How to Give a Powerful Presentation

Lessons from T.E.D. Talks by Chris Anderson

Directions:
1. Begin the lesson by brainstorming the qualities of good public speaking with your students. I like to record their input on the
whiteboard using a T chart. The end result will look something like this:
Good Speech (+) Poor Speech (–)

• Well-prepared • Too nervous (hands shaking or person paces back-and-forth)

• Funny, interesting, or surprising subject matter
• Makes eye contact with audience
• Has interesting visual aid (slides)
• Doesn’t read directly to the audience from cards or slides
• Seems comfortable up in front of the audience
• Easy to hear the speaker
• Good pacing/the speech feels like a swift, fun ride
• Dry, boring subject matter
• Too many “ums” or long awkward pauses
• Too memorized-sounding
• Unprepared/doesn’t really know what he/she is talking about
• Reads directly from slides that are filled with text
• Hard to hear – too quiet or mumbles
• No eye contact or talks to the wall/over our heads

2. I explain that many business professionals need to use good public speaking skills as part of their regular work day. Whether
it’s a Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.) trying to sway investors during an Initial Public Offering (I.P.O.) of his company’s stock or
a small business owner trying to convince a venture capitalist (V.C.) to invest in her new company, strong public speaking skills
can end up making careers. (I specifically use these terms because the acronyms will be used in the article students are about
to read.) At this point, I like to mention the T.V. show Shark Tank, which many students have seen. Business owners who present
their pitch to the sharks/investors using the “+” speaking skills are, obviously, much more likely to get a deal than the people who
stumble through their pitch and hit too many of the “–” qualities of the T chart. If you want to share a particularly cringe-worthy
Shark Tank moment with your class, this video is about 90 seconds of awful: http://tinyurl.com/nlat2uj
WARNING: The Shark Tank clip includes a girl in a bikini and a bleeped swear word. As with every video, you’ll want to preview the clip to determine its
appropriateness for your class.

3. Give students access to the Chris Anderson article, “How to Give a Killer Presentation.” Due to copyright law, I am unable
to offer a full-text version of the article here. You have purchased my lesson materials to use with the article, not the article itself.
During my last product update, the full article was hosted here:

https://hbr.org/2013/06/how-to-give-a-killer-presentation/
To save on copying costs, I have my students access the lenghty article electronically, either via their own devices or in our
school’s computer lab. To make this easier, here’s the same address as above, only shortened: http://tinyurl.com/z43exyj

4. Either as solo work or in teams of two, have students record their answers on a separate sheet of paper to the 10 questions on
the handout (see page 2 of this file). Once everyone is finished, launch a class discussion of the answers.

5. Finally, I like to show the Richard Turere T.E.D. Talk that is mentioned at the beginning of the article. The T.E.D. Talk, which is
about 7-and-a-half minutes, is hosted here and works best for students if you click on the Closed Captioning option located
on the bottom right-hand side of the screen: http://tinyurl.com/c6sdhzp
WARNING: As Turere explains the problem of lions attacking his family’s livestock, he shows a gruesome photo at the 40-second mark of his speech. You may
want to advise squeamish students to avert their eyes. As with every video, you’ll want to preview the speech to determine its appropriateness for your class.

6. After the viewing, launch a discussion about why this speech is effective and what, if anything, they would change to make it
even stronger. I like to remind students that Richard Turere is just 13 years old and has traveled to the other side of the world to
deliver this speech. They should give him some grace.

I use this lesson before I assign our first major speech assignment of the year and often refer back to the T-chart skills as I give
students feedback on their presentations. I hope you and your students enjoy these lesson materials. Want more? Find me at:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Laura-Randazzo
 How
to Give a
Powerful Presentation
On a separate sheet of paper, answer every part of the following questions.
You must write complete, thoughtful sentences.

1. A T.E.D. Talk (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is usually given at an annual conference and capped
at 18 minutes. Typically, how long are speakers given to prepare their speeches? Does this amount of time
surprise you?

2. Since 2006, how many times have T.E.D. Talks been viewed? What does this large number show us?

3. Anderson uses different metaphors to describe a successful speech. Name three of the metaphors he uses
and explain which one you think offers the best comparison.

