The Book in a Nutshell
As Carmine Gallo puts it, “ideas are the currency of the twenty-first century.” But crucially, we can only change the world through these ideas by effectively communicating them. After analysing more than 500 TED presentations and interviewing presenters, neuroscientists, psychologists and communications experts, Gallo presents what he believes to be the nine most important elements of effective presentations.
Book Notes: The Key Elements of High-Quality Presentations
The following are more detailed book notes from Talk Like TED. These notes do not by any means cover the full breadth of the book. They are instead intended to serve as an introduction to some of the key ideas, from which to decide whether the book is worth further attention.
#1: Passion
Presentations are nothing without passion. We can’t connect and engage with our audiences on a higher level and we can’t deliver presentations that feel true to ourselves without it.
Research has found that there is a direct correlation between “perceived passion” of presenters pitching their ideas and the likelihood that investors will fund their ideas.
Passionate delivery is effective primarily because it’s contagious. In research, participants who watched a presentation by a positive leader experienced a more positive mood than those who watched negative leaders.
#2: Storytelling
Compelling storytelling allows an audience to connect with our ideas in more meaningful ways.
Researchers have discovered that personal stories have a syncing effect for storyteller and listener, called “brain-to-brain coupling”. When a presenter tells a personal story, the brain response seems to be mirrored in the listener. Our brains also appear to become more active when we hear stories.
“A wordy PowerPoint slide with bullet points activates the language-processing center of the brain, where we turn words into meaning. Stories do much more, using the whole brain and activating language, sensory, visual, and motor areas.”
We can incorporate effective stories into our presentations in the form of stories about ourselves, others, or brands. Particularly effective stories break a pattern and play on the brain’s curiosity for the novel.
#3: Natural Delivery
Great presentations should feel as comfortable as a conversation with a friend. We can only reach that level of comfort through relentless practice and feedback. As Gallo puts it, “Authenticity doesn’t happen naturally.”
Gallo outlines the importance of gestures and building “command presence”:
“Disciplined, rigorous, intelligent, and confident speakers use hand gestures as a window to their thought processes.”
Studies suggest that gestures give the audience confidence in the speaker. But our most expansive hand gestures should be saved only for key moments in the presentation.
#4: Novel Ideas
Learning something new activates dopamine pathways in the brain. It gives us a spike of reward chemistry that makes presentations and learning experiences more appealing.
“Novelty is the single most effective way to capture a person’s attention.”
Giving our content an unpredictable “hook” forces the brain to process the information differently and more memorably.
“Only through seeing your own world through a fresh lens will you be able to give your audience a new way of looking at their world.”
If ideas are too complex, they will be less memorable. It should be possible to summarise a novel idea in 140 characters or less (a “Twitter friendly headline”, as Gallo calls it).
#5: Jaw-Dropping Moments
Shocking and surprising moments also help to make our presentations more memorable.
Such moments create what neuroscientists call “emotionally charged events”. At the neurological level, the amygdala releases more dopamine when exposed to such moments, which aids our memory processing.
“The brain is wired to recall emotionally vivid events and to ignore the ordinary, the mundane. If you want to stand out in a sea of mediocre presentations, you must take emotional charge of your audience.”
Think about novel and memorable ways to communicate the salient messages in a presentation. Use props, demos, unexpected statistics, videos, and images where appropriate. And end on a high note with a strong story.
#6: Humour
Humour is a key tool in the armoury of the world’s best speakers – and with good reason. The brain loves humour, which can act as an ingratiation tactic and strengthen group cohesion.
Research shows that humorous people are also seen as more intelligent and interesting. Indeed, humour is consistently ranked above educational attainment, career status, or physical attraction as a key desirable trait in a partner.
“Your audience is turned on by humor. Arouse them. Their devotion will help you be far more successful.”
By injecting natural humour into our presentations, through anecdotes, analogies and other strategies, we can capitalise on the brain’s natural attraction to humour.
#7: 18 Minutes
18 minutes, the length of a TED talk, is the ideal length of time for a presentation. As the length of a presentation increases, the cognitive burden on the listener increases too.
The rule of three can help us to understand why this length of time is so effective. This principle suggests people will robustly remember three pieces of information. As we add more items, this level of retention reduces significantly.
In the spirit of this rule, Gallo suggests a three-story structure for presentations. The steps are as follows:
- Create a succinct headline
- Support the headline with three key messages
- Reinforce the three messages with stories and examples
#8: Multisensory Experiences
Multisensory presentations expose the brain to novelty, making presentations more engaging and memorable. When the brain is given two mental representations of an idea – e.g. verbal and visual – the mental connections become much stronger.
Gallo suggests using pictures instead of words wherever possible. Scientists have produced ample evidence to suggest that ideas presented as images are more likely to be recalled afterwards than ideas presented as words.
#9: Authenticity
All the previous ideas are meaningless if you’re not being yourself.
“When you deliver a presentation, your goal should not be to “deliver a presentation.” It should be to inspire your audience, to move them, and to encourage them to dream bigger. You cannot move people if they don’t think you’re real. You’ll never convince your audience of anything if they don’t trust, admire, and genuinely like you.”
Bottom line: Put in the hard work to craft and rehearse the presentation until it’s natural. But thereafter it stands on authentic delivery and speaking from the heart.
You can buy Talk Like TED here or you can find more of our book notes here. For further related reading try The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking by Dale Carnegie or The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr.
