If you aren’t familiar with the Dresden Dolls and Amanda F***ing Palmer, you will be after this moving talk. Palmer is the lead singer and siren of this truly under-appreciated band. Palmer’s message is timely–the music industry is at an impasse: either it moves back to the roots of music and performance and honors the immediate sharing of experience between artist and fan or it continues to alienate listeners and consumers by placing the focus on quantity over quality (which is akin to putting a bandaid on a torn carotid artery). Palmer’s solution is to focus on the direct artist/fan relationship. Fans, Palmer believes, can support artists, as an artists supports a fan’s personal growth through experience. Watch Palmer nail the TED Commandment, “thou shalt not flaunt thine own ego” in this inspirational talk!
Tweak Your Slides
Musings on how presentation design will change the world.
Category Archives: TED Talk of the Day
TED 2013 Prize Winner: Sugata Mitra
Today’s TED 2013 share is Sugata Mitra’s Build a School in the Cloud. Mitra is this year’s TED Prize winner and for good reason. His use of cloud computing in providing an enriched and dynamic learning environment for students in India is inspiring. The model of collaborative education, Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLE) empowers students to collaborate and take control of their learning journeys. Check out the talk below and enjoy this nugget of inspiration from TED!
Calling your Audience Types to Action
Last week, I discussed the importance of audience segmentation as a means of persuading the members of your audience to take on your big idea. This week, I want to explore how you can use the research you gleaned during audience segmentation to call your audience types to action. A great presentation ends with a strong call to action–your audience cannot take your idea and spread your message without a clear sense of what you want them to do. In this segment, I’ll be referring to one of my favorite TED talks, LZ Granderson’s “The Myth of the Gay Agenda,” so make sure to watch the talk before moving on!
In the Harvard Business Review’s Guide to Persuasive Presentations, Nancy Duarte identifies four types of audiences to leverage in your call to action: Doers, Suppliers, Influencers, and Innovators.
Each subgroup in your audience has a different role in supporting your message and helping your idea come to life. Duarte’s suggestion is to focus on one call to action, but one that can incorporate the skills of each of the four groups.
What appeals to each group?
Doers are the worker bees (Duarte 2012) in the audience. Give them workable solutions and clear steps to follow.
For doers, it’s all about a specific action. Doers are the people in your audience who are best able to spread your idea via a specific and actionable task. In Granderson’s talk he outlines specific actions his audience can take in correcting the problem of inequality for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered citizens. At one point in the talk, Granderson displays a map of the United States developed by the Human Rights Campaign showing that it is legal for someone to be fired for their sexual orientation in 29 states. He asks the audience to focus on their state of Michigan, which is not shaded. He repeats this imagery several times. Our actionable point for doers–change those unshaded areas by following the super secret gay agenda aka the Constitution of the United States.
Whether vegetarian or omnivore, cows were and are my favorite suppliers–a girl cannot live without fromage. The suppliers in your audience have a wealth of resources available. Don’t exploit them or think only in terms of tangible resources.
Suppliers, the folks with the goods and resources to propel your message forward, want to know what tangible resources you need to succeed. Granderson doesn’t ask the suppliers for money or material goods (remember, there is no selling at TED); instead, he asks his audience to donate time, effort, and respect to the cause of catching America up to the Constitution.
Just as a strong flock follows a strong leader, others are led to take on your idea by the influencers in your audience. Change the influencer’s perception via your call to action by spinning a new perspective on an already existing problem.
Influencers help change the perceptions of others. Their status as leaders helps them mobilize others to your cause. If you can inspire an influencer, you’ve made a cheerleader for life.
Chimpanzees have the amazing ability, like other animals, to use tools to better the daily processes of their lives. Innovators are persuaded by the ingenious applicability of your big idea. Harness that in your closing.
Innovators are those who can use their already existing abilities to help you grow your idea (perhaps saving it, improving it, or enriching it). Innovators thrive when the call to action gives them a problem to solve through big ideas.
