Lessons from the Front Row: What not to do in your TEDx talk
photo credit: TEDxColumbus 2013 and Time Tank Labs
It was five years ago this last winter that I applied for one of the first TEDx licenses. And apparently, I’m one of the few crazy enough get a 6th consecutive one. Our event has grown both in size and maturity, and it’s become a well anticipated event in Columbus each fall.
As we began choosing our speakers this year, someone asked me recently what were the moments when speakers really bombed? I can’t say that anyone really has – but I got to thinking: What were the behaviors that caused a speaker to “disconnect” with the audience?
So here they are: Lessons I learned from the front row (Where I sit every year). Several of the winning points are from my close speaker coaching relationships for some of our sister TEDx events.
1. Tell the audience you are funny. One speaker presented an idea he thought was hilarious but half the audience thought it offensive, rude and reprehensible. The other half did laugh. Had he let the audience conclude it was funny, it may have been more funny. But the tweets were brutal. He decided not to put the talk online.
2. Insert some content that isn’t yours. I had a speaker sign his release at the event and he put an asterisk on it “You may release my video but not the video within it.” Turns out that forbidden video demonstrated the essence, the mojo and the rip-your-heart-out story of why his idea was a rock star. Turns out that video wasn’t his property but someone else’s. While it used to be his, he had moved on but didn’t have rights to it. His talk, despite huge audience approval, also never got posted.
3. Be the smartest person in the room – among a lot of other freaking smart people. One speaker was invite to give a second TEDx talk. His first one was abysmal because he was the smartest guy in the room with 12 really big complicated ideas. My assignment from my colleague (another TEDx organizer) was to help him improve. After I realized he was the smartest guy in the room and didn’t need my help (he refused to engage in any coaching), we let him do what he wanted. So he gave his second talk all on his own. And…he had the same results. Boring stares, no shares. This old dog was not learning any new tricks.
4. Assume we know why YOU care. I asked a very talented speaker to simply give us a line about what gave him license to speak about his topic, which was fairly compelling and exceptionally well stated. His response “Haven’t you read my resume? Don’t you know who I am?” I re-stated it and gingerly asked, “Why do you care about this topic? What moment did you know this would be your life’s work?”…Because I am listening to you deliver a lot of interesting information but will walk away like I do at most restaurants. “Boy the food was good. But who knows what my waiter’s name was.”
5. Refuse to be vulnerable. One speaker was quick to point out all the mistakes in the world that everyone else had made in his draft talk, but protected sharing any mistakes he had made himself. I pointed this out to him and suggested he share a time when he failed and how he learned from it. He refused the advice and as a result, came across as arrogant, showy and preachy. The twitter sphere assured that few would click on his link when the talk was published later.
The TED Commandments and speaker coaching guidance includes the comprehensive list of what to aim for as a speaker. But I submit to you these five, of all the mistakes speakers make, will most quickly disconnect you with your audience, and subsequently, to a wildly successful talk.
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The alternative to a disconnected, canned, paid Keynote speaker
I just returned from Dallas and an annual conference for the 250 HR professionals within the Alliance Data family which includes Alliance Retail, Epsilon and Loyalty One Companies. I was invited to curate, coach and host a session called “Perspectives” involving 8 speakers (all associates within the enterprise) for the last day of the conference. Perspectives was inspired by TED platform of highly provocative, concise idea sharing and storytelling. The session was the highest rated by the participants last year that the organizers had no choice but to bring it back. Based on the feedback I got this from year’s session, the response seems to be the same – outstanding.
But why?
Simple. The real, resonating stories from associates who had passion, courage and the willingness to get a big message condensed into 10 minutes connected with every one of the 250 associates in one way or another. They were inspired, educated, energized and proud. Of the eight speakers, four of them addressed workplace issues such as success in a new campus recruiting program, an explanation of talent management, a plea for more mentors and how you CAN change careers. The other four but brought their personal experiences to the talks while weaving in how they impacted workplace performance and connection. They included overcoming deep seeded fear, fighting cancer, overcoming a chronic health issue and being inspired by a child to never give up. Everyone talked about how it offered a needed balance against the other content sessions on executive compensation, HR software updates, reorganization plans, recruitment trends.
