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  • Some people think that there's a TED Talk formula:

  • "Give a talk on a round, red rug."

  • "Share a childhood story."

  • "Divulge a personal secret."

  • "End with an inspiring call to action."

  • No.

  • That's not how to think of a TED Talk.

  • In fact, if you overuse those devices,

  • you're just going to come across as clichéd or emotionally manipulative.

  • But there is one thing that all great TED Talks have in common,

  • and I would like to share that thing with you,

  • because over the past 12 years, I've had a ringside seat,

  • listening to many hundreds of amazing TED speakers, like these.

  • I've helped them prepare their talks for prime time,

  • and learned directly from them,

  • their secrets of what makes for a great talk.

  • And even though these speakers and their topics all seem

  • completely different,

  • they actually do have one key common ingredient.

  • And it's this:

  • Your number one task as a speaker

  • is to transfer into your listeners' minds an extraordinary gift

  • a strange and beautiful object that we call an idea.

  • Let me show you what I mean.

  • Here's Haley.

  • She is about to give a TED Talk

  • and frankly, she's terrified.

  • (Video) Presenter: Haley Van Dyck!

  • (Applause)

  • Over the course of 18 minutes,

  • 1,200 people, many of whom have never seen each other before,

  • are finding that their brains are starting to sync with Haley's brain

  • and with each other.

  • They're literally beginning to exhibit the same brain-wave patterns.

  • And I don't just mean they're feeling the same emotions.

  • There's something even more startling happening.

  • Let's take a look inside Haley's brain for a moment.

  • There are billions of interconnected neurons in an impossible tangle.

  • But look here, right here.

  • A few million of them are linked to each other

  • in a way which represents a single idea.

  • And incredibly, this exact pattern is being recreated in real time

  • inside the minds of everyone listening.

  • That's right. In just a few minutes,

  • a pattern involving millions of neurons

  • is being teleported into 1,200 minds,

  • just by people listening to a voice and watching a face.

  • But waitwhat is an idea, anyway?

  • Well, you can think of it as a pattern of information

  • that helps you understand and navigate the world.

  • Ideas come in all shapes and sizes,

  • from the complex and analytical

  • to the simple and aesthetic.

  • Here are just a few examples shared from the TED stage.

  • Sir Ken Robinson: creativity is key to our kids' future.

  • My contention is that creativity now

  • is as important in education as literacy,

  • and we should treat it with the same status.

  • Elora Hardy: building from bamboo is beautiful.

  • It is growing all around us,

  • it's strong, it's elegant, it's earthquake-resistant.

  • Chimamanda Adichie: people are more than a single identity.

  • The single story creates stereotypes,

  • and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue,

  • but that they are incomplete.

  • Your mind is teeming with ideas,

  • and not just randomly.

  • They're carefully linked together.

  • Collectively they form an amazingly complex structure

  • that is your personal worldview.

  • It's your brain's operating system.

  • It's how you navigate the world.

  • And it is built up out of millions of individual ideas.

  • So, for example, if one little component of your worldview

  • is the idea that kittens are adorable,

  • then when you see this,

  • you'll react like this.

  • But if another component of your worldview

  • is the idea that leopards are dangerous,

  • then when you see this,

  • you'll react a little bit differently.

  • So, it's pretty obvious

  • why the ideas that make up your worldview are crucial.

  • You need them to be as reliable as possible — a guide,

  • to the scary but wonderful real world out there.

  • Now, different people's worldviews can be dramatically different.

  • For example,

  • how does your worldview react when you see this image:

  • What do you think when you look at me?

  • "A woman of faith," "an expert," maybe even "a sister"?

  • Or "oppressed," "brainwashed,"

  • "a terrorist"?

  • CA: Whatever your answer,

  • there are millions of people out there who would react very differently.

  • So that's why ideas really matter.

  • If communicated properly, they're capable of changing, forever,

  • how someone thinks about the world,

  • and shaping their actions both now and well into the future.

  • Ideas are the most powerful force shaping human culture.

  • So if you accept

  • that your number one task as a speaker is to build an idea

  • inside the minds of your audience,

  • here are four guidelines for how you should go about that task:

  • One, limit your talk to just one major idea.

  • Ideas are complex things;

  • you need to slash back your content so that you can focus

  • on the single idea you're most passionate about,

  • and give yourself a chance to explain that one thing properly.

  • You have to give context, share examples, make it vivid.

  • So pick one idea,

  • and make it the through-line running through your entire talk,

  • so that everything you say links back to it in some way.

  • Two, give your listeners a reason to care.

  • Before you can start building things inside the minds of your audience,

  • you have to get their permission to welcome you in.

  • And the main tool to achieve that?

  • Curiosity.

  • Stir your audience's curiosity.

  • Use intriguing, provocative questions

  • to identify why something doesn't make sense and needs explaining.

  • If you can reveal a disconnection in someone's worldview,

  • they'll feel the need to bridge that knowledge gap.

  • And once you've sparked that desire,

  • it will be so much easier to start building your idea.

  • Three, build your idea, piece by piece,

  • out of concepts that your audience already understands.

  • You use the power of language

  • to weave together concepts that already exist

  • in your listeners' minds.

  • But not your language, their language.

  • You start where they are.

  • The speakers often forget that many of the terms and concepts they live with

  • are completely unfamiliar to their audiences.

  • Now, metaphors can play a crucial role in showing how the pieces fit together,

  • because they reveal the desired shape of the pattern,

  • based on an idea that the listener already understands.

  • For example, when Jennifer Kahn

  • wanted to explain the incredible new biotechnology called CRISPR,

  • she said, "It's as if, for the first time,

  • you had a word processor to edit DNA.

  • CRISPR allows you to cut and paste genetic information really easily."

  • Now, a vivid explanation like that delivers a satisfying "aha moment"

  • as it snaps into place in our minds.

  • It's important, therefore, to test your talk on trusted friends,

  • and find out which parts they get confused by.

  • Four, here's the final tip:

  • Make your idea worth sharing.

  • By that I mean, ask yourself the question:

  • "Who does this idea benefit?"

  • And I need you to be honest with the answer.

  • If the idea only serves you or your organization,

  • then, I'm sorry to say, it's probably not worth sharing.

  • The audience will see right through you.

  • But if you believe that the idea has the potential

  • to brighten up someone else's day

  • or change someone else's perspective for the better

  • or inspire someone to do something differently,

  • then you have the core ingredient to a truly great talk,

  • one that can be a gift to them and to all of us.

Some people think that there's a TED Talk formula:

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