part of the presentation, because it gives you a chance to achieve many objectives at once. You can build rapport with your audience and create a first impression that will determine how receptive or hostile your audience will be to what you have to say.

Successful script writers, movie producers and speechwriters use the power of getting an audience right into the middle of the story.

Consider the opening lines of the bestselling book Twilight: “I’d never given much thought to how I would die - though I’d never had reason enough in the last few months - but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.”

That gets the reader’s attention. What is your speech’s equivalent?

The body of your talk needs anchors to help the audience understand and remember what you have said. Karia offers a list of 10 anchors that include sharing anecdotes, academic research, statistics, case studies and quotations.

What you use is not that important, but ensuring that they reinforce your core message and do not distract from it, is.

People’s attention is stimulated by the unexpected - the expected leads to mental inactivity.

In a TED talk in 2010, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver said: “Sadly, in the next eighteen minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead from the food that they eat.”

The statistics you use must be relevant and conceivable to the audience. A Wall Street Journal writer described Bill Gates’ inconceivable fortune most effective way by making it relevant to people of ordinary means.

“Let us say that you’re an average person who earns an average salary. And let’s say that one weekend you take your spouse to the cinema. Now, while you’re standing in line you see that Bill and Melinda Gates are also paying for the same movie that you are going to be watching.

"The difference is: If Bill Gates was to pay the same percentage of his wealth that you pay, it would cost him $19m for the tickets alone!”

If the body of your talk was framed in that manner, you would have your audience’s attention and your message would be memorable.

If an effective opening ensures you have the audience’s attention and the body of your talk ensures your message is clearly communicated, your speech, equally, needs a clear conclusion.

Too many speakers abruptly end their speeches with the terrible phrase, “That’s the end of my presentation.” The conclusion needs to be crafted so that you leave a positive final impression on your audience.

Not only should you summarise your message, but you should reinforce the emotion you want to leave the audience with. Leave them hopeful, leave them fearful, but do not just leave them!

This practical book will be of great benefit to anyone who has to present. I was surprised at how much I learned from it - and I have been giving talks professionally for over 20 years.

Readability:   Light -+--- Serious
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 - Fin24

*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy.
 
 

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