The takeaway: A conference with pretty dry, strategic but important information to transmit desperately needs a human element. And while humans may present dry, strategic information in dynamic ways – those sessions don’t always bring a distinct point of view, passion or compelling, resonating stories. They could have spent these two hours on a closing motivational keynote speaker for-hire, but I don’t think any hired keynote would have gotten 10 standing ovations, which is what happened at this session.
I personally was honored to work so closely with the eight speakers and continued to apply and refine The Talk of Your Life methodology toward helping speakers craft, refine and deliver compelling talks without notes or a podium. The speakers themselves offered these comments to me after the conference, validating that this experience is as powerful for them as it is the audience:
Ruth, Thanks again for all your help in making the conference a huge success! The buildup from our people around the talks is just something I have not experienced. You’ve clearly help take our conference to a new level and I’m appreciative of your efforts to get us there. It was a great experience! – CH
Ruth, I can’t begin to THANK YOU for the opportunity to have worked with you! I’m sure you get this all the time but you are truly… truly AMAZING. The feedback I’m receiving really make me feel great and that I actually did this but only with your guidance! You are the best at what you do and I’m so blessed to have worked with you over the last month. – MS
Ruth, Thank you for your guidance and support preparing for my Perspectives talk! There was something incredibly therapeutic, empowering and freeing about sharing my story. The blessings keep on coming. – NT
Ruth, Thanks so much for the experience. It was great to work with you – I really appreciated all of your guidance and support. – CB
Ruth, thanks so much for your guidance and support through our talks. Personally, I couldn’t have done it without you! – DL
Contact Ruth at ruth (at) articulationinc.com to brainstorm how you can improve the experience for your conference or meeting participants.
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The journey to give a TEDx talk: A documentary.
After the first TEDxColumbus event in 2009 at the Wexner Center, I remember thinking the day after: why aren’t I doing more of “THIS?” This being helping speakers architect their story and find their voice. And deliver what I am now calling “The Talk of Your Life.” It is what lead me to create ar.tic.u.la.tion and the work I do every day.
Now, thanks to video producer Rich Bowers and his desire to follow the success of TEDxColumbus, the journey of two TEDxColumbus 2012 speakers and my passion for coaching people through this experience, we now have this awesome documentary. In a little over an hour, you’ll hear and see the pathway that Naomi Stanford and Jan Allen took on their way to the TEDxColumbus stage, and a lot of my ramblings on how I interpret the TEDx platform, preparation process and my coaching approach.
I’d like to personally thank Naomi and Jan for their participation and extra effort that went into this project. They allowed themselves to be vulnerable, transparent and authentic through each interview. It is my hope and goal that it becomes another valuable and insightful tool for future speakers to use to appreciate the successful ingredients to a wildly successful talk and experience.
Because as Jan said, “You come out of this process a different person than when you went in.”
And here are Jan and Naomi’s full TEDxColumbus talks:
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How Kit Kat led to TED, told ala Pecha Kucha.
So a few years ago I wrote this blog post on how I thought the Pecha Kucha (Japanese for Chit-Chat) was a fun format for an audience but a really tough one for a speaker. It dictates you deliver a talk with 20 slides on a timer for 20 seconds a slide.
So last summer when I was invited to give a PK talk, I told them I’d do it without slides. They said no : I had to use slides.
So I sent a black slide and asked them to play it 20 times. They said no : I had to show slide progression.
The dot that moved 20 times.
So I sent a slide that looked like this and had the dot rotate around the circle — one dot movement per each of the 20 slides. And they said yes: finally.
My motivation was that I wanted to tell a very personal story as the guidelines are pretty loose on what content you can bring forward as long as it shows your passion. I didn’t feel that slides would augment my story, in fact, I thought they would distract. And I didn’t ever want to turn my back to the audience to check if I was on the right slide (Rule #1 of public speaking) which is what happens when the slides are on a timer.