4. What, according to Anderson, are three reasons a talk fails?

Thinking about speeches you’ve seen in different classes, what are
three reasons that you think some student speeches fail?

5. What is the “valley of awkwardness” and how can a

speaker get through this phase?

6. For most speakers, is it better to stand still or move around

the stage? Why?

7. According to Anderson, how might feeling nervous be-

fore giving a speech actually be a good thing?

8. Describe how some speakers use Powerpoint to unin-

tentionally ruin the effectiveness of their presentations.

9. What are the three variables that ensure a successful

speech?

10. Who is the intended audience for this article? What elements
discussed here apply to speeches you’ve been assigned for school?
What parts of the article do
not apply?

Lessons from T.E.D. Talks

by Chris Anderson
“How to Give a Powerful Presentation” article KEY
1. A T.E.D. Talk (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is usually
given at an annual conference and capped at 18 minutes.
Typically, how long are speakers given to prepare their
speeches? Does this amount of time surprise you? Anderson says
that preparation for most speeches begins six to nine months
before the event. Students usually think this is an extremely long
amount of time to work on preparing one speech.
2. Since 2006, how many times have T.E.D. Talks been
viewed? What does this large number show us? T.E.D. Talks
have been viewed more than one billion times, which shows
us that public speaking is important. People want to learn from
each other and the invention of the internet has allowed for
a wide audience to learn from experts in a variety of fields.
This should excite us and help us realize that dynamic public
speakers can reach an incredibly broad audience.
3. Anderson uses different metaphors to describe a successful
speech. Name three of the metaphors he uses and explain
which one you think offers the best comparison. Anderson says
a good speech is a journey, a little miracle, and a detective
story. Students’ answers will vary on the preference part of this
question and I give credit for any reasonable answer.
4. What, according to Anderson, are three reasons a talk fails?
Thinking about speeches you’ve seen in different classes, what
are three reasons that you think some student speeches fail?
He says that problems can happen when a speaker doesn’t
frame the speech correctly, misjudges the audience’s level of
interest in the subject, and/or neglects to tell a story to hook
the audience’s attention. Students’ answers will vary on the
second question, but peer-speeches that fail usually do so
because students are too nervous, unprepared, or present
boring information.
5. What is the “valley of awkwardness” and how can a
speaker get through this phase? The “valley of awkwardness”
is when a speaker is trying to memorize a speech, but doesn’t
yet have it fully committed to memory. If a speaker were to
give the speech to an audience during this phase, the results
will be stilted and awkward. The way to get through this phase
is simple – rehearse the speech until you have it down cold.
Once the material is completely memorized, then the speaker
can work on his style of delivery.
6. For most speakers, is it better to stand still or move around
the stage? Why? Anderson says that it’s better to stand still
and just use hand gestures because few people can naturally
move around a stage without seeming nervous. By forcing your
lower body to stay motionless, you’ll appear less nervous to
your audience.
7. According to Anderson, how might feeling nervous before
giving a speech actually be a good thing? He says that nerves
will increase your energy and keep your mind sharp. The
audience expects you to be nervous and will sometimes root
for you to do a good job in spite of the nervousness you are
obviously feeling.
8. Describe how some speakers use Powerpoint to unintention-
ally ruin the effectiveness of their presentations. Anderson is
especially critical of speakers who read to their audiences from
Powerpoint slides. Interestingly, this is what many teachers and
students do; however, slides should be used primarily for visual
information, such as photos, charts, maps, etc. They should not
include a lot of text because audiences do not want to feel like
the speaker is reading to them.
9. What are the three variables that ensure a successful speech?
Anderson says that the quality of the idea being presented,
the narrative (storytelling), and the passion of the speaker will
determine the success or failure of a speech.
10. Who is the intended audience for this article? What
elements discussed here apply to speeches you’ve been
assigned for school? What parts of the article do not apply?
Business people were Anderson’s intended audience, but much
of this advice applies to middle school and high school student
speakers. Answers will vary as students answer the last two
questions and I give credit to any reasonable answers.