3/9 Keys to A Great Talk

— highlights of Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo

Do you think that public speaking is hard? Or as terrifying as seeing a flying cockroach rushing towards you? If so, then we are exactly on the same boat. Public speaking has become one of the biggest fears that many people have. One survey estimated that 75% of the population are afraid of speaking in public.

Many people do not believe they can easily and clearly deliver what is on their mind in front of an audience. Regardless of how talkative they are in daily lives, when it comes to speaking in front of many people, they might be tongue-tied, or worse: sweating, having high blood pressure, increased heart rate, or even headache. Unfortunately, no matter what we do for a living, what our positions are as a worker, or how quiet we are in everyday lives, there will always be time when we are required to speak in front of people.

Last year, I started to take an interest in overcoming my fears of public speaking and decided to delve deeper into it. In the process, I came across one mind-opening book entitled Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of The World’s Top Minds. The book is written by Carmine Gallo, an internationally popular keynote speaker and a ‘communication guru’ according to Publishers Weekly. Through this book, Gallo reveals 9 secrets of public speaking based on his research done by analyzing 500 TED presentations and speaking directly to successful TED speakers. TED itself is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas usually in the form of short, powerful talks which has been presenting a lot of great speakers.

Among the 9 secrets Gallo shares on the book, there are 3 keys that — in my opinion — are the foundation of public speaking: passion, stories, and authenticity.

Passion: Unleash the Master Within

Have you ever seen someone explaining something so well that it made you sit still and enjoy the whole talk? I have. Many times, for the record. Let us recall some great leaders and speakers like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates who could convey mind-blowing, jaw-dropping ideas in a vigorous way. Then, we start to wonder how can they be so charismatic up there on the stage?

Passion, obsession, or enthusiasm, is the first key to do a great public speaking.

That is basically what Gallo explained in the very first chapter of the book. Gallo shows that the speakers look and sound charismatic because they are passionate about the topic. Charisma is directly associated with how much passion the speaker has for his or her content. Thus, with passion on the topic, they become more charismatic and their talks become so much more interesting and engaging. We stand a much greater chance of persuading and inspiring the listeners if we express an enthusiastic, passionate, and meaningful connection to our topic. Ultimately, Gallo says that passion leads to mastery and our presentation is nothing without it.

However, there are times when we have to deliver something that we are actually not so passionate about. When we face this circumstance, make sure that we truly understand what the topic is all about. Ensure that we are at least enthusiastic about it and unleash ‘the master’ within ourselves. As Gallo put it in the book: people cannot inspire others unless and until they are inspired themselves.

Stories: Master The Art of Storytelling

For workers, giving a presentation or talk about certain topics is oftentimes correlated with formally delivering facts and data. We tend to set to the stiff-mode, knowing that we are facing notable people and conveying important messages. We awkwardly stand as if there were a resistance between us and the audience while in fact, that resistance is what we need to break. Narrative is actually the most powerful way to break it down. As Gallo says, we need data, facts, and analysis to challenge people, but we also need narrative to get people comfortable enough to care about what we are advocating for. Data, facts, and analysis that we deliver mean nothing to the audience if we do not convey it in an engaging way.

Gallo also cited Aristotle’s — The Greek philosopher — theory about communication. Aristotle believed that persuasion occurs when three components are represented: ethos, logos, and pathos. Ethos is credibility; logos is the means of persuasion through logic, data, and statistics; and pathos is the act of appealing to emotions. Pathos is related to the persuasion method the speaker can use to reach the audience’s hearts and minds, which is by using stories. The more we have pathos in our presentation, the more persuasive it becomes.

What kind of stories should we make in our presentation? According to the book, we can choose one or more of the three types of stories: personal stories, stories about people, and/or stories about brand success.We are all natural storytellers, but somehow we lose this part of ourselves when we enter the corporate world. Try to insert stories in our presentation or talks, since stories are just data with soul.

Authenticity: Stay in Your Lane

When we listen to great speakers who can impressively speak in front of many people, we might think that we want to be like them. We want to be able to speak in such a way. However, do we really have to be like them?

In the last chapter of the book, Gallo elucidates about how important it is to be ourselves when we are giving a talk. We can learn from others and how they achieved success in public speaking, but we’ll never make a lasting impression on people unless we leave our own mark. Be inspired by others, but stay in our lane. Be confident, but do not go with blind optimism. Gallo also emphasizes that we have to be authentic, open, and transparent since most people can spot a phony. If we try to be something or someone we are not, we will fail to gain the trust of our audience. We must believe in what we are saying.

Public speaking may sound a little bit scarier even after we know those three vital things. Even so, that does not mean that we should let the fear gnaw us and drag us deeper into it. Let’s think about what Warren Buffett said when he was asked by someone about what habits he cultivated in his 20s and 30s that he saw as the foundation of success. His answer was:

“You’ve got to be able to communicate in life and it’s enormously important. Schools, to some extent, underemphasize that. If you can’t communicate and talk to other people and get across your ideas, you’re giving up your potential.”

Originally published on Media Defis XXV.