How To Reinvent Public Speaking

i’m not going to lie to you

it’s kind of weird being here today i’m

what you might call a hybrid

tedxer i have presented two tedx talks

prior to this one

and then i moved on to an organizer role

having now produced three tedx events to

date

now i’m back as a speaker to explain to

you how these events get put together

but more importantly

how they can save the art of public

speaking

so here’s the deal organizing a tedx

event

sucks and it’s super hard and it’s a

thankless job

and well i love it think about it you

can

log on to the internet and watch people

intelligently solve the world’s problems

in five to 18 minutes i’m not only a fan

of watching public speaking but i myself

have keynoted at conferences

all over the country and most of the

time i am left with nothing more

than the motivational equivalent of a

new year’s resolution

that will fade shortly thereafter but

because these

independently organized events are so

special they create lasting

change in fact the first time i gave a

ted talk

i had a much different feeling in the

pit of my stomach than my usual keynotes

now that feeling contrary to popular

belief that was inspiration although my

doctor insists that it was a

panic attack i gave an average talk

but because i shared my truth my

experience and most importantly

an unskewed viewpoint of my idea the

talk resonated with people and i felt a

catharsis that i had never felt before

from speaking

a few weeks later i took the stage at an

industry conference

where i sold curated stories that i knew

would lead the attendees to approach me

for advice

and ultimately lead to sales for my

company

and i felt kind of dirty my second tedx

stage the following year

it was no different another year older

another year wiser

yet another year farther from a time

where i had the patience and desire

to sell my way through another speech

and so i developed a theory about

tedx’s effect on the public speaking

world

and in order to test my theory i vowed

to get inside the minds of

other tedx speakers as an organizer i

hypothesized that if

more speaking events focused on the

importance of the theme

the quality of the talks as opposed to

the roi

and things might change if more speakers

challenge themselves to make

a difference instead of taking the easy

way out

and babbling about their accomplishments

then the public speaking world could

return to a time of inspiration and

change

and so i applied i got licensed and bam

i was the executive producer and

organizer of my very own tedx event

having gone through this experience

twice by now with my own ted event

and once as the co-producer of a tedx

women event i have seen firsthand that

there is a massive

difference in impact but it’s not just

ted itself

it’s the way a ted talk is structured

so let’s dissect the process in order to

understand the x factor that has become

the big difference maker

before you even think of applying to be

a tedx organizer

get your super friends team together you

have to make sure

that you have the most badass loyal

smart

clever and tolerant team in place to do

this thing right

why tolerant simple if you are super

passionate about this event which you

should be

your team will eventually hate you

it’s science i can’t explain it this is

an intense time but you have to make

sure that you dial the intensity down

once in a while if you start hitting the

i’m so excited i’m so scared

level of intensity of jesse spano from

the caffeine pill addiction episode of

save by the bell

it’s probably time to dial it down a

notch don’t get me wrong you should

be intense you have every right to be

considering

that you are now tasked with putting

together a panel of speakers that will

collectively change the world with these

talks

no pressure now comes theme selection

tedx event themes are just as important

for the audience as they are for the

speakers

you want something that means a great

deal to you as the organizer

but that will resonate and create change

with both the live audience and the

youtube audience

between you and i you’re also gonna need

something that’s catchy and that shows

your intelligence and wit

example what if the bad guy’s dojo in

the karate kid movies wasn’t called

cobra kai

the coolest name for a dojo ever you

think you’d be binge watching a series

called

sid’s karate palace on netflix right now

names are important themes are important

and with the theme we get to the real

magic of all tedx talks

the content the idea worth

spreading every ted talk that i have

ever watched has had an x factor that

resonates with me

and judging by the amount of views they

get a large chunk of you too

that x factor well it’s divine

intervention of biblical proportions

once you apply as an organizer and get

licensed you’ll need to download and

study the entire ted bible from their

website

pay particular attention to the four

rules for all ted talks

these are the big ones which is why i

call them

the ten commandments thou shalt not sell

thou shalt not have a political agenda

thou shalt not have a religious agenda

thou shalt not do bad science

