WHAT MAKES A POWERFUL TEDx TALK?

A powerful TEDx talk has an idea at its center.

This statement is in some ways very obvious, but can be very subtle in the way it plays
out. In fact, the most common reason that a seemingly strong talk fails is that it simply
lacks a central idea.

Here are a few specific ways this plays out:

§ A powerful TEDx Talk is not just a personal story.

This is the biggest challenge found in TEDx talks. Many of them are what you
might call "stories of self," which offer compelling anecdotes from a person's life
but no central idea that wraps the narrative together. These are heart-breaking,
because they're often wonderful, fascinating, popular talks that offer great
insights into local culture. But without the wrap-around of an idea, they're just
stories, or biographical sketches. They aren't idea-centered talks.

Almost-good example:
o Ali Taleb Almarrany at TEDxSanaa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ItYFZu4Jfg
Watch the first 47 seconds. What a story! In 2004 he was considered
disabled, needy and without hope. In 2008 he was a respected managing
editor of a popular TV news program. Such an inspiring story! But without
an idea wrapped around it, it's just a biography.

The solution here could be quite simple: the speaker should not just tell
their life story, but extract meaning from it. Just a few sentences can often
make the difference.

Excellent examples:
o Amy Purdy at TEDxOrangeCoast
http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_purdy_living_beyond_limits
o Roberto D'Angelo + Francesca Fedeli: In our baby's illness, a life lesson
http://www.ted.com/talks/roberto_d_angelo_francesca_fedeli_in_our_baby
_s_illness_a_life_lesson

§ A powerful TEDx talk is not just a lecture.

This is the second most common challenge: an expert delivers a rather
fascinating fact-filled lecture, but it lacks a central idea. It can be a bit confusing
to define the difference between a "lecture" and a "TEDx talk." The best way I've
found is: lectures deliver facts; talks offer an idea (preferably with facts as well!).

Almost-good example:
o Christopher Gaze at TEDxVancouver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsESSyMnwmU
Watch from :47 to 1:03. It's impressive, right? He's smart, articulate, has a
great English accent, a great stage presence, beautiful filming. But…it
 didn't have an idea. It was a collection of super-interesting facts.

If he had just wrapped these Shakespearean facts in a loose idea, it would

have worked. Something like, "Shakespeare is more relevant today than
he was in his own time," or, "By coining phrases that perfectly encapsulate
the human experience, Shakespeare defined the modern human
experience in a way still relevant today."

Excellent example:
o Parul Sehgal: An ode to envy
http://www.ted.com/talks/parul_sehgal_an_ode_to_envy
This talk, like Gaze's, is really a love letter to literature. But it has a
unifying idea that makes it work: that we are secretly obsessed with, and
plagued by, jealousy, and cannot find any better way to understand this
very human emotion than through writing or reading fiction.

§ A powerful TEDx talk is about an idea, not an issue.

Many speakers are oriented toward social change; they've identified a real
problem in the world, and have set out to improve it. But the way they approach
the topic, as an "issue" or an "idea", determines how TEDx-like the talk feels.
Idea-based talks are energizing and captivating. But issue-based talks can be
exhausting; they create compassion fatigue. How to avoid this? Reframe the talk.
Here are three ways to think about it:

1. An issue exposes a problem. An idea proposes a solution.

2. An issue says, "Isn't this terrible?" An idea says, "Isn't this
interesting?"
3. An issue-based talk leads with morality. An idea-based talk leads with
curiosity.

Excellent example:
o Julian Treasure: Why architects need to use their ears
http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_why_architects_need_to_use_th
eir_ears
Watch the first 45 seconds. Julian has given 4 wonderful talks at TED
University, the attendee stage at TEDGlobal. When he proposed this talk,
it was initially extremely issue-driven: He led angrily with all the problems
he saw: Kids couldn't hear in schools. Patients couldn't recover in
hospitals. We urged him to reframe the talk from "This is a problem" to
"Here is a solution to this problem." We think this worked! And the talk has
indeed been very impactful.

§ A powerful TEDx talk has a clear articulation of the idea.