So now that I’m watching the video (posted below, don’t judge the quality!), I see that they may have had a confidence monitor (at my feet). A confidence monitor is what we call the screen facing a speaker to demonstrate the slides playing to the audience. True fact: I never saw the monitor as I am apt to look at the audience, not the floor. And it didn’t matter, since I timed my talk to be 6:40 (the time of 20 slides x 20 seconds) and just let it rip. It wasn’t until about 5 minutes in that I even remembered I had slides because I never practiced with them or needed them to prompt my story.
A good friend wrote on my Facebook page that he thought my slides were on the fritz…until the end. So watch for yourself and see how I gave a Pecha Kucha talk “without” slides. Which allowed me to focus on the thing that did matter: my passion and my story.
How I found my Kit Kat. from Articulation on Vimeo.
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Live from TED2013: My inner geek had a blast.
At the InsideTED Session at TED2013 with 5 other TEDx organizers.
At the InsideTED Session on Monday, six TEDx organizers (including myself, as you can see), were invited to share a few words about our TEDx experience. The one thing I didn’t get to say about it is, I always have FUN. I talked about how it inspired conversation, addressed a pent up curiosity in our city, motivated me to new heights and others to address new challenges. But it is in the thoughtful pursuit of ideas, knowledge sharing and curosity seeking that just makes all of this TED stuff fun.
Monday was no exception: We had to work in tandem with each other in the rhythmic execution of our lines, have TED Curator Chris Anderson throw us some last-minute curveballs during rehearsal, and engage the crowd to what became the only standing Ovation of the session. We were exhausted, we were proud, and since I’m a geek about these things, to me, it was a blast.
Chris Anderson and his wife Jacqueline Novogratz celebrating the successes of the TEDx movement at the InsideTED session at TED2013.
I ended my portion with a nod to my co-organizer, curator and confidant, Nancy Kramer, who was in the audience. I said we are looking forward to starting our planning for our FIFTH TEDxColumbus when we return next week from TED2013. We are quietly proud of our longevity together, the growth of the event and what it has done to influence the cultural fabric of Columbus, a city we both love. Here’s to TEDxColumbus 2013 on October 11!
No CommentsTEDxKids@NBCC Journal Entry 1: Teaching kids about story.
Today I began a six week journey with about 15 elementary school children toward a final destination of a TEDxKids event. Yes, I’ll take your luck as I’ll likely need it.
“NBCC” is North Broadway Children’s Center where my two children have attended pre-school and now aftercare since they were 18 months and 10 weeks, respectively. They are now 7.5 and 5.5 yrs young in 2nd grade and Kindergarten.
After producing three full-blown TEDxColumbus events featuring 40 speakers and performers to over 1200 people (collectively) my daughter (the 7.5 year old) said to me in passing one day, why can’t I do a TEDx event? And there was only one response: why not? Why not. Did I really say that?
So today we gathered at about 12 children in a classroom at NBCC, my two kids and about 10 others with a few kids from each grade – K through 4. The youngest is my son at age 5.5, and the oldest is 9. We expect there to be a flux of the attendance since we are holding these five classes at 4:30pm on a Friday, but it’s also a time when we know there’s no homework to be done! At some point the lack of attendance will eliminate them from participating in the event on 2/17, but we’ll address that later.
Full disclaimer about now – my TEDx colleague in Edinburgh, Ewan McIntosh, is responsible for inspiring this approach on which I’ll be reporting – and some of the curriculum pieces. He produced one of the first TEDxKids events at Sunderland (TEDxKids@Sunderland) with about the same aged kids. Since I’ve never taught a kid a thing in my life except to my own – and that’s questionable on most days – I’m grateful for his general direction. I’m hoping these posts and documentation will aid others in wanting to execute their own Kids events. Remember, my expertise is in adult learning and at that, centered on the process of being an effective public speaker and how to architect a story for business settings. I’m banking on it translating to those four, five or six decades younger.
Today’s subject: What makes a story.
After spending about 90 seconds trying to explain what TED was to the group and how in six weeks they will stand up and deliver a very short – as in 1-2 minute talk – I broke out a classic fairy tale. There was no easy explanation of TED for these kids and showing them any sort of TED talk would have scared the shit out of them. In fact, the mere mention of this sentence “You will stand up in front…” started to give one 4th grader anxiety (why SO young? more on that later). So off we went into the Brothers Grimm version of Little Red Riding Hood.