that’s it if you are to be an influencer

that uses your voice for

positive change in this world you need

to challenge yourself to apply these

rules to what you do

and not just at tedx events everywhere

let me break them down no selling this

one is pretty self-explanatory

do not talk about your company and what

you sell

instead talk about how you love what you

do for a living because of all the

people that you get to help

do not show the audience pictures of

your brand and the swag that goes with

it

by inserting photos full of logos and

name drops in your powerpoint

yes i saw another speaker do this at my

first tedx event

yes it was ridiculous no political

agenda no religious agenda

these two are important an idea worth

spreading

will not succeed on this stage if it’s

attached to a political or religious

agenda

the key word here is agenda by its

definition it means an

underlying often ideological plan

underlying plans within a public

speaker’s talk there’s another word for

that

selling remember there’s a time and a

place for everything this red dot that

i’m standing on it means something

it is sacred to me be straightforward

about your idea

a subliminal message that promotes an

agenda whether it’s political

religious or otherwise that’s just not

worthy of the red dot

the goal here is to activate the

audience when they hear your idea

it’s super easy to point out the world’s

problems and offer a political or

religious insight on how to solve them

but is there a fair way to do that while

speaking to the majority of people in

the world without running into the

roadblocks of differing fundamental

ideologies

speaking of bias let’s talk about no bad

science

bad science is science that is done

poorly is biased or in which the results

are

cherry picked to support a favorite

hypothesis

bar none this is in my opinion the most

pivotal of the four ted commandments

breaking this rule is downright

dangerous and irresponsible

this is a platform that is respected and

has a great amount of

influence on people high school and

college classes they use ted talks and

tedx talks in their lessons

speakers need to support any scientific

ideas

with factual unbiased peer-reviewed

evidence that leaves no room for error

or at least no willful room for error

organizers need to fact check

to the best of their abilities and hold

themselves as accountable as the

speakers do for this responsibility

organizers all over the world i’m

speaking to you right now

tedx or not consider adopting the ten

commandments into your process

there is no greater joy for me than when

i watch a talk that is pure

and exciting and creative and well worth

spreading

don’t let the word worth in that

sentence overwhelm you

we’re not talking about being worthy

enough to lift thor’s mighty hammer

we’re just looking for inspiration in

our lives and whether you’re a public

speaker or an event organizer

wouldn’t it be nice to challenge

ourselves to get back to a place of

inspiration again

the place that most likely started this

journey for most of us

now after i close my call for speakers

and decide on my final lineup

i design a process that has a structured

timeline

and that allows me to get intimately

involved with the speaker’s writing

processes

on a collaborative level collaboration

is the key

to the success of my events and my talks

this talk right here had the input of no

less than six of my colleagues and

various professionals

in order to put the best message on the

stage that i possibly could

two rounds of major edits three total

drafts that’s it

after that it’s in the audience’s hands

as to whether they will receive the talk

or swipe left so as an organizer i like

to take the pressure off of the content

once the final draft is done

rehearse memorize rehearse some more

focus on the performance

now evente is a whole different animal

i’m going to leave those instructions

for the book

wink bad george no seriously there’s no

book

it’s probably gonna be a book see what i

mean speakers

impossible always promote it where was i

right

event day the logistical steps for a

live event

are important but they are mostly

arbitrary steps in order to fill your

seats and produce a good video

what matters most is what the speakers

come on stage with

and how they say it how will they

influence the audience

will the stage inspire the action of a

world-saving superhero

or will it host a thanos level bad

science snap of the fingers

that will end all existence for public

speaking everywhere

and completely ruin the importance of

the stage forever

am i comparing myself and other speakers

and organizers

to superheroes i would never do that

again i would never do that again

can we skip the next two slides please

good look we are in a very strange time

right now

a global pandemic political unrest

financial crisis all over the world

it’s time that the real unbiased

influencers of the world

started to take their rightful places on

the stage again

red dot or not behind the camera or in

front of it

we can all play a part in making the

voice of this world

matter again

and that’s an idea worth spreading

thank you

you