The arc, or rather petals, of a TED talk
Every car has four wheels, a radiator and glove compartment.
It is not those things that make a car fancy, fast or memorable.
But without those things it would not be a car.
After attending my second TED conference and beginning to preparing our 5th TEDx event, I thought it was time to take a stab at my interpretation of what’s under the hood of a TED talk. As in, what does the engine look like?
I have blogged here and many expert TED staff have explained what a TED talk should do or say. Do inspire, explain and challenge. Don’t sell or preach.
But since I get asked weekly how do you shape a TED talk or how do you coach a TEDx speaker, it is time to propose a TED story shape.
Nancy Duarte expertly has analyzed the “visionary” story structure, sort of a sideways staircase. But TED talks are more explanatory, sharing discoveries and research or interpreting trends and design. I and others share our appreciation for Duarte’s insight but I argue it’s not applicable here.
So here’s a draft of the TED flower.
Metaphorically, it shares a few key characteristics with a TED talk:
The stem of the flower is singular and rooted in the ground, like a solid governing idea that every TED talk embraces.
The heart of the flower is generally a circle, that begins and ends with the stem, or the governing idea. The outline of that circle carries the idea through every point, example and transition in the talk.
The petals on the flower can be many or few (fewer is better but I don’t want to be any more prescriptive). I see the heart and petals segmented into four quadrants: the opening and idea statement, the context and so what?, the proposition of the answer or key supporting points- illuminated with visual transport stories, and a call to action and conclusion. The petals are interspersed with transitions and pathways, that help the audience to follow the story from one side of the stem to the other.
The scents that come from the flower are only achieved through emotive stories. From there, we end up with the good, bad, strong, sweet, sour and other smells or feelings that then cause us to ignore, applaud, repeat, or resonate with the idea. I may go so far to suggest audience members use the scents to determine if the idea is worthy of planting that idea in their own “action” garden of beliefs and causes.
A live flower unto itself does not last forever and neither does a live TED talk. But the pollen, seeds, images and remembrances of scents last well beyond it’s life.
I’ll stop there with the edging-on-cheesy metaphors and simple reinforce my proposal that the stem, heart and petals of a flower make up a shape synonymous with a TED (or TEDx) talk. See my first sketch below.
1 Comment
How not to give a TED talk
(Live from TEDActive 2012)
I was asked to play Bob Costas, or rather Mary Corillo, by a fellow TEDactive attendee during session 8 at TED2012. In other words, sit next to me and give me a play by play of what these speakers are doing to rock the house or in contrast, find a way into the land of the forgotten.
June, Bruno and Chris have been quoted and recorded ad nauseum on what TO DO in a TED talk. But reflecting on my probably unnecessarily critical analysis and other shocking reactions I’ve had to previous speakers during the week, I present to you my list of things not to do in a talk at TED.
1. Do not start with a sentence that includes the word “talk” as in “In my talk today…” People, we know you are here to give a talk so get to it.
2. Do not read. I loved Mr. Toy Story’s talk but weeped that the best storyteller had to read it. It also presents more challenging situations like when you try to remember a word not on the script and it simply doesn’t come to you. Eeek.
3. If you want people not to follow your talk, wander aimlesslessly from a string of unrelated facts. Your audience will be given license to bust out the blackberries even though they are forboden.
4. Do not forget to tell stories. Remember this simple equation. If it doesn’t take you to a time & place with characters, it is not a story. It will not take you to a visual place where you can then evoke an emotion. And emotion is the #1 way people will remember your talk. Kudos to Brian Stevenson for nailing this.
5. Do not have a conversation with yourself. A couple speakers forgot there was an audience. One way to overcome this is to make the audience the central character of your story. If you don’t get this, you shouldn’t give any talk at all.
No CommentsBe committed
This week one of our clients hit a grand slam on a major talk. When reflecting internally how many discreet “steps” she took from acceptance of the invitation to the final delivery, we counted 26. And those are the ones we know about.
Giving a keynote address is a daunting task. You have to answer the question on the audience’s mind, achieve your own communication goal (to teach? Inspire? Sell?), entertain them and be done before they ‘check out.’. And lest we forget, hope they remember and repeat what you’ve just said.
Our tip this month is be committed to a quality process. Had our client not truly appreciated the time and attention her talk required, it would have suffered. From the revisions of the story structure, to recordings of early versions, to editing and narrowing, to practicing and rehearsing, this is like a seven course meal. No drive-thru customers need apply.
And what we learn from Kids
Last week we finished our six-week pilot class that ended with the first US based TEDxKids event that featured elementary school students as the speakers (only one other has been done in Scotland prior to ours). We learned a great lesson about public speaking. Start them early! See the videos here, and read about our class here. And a PSA: if you have kids, I guarantee you they, too, have big ideas that should be heard!
