Carmine Gallo is a renowned author, communication coach, and keynote speaker who specializes in public speaking, communication, and presentation skills.
The Book in a Nutshell
As Carmine Gallo puts it, “ideas are the currency of the twenty-first century.” But crucially, we can only change the world through these ideas by effectively communicating them. After analysing more than 500 TED presentations and interviewing presenters, neuroscientists, psychologists and communications experts, Gallo presents what he believes to be the nine most important elements of effective presentations.
The following are more detailed book notes from Talk Like TED. These notes do not by any means cover the full breadth of the book. They are instead intended to serve as an introduction to some of the key ideas, from which to decide whether the book is worth further attention.
#1: Passion
Presentations are nothing without passion. We can’t connect and engage with our audiences on a higher level and we can’t deliver presentations that feel true to ourselves without it.
Research has found that there is a direct correlation between “perceived passion” of presenters pitching their ideas and the likelihood that investors will fund their ideas.
#2: Storytelling
Compelling storytelling allows an audience to connect with our ideas in more meaningful ways.
A wordy PowerPoint slide with bullet points activates the language-processing center of the brain, where we turn words into meaning. Stories do much more, using the whole brain and activating language, sensory, visual, and motor areas.”
#3: Natural Delivery
Great presentations should feel as comfortable as a conversation with a friend. We can only reach that level of comfort through relentless practice and feedback. As Gallo puts it, “Authenticity doesn’t happen naturally.”
“Disciplined, rigorous, intelligent, and confident speakers use hand gestures as a window to their thought processes.”
#4: Novel Ideas
Learning something new activates dopamine pathways in the brain. It gives us a spike of reward chemistry that makes presentations and learning experiences more appealing
.Novelty is the single most effective way to capture a person’s attention.
#5: Jaw-Dropping Moments
Shocking and surprising moments also help to make our presentations more memorable
.
“The brain is wired to recall emotionally vivid events and to ignore the ordinary, the mundane. If you want to stand out in a sea of mediocre presentations, you must take emotional charge of your audience.
#6: Humour
Humour is a key tool in the armoury of the world’s best speakers – and with good reason. The brain loves humour, which can act as an ingratiation tactic and strengthen group cohesion.
our audience is turned on by humor. Arouse them. Their devotion will help you be far more successful.
7. 18 minutes,
the length of a TED talk, is the ideal length of time for a presentation. As the length of a presentation increases, the cognitive burden on the listener increases too.
The rule of three can help us to understand why this length of time is so effective. This principle suggests people will robustly remember three pieces of information. As we add more items, this level of retention reduces significantly.
8: Multisensory Experiences
Multisensory presentations expose the brain to novelty, making presentations more engaging and memorable. When the brain is given two mental representations of an idea – e.g. verbal and visual – the mental connections become much stronger.
9: Authenticity
All the previous ideas are meaningless if you’re not being yourself.
“When you deliver a presentation, your goal should not be to “deliver a presentation.” It should be to inspire your audience, to move them, and to encourage them to dream bigger. You cannot move people if they don’t think you’re real. You’ll never convince your audience of anything if they don’t trust, admire, and genuinely like you.”
by Nadiira Abdirisak Jama ( MRS Tissue