Cat, the teacher who is my cohort to make sure the kids don’t all rebel against me in this 30 minute session, later told me she thought that was really a PG-13 version of Little Red. Indeed, most had only heard the G version but it served me well.
Two of my older boys (4th grade) were not pleased about having been signed up to participate. Sitting in the back, they exhibited some “we’re too cool” to be here attitude. Until I said that the wolf ate Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother. And the Hunter later saved them. The mythic journey was real. Now, for some of the more sensitive kids, this might have not been the best choice of versions – but the story works great for the following learning outcomes:
– Demonstrating that the book was passed down by word of mouth for hundreds of years before it was written. Explaining that’s how stories really get passed around.
– Clear delineations to explain the introduction of the characters, setting, events and conclusion. (Or in my terms – the complication, question, answer). Also, it took a few moments for them to know that the wolf was the villain but once they did, BAM, those boys were hooked! And loving to figure out that the hunter was the hero.
Here is the video from that portion, judge for yourself if it worked:
After we read it and discussed those main elements (15 minutes), I broke the class into four sections (3 kids each). And I passed out this form (see it here) that listed four categories of the story: character, setting, events and conclusion. Each section was assigned a category (I highlighted a different category for each section) and asked to change it in the story. Think big. Think tall. Think aliens, wormholes, noses and chocolate chip candy canes. The learning objective was to demonstrate how easily a story can change, reinforce the elements of a story, get them to think those things (ie create) and then to actually talk – using their own ideas and thoughts. And I’d say, it worked! Here are the videos after about 4 minutes of brainstorm (after a few minutes of explanation). Again, see for yourself.
I didn’t introduce any “event” planning elements today. I’m still unsure how to handle the distribution of labor except that I think a sub-group of the class will be interested and I’ll meet with them separately. Here’s my working list for a TEDxKids event – with a breakdown of what the kids should do without adults and where they need adult help. Please check a later post if you want to see if it got refined which is pretty assured. Likewise with the schedule of classes:
Friday, January 13 Storytelling frameworks through traditional fiction
Friday, January 20 Illustrative Language (how to describe things)
Friday, January 27 Idea Generation around a passion and community need
Friday, February 3 Public Speaking Basics
Friday, February 10 Visuals and demonstrations to support key points / Rehearsal of ideas
I’ll post a summary of each week. At the end, we’ll recap the curriculum into something a bit fancier.
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Tools of the trade
Rose Smith, during her highly provocative poetry performance at TEDxColumbus, challenged us all to betools. You know, as in a conduit for helping others, making change or doing good.
While my tip this month isn’t as deep, her challenge made me think about the tools that the speakers used during TEDxColumbus in their variety of preparation pathways (and let me tell you, there was some variety!). So, if you are making your list for Santa, here’s a few things to consider:
– A whiteboard. Map out your talk to see the main buckets of information or how it will flow. When you get away from your computer, the logic of your talk can have more meaning. Claudia Kirsch and I spent an afternoon shaping her sequence on a whiteboard which became a major point of clarity in refining her key messages.
– Your own personal clicker (yes, you can own one too). So that when your slides are done, you can practice working on transitions so that your verbal – vocal and visual messages align. We lent ours to Maryanna Klatt to practice with her slides, she said it made the world of difference. (Here are a few options of where to get one.)
– A recording device. The analog version would be a tape recorder, the digital might be voicememos on your iPhone or iPad. Theresa Flores used this extensively in her practice, whereby keeping the story in her head (and off of a script, the computer or notes) and making immediate improvements to her pace, sequence and influctions.
– Time. Give yourself the gift of some more days or hours to prepare. Bart Overly said he spent 100 hours preparing this talk (take a look at his slides and you’ll know why), Alex Bandar spent between 30-40, a more typical expenditure. Either one of them will tell you the time helped them be as prepared for their talks as any they’ve given.
While you may not be giving a TED/TEDx talk anytime soon, chances are one of these tools might come in handy for your next talk wherever it may be.