No CommentsThis one, for the kids
February 26, 2012: I had the honor of giving a presentation to 250 TEDx organizers from 41 countries on our experience helping with the elementary school program, TEDxKids@NBCC. I think in this shot I was making the point that my son gave his TEDx talk in 52 seconds in his socks. (and did I really put my hand in my pocket!?) Taken at the Living Desert Museum.
TEDxKids@NBCC: Our Curriculum (help yourself!)
Using a word like curriculum sounds rather formal, as we really intend for this to be a guide to inspire and adapt for your own TEDx kids/youth situation. This is a six week model with the sixth “class” being the TEDxKids event itself.
We recommend keeping your student logistics to a minimum. Don’t try to be a hero and collect a perfectly balanced group of kids from every school, neighborhood, etc. Work with a group or a teacher with whom you have a relationship and give those kids an experience of a lifetime.
Please use the links to read the more complete description for each week.
Week 1: Narrative Storytelling
Objective: Show how a traditional story is structured. Get kids up and talking.
Exercise: part 1- read a classic fairy tale; part 2- have the students redesign parts of the story and immediately share their new versions
out loud to the class. Can work in small groups of 2-3.
Week 2: Illustrative Language
Objective: Show how a story comes alive with vibrant descriptors. Get kids in front of class talking.
Exercise: Introduce with plain photo / fancy photo of an object and discuss what each “feels” like; then invite kids one at a time to narrate a TED talk (where sound is muted)
At home activity: work on a story with descriptions of a piece of imagery provided to each student.
Week 3: Idea Generation
Objective: report out on homework from week 2; introduce how they can begin their ideation for the topic of their talk.
Exercise: Ask them to volunteer things they are passionate about, challenge them to be meaningful. Pass out story board of suggestions and discus what else may be included.
Week 4: Public Speaking Basics
Objective: introduce the dos and don’ts of public speaking
Exercise: have kids introduce themselves from the stage or venue they’ll be using for the TEDxKids event. Share the storyboard of verbal and nonverbal basics.
Then have them share the idea (in a circle, not on stage yet) they are considering for their talks. Encourage them to articulate a problem and solution, not just a topic.
Week 5: Talk it out, Introduce visuals
Objective: start them to feel the deadline of having their talk ready, advance the call to action in their talk and any visuals.
Exercise: have them stand up and tell the class their talk jn it’s current form (it will be rough to non-existent). Have them pick the order of their talks. Demonstrate how they may use a picture or other image to reinforce a point. (we didn’t do this well beyond telling them- I encourage a better approach)
Week 6: Practice, Rehearse and Deliver!!!
My 18 minutes on “TEDx”
At TEDActive 2012 in Palm Beach in a few days (the sister simulcast of TED in Long Beach) I’ll be presenting on our TEDxKids@NBCC experience to the TEDx workshop. It reminded me of my last national TEDx presentation in Roanoke, Virginia late last year to the CityWorks Xpo conference and that it was finally time to ‘out’ it! I was referred by the TED staff to the conference organizers discuss why (or why not) your city should embrace a TEDx event. (spoiler alert: I didn’t give a very direct answer!)
1 Comment
TEDxKids@NBCC Final Journal Entry: The Big Event!
It can be summed in one word: awesome.
By the time 5pm on Feb 17th rolled around, the 15 kids who were participating in the TEDxKids@NBCC were bursting at the seams for it to begin. The momentum of the week, which included many rehearsals and cheering each other on, had hit a fever pitch.
One by one, each of them took the stage without any trepidation. They shared their passionate ideas for making Columbus a better place to live (especially in this Bicentennial year) and were patient as their friends did the same.
The audience, filled largely with parents, grandparents, the Center staff and some local TEDx friends, knew what they were in for. Each talk was between 45 seconds and 2 minutes long, enough that you had to feel the kids’ anxiety beforehand, but their elation quickly after. This was not an experience that would bend and twist the minds of the audience (like the big TEDx events often do), but a realization that indeed, we have a bright future ahead of us. And do we ever.
From being good stewards of our land, to taking care of homeless pets, to donating books to homeless kids that can’t get to the library, to walking more and speeding less, the kids covered a gamet of topics very personal to themselves but pertienent to the world. We were successful of getting them to break away from their Nintendo and iPod games to know that the world around them is a big place that needs them, needs their ideas, passion and commitment.
This next week we’ll be asking them how they can activate on some of the ideas that they heard. We know that there’s a sock matching marathon on March 15th (donate those sock widows that may have a match with someone else’s widow), some signs going up on a street to quell speeding traffic and some books being delivered to the homeless family shelter.
The event may have been a huge success and ended at 6pm on Friday, but really, it’s just the beginning.
No CommentsTEDxKids@NBCC Journal #6: Rehearsal
While we practiced ideas during class #5, we rehearsed the talks this week! The big event was on a Friday so on the Wednesday prior, we stopped by school to make sure we had all of our technical needs covered (camera angles, power point feed, sound for video) so that on Thursday, we could do a full dress rehearsal.