Granderson is in a room full of influencers and innovators–TEDsters are leaders in their industries and communities–they belong to an organization whose mission is to spread ideas. The majority of Granderson’s talk, it seems to me, is for these two final groups. He asks the audience to recall the past–when entire groups of people were treated based on what they were, not who they were, when our country systematically denied unalienable rights to its citizens for no justifiable reason. He juxtaposes the solutions we found to those problems with the problem still alive today–discrimination based on sexual orientation–and leaves his innovators and influencers with a simple message:
So when you hear the words “gay lifestyle” and “gay agenda” in the future, I encourage you to do two things: One, remember the U.S. Constitution, and then two, if you wouldn’t mind looking to your left, please. Look to your right. That person next to you is a brother, is a sister. And they should be treated with love and respect. Thank you. (Source)
By blending in actionable elements into your closing that appeal to each of these four groups–those who will work with you, those who will help supply you with needed tools, those who will influence others to join your cause, and those who will help you evolve your idea to further awesomeness–you can help motivate your entire audience to action.
Typefaces used: Edmondsans (James T. Edmondson) and Bebas Neue (Dharma Type)
Melissa Marshall wants you to talk nerdy to her
Two of the biggest barriers to fresh speech are jargon and complex language. We often fall back on big words either because we want to appear “smart” (or we think our audience expects it), because they are a natural part of our vocabularies, or because they are a natural part of our discipline. However, according to Scott Schwertly of Ethos 3, a presentation design firm, what set Steve Jobs apart as a communicator was not his ability to use tech speak, but his ability to communicate at a level that was understandable and impacting to everyone (Schwertly, How to Be an Online Presentation God Webinar). TEDster Melissa Marshall, fellow communications teacher shares her experiences teaching engineers how to communicate their ideas to a general audience. These lessons are not only simple and applicable to science folks, but they are delivered in an engaging and dynamic way. Check out Marshall’s equation to incredible and meaningful interactions below:
Talk of the Day: Lisa Kristine bears witness to modern slavery
In a presentation that beautifully executes Jim Endicott’s “three-legged stool” and Nancy Duarte’s presentation ecosystem, Lisa Kristine weaves a haunting story paired with beautiful, moving imagery of modern slavery in the developing world at TEDxMaui. This is a must-watch TED talk!
Kristine works with the organization Free the Slaves. Learn more about this organization committed to eliminating slavery around the world here.
What great TED talks have you seen recently?
Why TED matters, why TED works
As I round out this month’s batch of TED speeches, I am reminded of what draws me to TED in the first place. Yes, the ideas are brilliant and worth sharing, but if they were delivered in the same way many meetings, lectures, and “workshops” are, their power would be diminished greatly. No one would listen.
Alex Rister wrote an awesome post introducing novice presenters to s0me basic best practices when working to create a presentation that is memorable and impacting. One suggestion Alex has is that presenters watch TED talks in addition to practicing as often and in as many ways as possible, to develop their delivery prowess:
This is what sets TEDsters apart; one can tell they appreciate the wonderful moments of resonance they experience, and they want to create similar moments of their own. TEDsters practice because other TEDsters practiced before them. Practice is essential–even when you know your message, you live it, you are it. Practice is key. This is one primary purpose of making TED such a big part of the classroom experience. Students are inspired to know there is a forum for world-changing ideas out there that is not driven by money, power, or a select few.
Instead, TEDsters follow a set of commandments; I believe these are ideas we can all live by as presenters:
- Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick.
- Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.
- Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.
- Thou Shalt Tell a Story.
- Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.
- Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
- Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
- Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
- Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
- Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.
I round out my TED experience this month with three talks: Lauren Zalaznick, who embodies the second TED commandment by claiming that television has a social conscience, that it serves as a sort of barometer for social morality; Paul Nicklen, whose moving and raw fascination with the arctic fully fulfills commandment number six; and Charlie Todd, whose study of absurdity as a necessary human experience is a truly remarkable example of commandment three–the commandment that holds TED and TEDx and TED Prize, and TED Fellows, and the millions of us TEDsters together–reveal thy curiosity and passion.
Lauren Zalaznick: The conscience of television
Think TV is just a dismissible ”boob tube”? Think again. Zalaznick gives props to Hans Rosling and using moving, living data to show our movement as a society from moral certainty to ambiguity, our shift from comfort to irreverence and social commentary.
Paul Nicklen: Tales of ice-bound wonderlands
I am a big crier, so it’s no surprise that Nicklen’s love of the arctic, but more than that his love of untouched nature, has me in tears by minute two. Nicklen combines completely immersive imagery, music, storytelling, and raw emotion in a TED talk that truly fulfills the spirit of TED–ideas worth spreading. The big idea: we are quickly losing the species we take for granted as a part of our cultural collective, and it’s the disappearing ice, the result of our actions, that is erasing these wonderlands.
