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