Here, you can see how we put them in their speaker order and invited some of the other kids who weren’t in the class to watch.
I read some research recently that stated the ability for a speaker to see the space in which they’ll be speaking before they do so is one of the best ways to reduce nervousness. But for kids who have never spoken in front of a group other than their immediate classmates (in the classroom where they go every day), spending time in this room was imperative.
After the practice session last week, we let them sing, dance and tell jokes from the stage. This week, we rehearsed two days before the big event from the stage. For kids that were nervous, we let them rehearse alone first, then invited others into the room slowly to be the audience. And with every time they practiced, their content got tighter and their nerves got calmer. Funny thing is that adults behave the same way!
One note about visuals: Only four students opted to use any imagery to go with their talks. I had always thought of imagery as what you use once your talk is finished; in this case, it might have helped a few of them solidify some key supporting points had I encouraged the use of them a bit more.
And a last thought for this session. At this point in the process I’m likening this whole experience to a piano recital: some of the parents are letting the kids practice in between classes, others are barely remembering that they are taking lessons. I can only expect so much from the kids not knowing how much support they are getting at home.
No CommentsTEDxKids@NBCC Journal #5: Practice, Practice, Practice!
In our TEDxKids@NBCC class, the age differences, enthusiasm, preparedness levels and interest have varied greatly. This has made it a bit challenging to be equally tough on everyone about getting to their best “why” of their idea, despite many conversations formally and informally. So… we didn’t worry about it. Instead for class #5, we just had them start practicing one at a time. And if they weren’t ready yet, it became apparent they needed to get ready! (We didn’t tape any of these practice sessions – but you can imagine how rough they might have sounded).
After each student practiced, we gave them some “light” feedback or “nudges” on digging deeper for facts, proof or examples. Otherwise, the learning objective was to get them to realize that they were very close (one week!) to delivering their talk at TEDxKids@NBCC on 2/17.
And even though this felt like the first official “practice” of their ideas and talking in front of each other, in reality, they had been doing it for a month already. They also were starting to hear each others’ ideas and either improving on their own – or cheering each other on to do better. We started to finally see some momentum and enthusiasm from the group. (and we also solidified who absolutely would not be talking – mainly 3 kindergartners – so we gave them other jobs which they gleefully accepted).
Lastly, we had them vote on a t-shirt design (“Tshirts? Really, we get Tshirts?” – I would not underestimate the importance of this artifact.) To do this, they each drew their name in a circle. We took each circle and arranged them in 3 different designs and gave them the power to vote for their favorite. This one won hands down:
Also, they picked a number out of a hat the order in which they would speak. I chose three students to help “host” to assure that no adult had to be on stage during the event – and we discussed what that meant and how to prepare (know each other’s names, a little about their talks, and follow the transition notes we’ll give them next week).
No Comments
TEDxKids@NBCC Journal Entry #4: Getting on Stage and Jelling the Idea
We had two goals for this week: to get them to understand (in their left and right brains) what it means to deliver a talk in front of people, standing up and secondly, to articulate the basic idea of their TEDx talk.
Each student reviewed this handout – 5 Basics of Speaking – to raise basic awareness about the best practices for speaking in front of people.
After practicing once, each student had at least one behavior that needed help, so we asked them to try again “leaning” into a better practice. They ranged from looking at the audience (not at their shoes), keeping their hands in front of them (not twirling their hair), keeping their feet a bit more stationary (not swinging them like a salsa dance!).
I changed up the class format and worked with them mainly one-on-one to try these exercises. Here, Toby and Maggie got comfortable on the stage and in practicing a basic story about themselves.
Then, I had all the kids join me for a 15 minute circle time on Friday to share their idea and to also design their “circle” for the tshirt (more on that later). Having each student articulate the idea they want to talk about helped all the students know what to expect and that everyone is in the same general “space.”
This week they will need to rehearse a version of their talk (to be at least 1 minute long) to start to put it all together: telling a story, sharing a worthwhile idea, being in front of others while doing so.
I also sent home a memo to the parents with a lofty goal for them to help their child rehearse their talk 10 times over the next two weeks. (After all, the talks are about 1-2 minutes long!). The expectation is that preparation for any talk requires some dedicated practice time and that these talks are not ones to “wing.”
We haven’t spent much time talking about visuals (graphics, images, videos) to support any of their ideas, but they know they are welcome. We’ll incorporate them into one big deck and advance the slides for them if they want to use them. In the future, I might have made a little more time to help them understand when to choose and use a visual – and will still try to do that this week.
Lastly, I’m still arguing in my mind about if we should have shown them a few TED talks before now. But I’m glad I waited since I wanted them to work through the idea in their head before watching others’. I still think there is time to watch a few to demonstrate other kids their age have been successful at the microphone!
No Comments