No CommentsIt’s my turn for the stage
This week I’ll be speaking at the Cityworks (X)po in Roanoke, Virginia. I was invited to speak on behalf of the TEDx global community, which now equates to 3417 events in 117 countries. Humbled, yes. Nervous, no. Since this is my “TEDx” season, the content is omnipresent in the brain, especially thanks to a great hour-long talk show with our leading local radio host.
For those of you curious about my preparation runway for a major talk, here are my 5 steps. These aren’t for everyone, but they work for me.
- Research on everything. Audience, venue, potential facts to include, reading trends, other related videos. Then let simmer.
- Work on governing idea – what’s the one thing I’ll leave them with? Develop no more than 3 key buckets of support. Brainstorm stories to resonate the buckets.
- Talk it through on my voice memos app. Transcribe it. Reverse engineer the outline to revise number two.
- Talk it through again, and make a list of visual imagery I need to resonate the stories. Research, download, buy or borrow visuals.
- Practice, syndicate and practice again. Make a note card with outline as backup.
Three times makes it a trend
They say once is an event, twice is a coincidence and three times is a trend.
As we organize the third TEDxColumbus event, we’re definitely feeling the trend. Consider our first year when no one knew what TED or TEDx was. I had to explain, clarify, demonstrate and explain some more. Last year, we had some awareness but still needed to prove we could do it again. And this year, we’re now managing people’s interest, excitement, investments and involvement.
But more importantly, we’re helping with three other events that are by-products of this trend.
Next week, a statewide STEM conference will take place where their three “keynote” speakers will deliver 18- minute TED-like talks.
The following week, I’m giving a talk at CityWorksXpo, a national conference on small cities. The organizers wanted to share the essence of TEDx with the cities that had not yet embraced one. While TED doesn’t like to promote TEDx in the traditional way, I’m happy to provide some front-row insight and outcomes to what a TEDx might inspire within a city.
The next week, a major company in town is having a day-long marketing summit with their 200 internal marketing professionals and 12 ad agencies. Instead of having the agencies present creative work, they turned to me to curate (that means concept, recruit, select and coach) a morning slate of TED-like speakers centered around a compelling, futuristic idea that will ‘wake up’ their brains to where their industry is headed.
And then lastly, our main event on 11.11. We announced the speakers this week and are humbled and honored to be working with such a dedicated, passionate group. We’re expecting 500-600 to attend a full day “Moment in Time” featuring 18 speakers. That’s definitely a few steps away from our 5-hour, 8-speaker evening event the first year with just 300 in attendance.
No CommentsSyndication
For someone who has gotten rid of regular TV in the last six months, syndication has new meaning to me: the ability to have your OWN story live on.
Take for instance the most discussed, heralded and watched talk last year from TEDxColumbus by Michael Wilkos. It was a grand slam x 10. Or 30, if you count the number of times he’s been invited to re-tell it.
And last week, as a result of that talk, the reporter who covered the event for Columbus Monthly, got this story published about Michael and his insatiable love for his adopted hometown. She sent me an email and said the story most definitely was sparked from the TEDxColumbus event, and Michael’s note confirms the same. I’ll give some clarity to their otherwise very generous accolades:
— Michael had an amazing story before TEDxColumbus. He just got to tell it on a bigger more prominent stage with an audience open to new ideas and wanted to spread them.
— Michael’s passion for his topic is contagious. It came through in his talk, just as it does in this story. It is hard not to love his message (even if you aren’t from Columbus) and more importantly, his authenticity for it.
— He took this talk very seriously. The event forced him to refine, sculpt, practice, test and perfect it. As a result, it resonated. Over and over.
I love TED and TEDx for many reasons, the best of which is that it is locally becoming a credible, recognized publisher of great ideas, talks and speakers in a new media venue for the benefit of the great city I call home. We at ar.tic.u.la.tion are blessed to have the opportunity to work with great speakers like Michael to help their talks become like your favorite sitcom, one that you’ll enjoy watching over and over, but real, authentic, meaningful and full of passion. Clearly better than TV.
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