Often, executive leaders that I coach and support are required to give talks, whether technical in nature or for the media, or for interviews to advance in their organizations. The more scientific or technically advanced the executive, the more complex and saturated slides they put together for these talks. The TED talk below is a great example of the core components and mindsets of any great talk…in this case, TED Curator Chris Anderson outlines the keys to a great TED talk, but they apply to any talk you may be called upon to give.
He does a beautiful job of setting the context, then details:
1. Limit your talk to just one main idea.
2. Give your listeners a reason to care.
3. Build your idea, piece by piece, using concepts your audience already understands.
4. Make your idea worth sharing.
His best quote from the talk is, “Ideas are complex things; you need to slash back your content so that you can focus on the single idea you’re most passionate about, and give yourself a chance to explain that one thing properly. You have to give context, share examples, make it vivid. So pick one idea, and make it the through-line running through your entire talk, so that everything you say links back to it in some way.”
Check it out for yourself!