This is valuable advice, especially for a speaker with less experience. Often
when people share their work, they forget to offer a clear succinct articulation of
what they actually do. This is especially important for artists and scientists,
whose presentations may focus more on their work, than on an "idea".

This sounds simple, but it's actually quite difficult for speakers to do. Help them!
 Almost-good example:
o Laurie Marker at TEDxPortland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vja1W8gV8dA
Watch from 17:27 to 18:16. Laurie Marker is a renowned expert on
cheetahs, but her talk lacks a central idea or a unifying, articulation of her
own work and mission. She never clearly articulates either the core of her
life's mission, the ideas that helped her save cheetahs in Namibia, or the
reason that cheetahs matter.

The talk moved all over the place from the need to save the cheetahs to
her own biography criss-crossing the world, to the local nature center in
Oregon and her winery. She's so smart. But her narrative wanders. And
that may actually have been fine, if she just had a strong encapsulation of
her work at the beginning of the talk and a bit more structure.

Excellent example:
o Munir Virani: Why I love vultures
http://www.ted.com/talks/munir_virani_why_i_love_vultures
Watch the first 41 seconds of Munir Virani's talk about vultures. It's crystal
clear, compelling, and persuasive. You may not be interested in vultures.
In fact, you almost definitely are NOT interested in vultures. But you
cannot turn it off.

§ A powerful TEDx talk is focused.

Many, if not most, speakers have trouble paring down the material for their talk.
They usually try to cover too much. As we all know, TEDx talks are short. 18
minutes at the most. And that's long enough for exactly one idea, without too
much background or buildup. The challenge, always, is narrowing the topic down
sufficiently and choosing the right contextual elements to support the argument.

Almost-good example:
o Kalev Leetaru at TEDxUIUC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb0RG63BVnk
Watch the first 30 seconds of the talk. It begins billions of years ago with
the dawn of our planet. This was a smart talk, but it carried the weight of
so much packaging. It took him many minutes to get to his subject. And
that provides such a great, clear lesson: Sometimes you have to peel
away the layers of information you DON'T need in order to get to what you
do.

One of the other ways this challenge plays out is in talks by experts who give
overviews, instead of focused talks. They might offer a sort of survey of their field
and then, in the last 3 minutes, tell you about something mind-blowing and new.
And you think, “ARGH! Why didn't you give your talk on THAT?”

One technique is to tell speakers that they have MANY TEDx talks in them, but
that, for our purposes, at this event, they'll need to choose which of their many
TEDx talks to focus on. There's something comforting about knowing there will,
 at some point, be another chance to cover more material. It helps them let go!

§ A powerful TEDx talk starts strong.

We have always made a point of having talks start strong, with a clear focused
beginning that pulls you in. It's the reason we don't start each video with the
host's introduction, and the reason we generally cut out the speakers own
opening remarks. Online viewers are incredibly vulnerable to distraction; you
have to grab and hold their attention. So it's a great investment for speakers to
craft the first minute of their talks, and use it as an opportunity to frame the rest of
the talk for the audience. It can make the difference between having their rapt
attention, or … not.

Almost-good example:
o Nic Marks at TEDxEsade
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCC8XX4M_bA
Watch the first 40 seconds of this talk on happiness by Nic Marks, who is
a fine speaker and has a talk on TED.com but clearly was not so focused
at this event.

Excellent example:
o Scilla Elworthy at TEDxExeter
http://www.ted.com/talks/scilla_elworthy_fighting_with_non_violence
Watch the first 16 seconds of Scilla Ellworthy's talk on non-violence. You
can't not watch the rest.

There are many more things to be said about what makes a great TEDx Talk, but just
one more thought to leave with you: Authenticity. At the end of the day, a talk has to
be authentic to the speaker to succeed. There's no formula for a perfect TEDx talk. No
short cut. No one winning strategy. What we're trying to do in every case is give each
speaker the tools to offer their own authentic ideas in their own authentic voice.

These are a few of our favorite tools. I'm sure you each have many that you could share
with us!

Also check out Chris Anderson’s talk on what makes a great talk ... great!
http://blog.ted.com/2013/07/24/chris-anderson-on-what-makes-a-great-talk-great/