Charlie Todd: The shared experience of absurdity
The kinds of things Charlie Todd does make me nervous. I find the idea of being uncomfortable in public to be…well, uncomfortable. However, I love Todd’s sense of play, his use of absurdity to help us feel comfortable with discomfort. As Todd says, there no right or wrong way to play. Play is a forgotten element in many “formal” presentations, but play is what often keeps your audience motivated enough to listen to the end!
TED on Women: Gayle Tzemach Lemmon and Tony Porter
These two TED talks feature some dangerous lies we tell ourselves…
Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: Women entrepreneurs, example not exception
One of the most dangerous lies we tell ourselves is that women are cooperative, timid creatures who have an aptitude for compromise, teamwork and nurturing. The realm of business has traditionally belonged to men. It wasn’t until 100 years ago that women stomped and fought their way into business. Lemmon believes that women entrepreneurs, who are truly a rule and not an exception are seen as an anomaly, when they should be seen as the norm, and the norm to support and invest in.
Tony Porter: A call to men
The other big lie? Well, it’s a lie we tell our sons, brothers, fathers, and friends. We tell men that they must fit into what Tony Porter calls “the man box.” In this gracious talk (Porter presents as one of the only men attending TEDxWomen), Tony Porter shows us the true meaning of decorum, shocks us with the sadly restrictive role the man box creates for men, and inspires women to consider the gender roles they reinforce for their children.
TED on Food: Jamie Oliver and Nathan Myhrvold
Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize Wish: Teach every child about food
Although Jamie Oliver’s attempt to bring this wish to live through prime time television did not exactly succeed, his TED wish, and his energy and dynamism in conveying this wish–to teach every child about food in an effort to curb the now escalating numbers of obese youth in America–is nevertheless relevant and important. Watch Jamie bring the obesity problem to life through a wheelbarrow full of sugar among other things.
Nathan Myhrvold: Cooking as never seen before
I love to cook; if you know me or even just read this blog, you know I love to make delicious things and then force my treats (like the salted caramel Nutella brownies I’m making tonight) on my friend, family, and students. I owe much of my love of cooking to my father, who explained to me that cooking is chemistry, a series of processes and reactions between elements. So, Nathan Myhrvold’s fascination with cooking, in particular the modernist culinary movement, is right up my alley. His book Modernist Cuisine takes foodies through a journey into the science and beauty of the cooking process. I must have a copy of this book immediately!
TEDsters on Living: Sheena Iyengar, Shawn Achor, and Sarah Kay
Sheena Iyengar: How to make choosing easier
As public speaking teachers, we often talk abou the importance of eye contact. Many of us avoid eye contact because we worry about judgment and dislike being the center of attention. Sheena Iyengar develops presentations are dynamic, engaging, and interactive–she also happens to be blind. In this talk that features beautifully unified visuals, Iyengar explores the problem of choice and choice overload–this talk serves as an interesting counterpoint to Malcolm Gladwell’s spaghetti sauce talk.
Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work
Employers and companies have begun infusing play into the workspace through the use of flexible schedules, bean bag chairs, and desk decorating projects. But what is the real secret to happiness at work? What is it that actually leads to blissful productivity, creativity, and work beyond the average? Achor relays the true power play can have on creativity, work, and happiness with delightful humor, impeccable pacing, and a sense of childlike wonder and play that truly bring his message to life.
Sarah Kay: How many lives can you live?
I was first introduced to Sarah Kay during a previous iteration of the TED analysis through her first TED talk, “If I should have a daughter…”. In this inspiring TEDxEast talk, Kay takes us through multiple lives through spoken poetry. Kay uses the word and the dynamic delivery of that word to bring the experiences of the others in her mind to life.
TED Educators: John Wooden and Dave Eggers
John Wooden on true success
As an erstwhile college sports fan (I really only paid attention when I was in school), I don’t know much about the greats of college sports lore, apart from the once great Steve Spurrier. So, one must forgive my lack of know how about the late John Wooden, arguably the best college sports coach of all time. Once I watched this talk though, I realized his true impact as a coach came not from wins and championships, but from his understanding of the true meaning of success–hard work, a positive impact on the world, and always doing one’s best.
Dave Eggers’ wish: Once upon a school
One of my favorite facets of TED is the TED prize, which is awarded each year to one idea that would benefit from the kind of exposure and support the TED organization has the ability to offer. Dave Eggers recounts the story of 826 Valencia, an after school program that pairs writers with students in a unique tutoring experiment. Eggers’ enthusiasm, humility, and passion for helping others inspires the superteacher in me to do more.
