The Ideal Communicator

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, The Tipping Point, Outliers, What the Dog Saw and others, discusses the American quest to find the perfect spaghetti sauce in this 17-minute TED video, and relates this quest to a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.

In his introduction, the first thing that comes across is his very friendly, conversational speaking style. He sets up his credibility right from the start by mentioning the books that he’s written. He makes the audience laugh several times throughout the speech, but most importantly, the first laugh comes in the first minute of his speech. This allows for a quicker connection with the audience.

Last week I was fortunate to spend the day at TEDxMcGill, being inspired by a series of short presentations along the theme of “Relentless Curiosity”, by individuals in the McGill community.

‘TEDx’ is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to the mandate of ‘Ideas Worth Spreading.’ The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes (plus or minus).

For anyone who’s seen my newsletter - and gone through the ’speech video analyses’ category of this blog, you’ll know that I’m always scouring the TED website in search of the latest, greatest speakers who can really bring a topic to life. There are no shortage of amazing speakers to learn from, both in terms of their unique and masterful content, as well as the different and intriguing ways in how they delivery it.

TEDxMcGill was a great experience to watch, as kind of a ‘TED-lite;’  a place where I was able to see ‘up-and-comers’ who may one day end up on the real TED stage, thanks to the ability to recount their experiences, theories and ideas so eloquently.  Read the rest of this entry »

Well here’s a speaker you just want to sit down and have a drink with! Elizabeth Gilbert, author of the best-selling book and recent movie Eat, Pray, Love, shares her thoughts on creativity and the notion of “creative genius” in this 19-minute speech at TED - and in the process, shows her audience how very funny, thoughtful and well-spoken a writer – and a speaker – she is.

Elizabeth excels in many ways in this talk. And there are some small things that she might have ‘tweaked’ to make it even more powerful.

 
STRENGTHS IN DELIVERY:
 
1.  She’s funny – and here’s why:  There were a few instances of great use of language to get a point across. At around 1:45, she laments how some people ask her if she thinks that she’ll “die on a scrapheap of dreams with my mouth filled with the bitter ash of failure” because she’ll never be able to follow up the success of her best-selling book. This comment is quite lengthy, and she almost gets out of breath as she says it. This makes it go from a ‘witty remark’ to just a little outrageous, thereby pushing the audience from a potential chuckle to an outright laugh. Well done.  If you can get your audience to laugh in the first 2 minutes, there’s a much better chance of having them sit up and listen to you for the rest of your speech. (I’d also like to give credit to her vivid metaphor of  “It’s like asking someone to swallow the sun.” That’s a great visual!)

2. “Messy” – but enthusiastic and authentic. Like Jamie Oliver in last month’s blog post, Elizabeth can be considered a “messy” speaker…but in a good way. Read the rest of this entry »

In this 19-minute speech, Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity. Having had the pleasure of seeing him present in 2006 at a conference, I am now very excited to feature one of his talks in this newsletter. Discussion of this speech will focus on three things: His movements, what makes his content so compelling, and ways in which he links himself with the audience.

HIS MOVEMENTS — OR LACK THEREOF

Sir Ken does not move around when he speaks. In this video, you’ll see that the camera is focused on his upper body and face only, and he stays planted on his feet throughout his presentation. This is a stellar example of how it’s possible to engage an audience without moving around, gesturing, or “working the stage.” This is quite unique to Sir Ken, as most speakers feel more comfortable moving around…and there’s nothing wrong with that either.

COMPELLING CONTENT

Sir Ken uses so many core components of a persuasive speech that it’s no wonder his audiences are mesmerized. Let’s take a look at a five of them:

1. Clearly stated hypothesis, problem statement, and introduction. Within the first three minutes, he states his hypothesis (“My contention is all kids have tremendous talents and we squander them. Pretty ruthlessly. So I want to talk about education, and about how creativity is as important as literacy”). He gets to his point quickly and concisely. Read the rest of this entry »

In this talk, the Jamie Oliver presents his TED Prize acceptance speech, where he reveals his wish to change the world. Compelling, persuasive, and at times heart-breaking, I highly recommend taking the time to watch this 19-minute speech not only to watch him display some unusual – yet highly-effective – speaking techniques, but to learn about the food-related problems facing the U.S. today.

From the moment Jamie takes the stage, it’s hard to take your eyes off him. So what makes this speech stand out? Here are 6 reasons: 

1 — DRAMA!  Right from his first words, he grabs the audience with dramatic statements that will make anyone sit up and take notice. “Diet related disease is the biggest killer in the US, right now, here today.” “Obesity costs you Americans $150 billion per year.” “We’ve condemned our kids to living 10 years less.” All designed to hit home. Of special note are the first words out of his mouth in this speech:  “Sadly, in the next 18 minutes, 4 Americans that are now alive will be dead because of the food they eat.” Now THAT gets attention – and would start any speech off with a bang.   Read the rest of this entry »