TED TALKS STORYTELLING TECHNIQUES Master The One Thing All Great TED Talks Have in Common by AKASH KARIA Akash Karia best-selling author of “How to Deliver a Great TED Talk” © 2013 by Akash Karia All rights reserved. Copyeditor: Marcia C. Abramson Cover Design: Akira eBook creator: Neeraj Chandra All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any means without the expressed permission of the author. This includes reprints, excerpts, photocopying, recording, or any future means of reproducing text. If you would like to do any of the above, please seek permission first by contacting us at http://AkashKaria.com BOOKS BY THE AUTHOR: How to Deliver a Great TED Talk Storytelling Techniques for Powerful Presentations Public Speaking Mastery Own the Room Public Speaking Tips from the Pros Stop Negative Thinking! How Successful People Think Differently YOUR FREE GIFT As a way of saying thank you for purchasing this book, I’d like to offer you my free eBook, “How You can create Brilliant Openings & Capture the Full Attention of Any Audience in 30 Seconds”. You can download the free eBook here: Click here>> http://AkashKaria.com/FREE TABLE OF CONETNS Chapter One THE MAGIC INGREDIENT IN DELIVERING A GREAT TED TALK Chapter Two THE ‘STORY START’ Chapter Three THE SURPRISING ELEMENT THAT MAKES A STORY IRRESISTIBLE Chapter Four PROVIDE SENSORY DETAILS TO BREATHE LIFE INTO YOUR CHARACTERS Chapter Five CREATE MENTAL MOTION PICTURES FOR YOUR AUDIENCE USING ALL OF YOUR SENSES Chapter Six PROVIDE SPECIFIC DETAILS Chapter Seven THE POWER OF POSITIVE STORIES Chapter Eight THE SPARK, THE CHANGE AND THE TAKEAWAY Chapter Nine WRAP UP CHAPTER ONE THE MAGIC INGREDIENT IN DELIVERING A GREAT TED TALK What is the secret to delivering a great TED talk? What is the magic ingredient that makes a TED talk captivating? TED talks (www.Ted.com) are some of the most inspiring and amazing talks you’ll watch. Each presentation is eighteen minutes long, meaning that speakers on the TED stage have a difficult job. They have to distill their expertise and their life’s work into only eighteen minutes. Essentially, they only have time to share one idea, which requires them to ask the question: “If I could leave my audience with only one single key takeaway message, what would it be? If my audience was to forget everything else I said, what one single idea or lesson would I want them to remember?” Not only are the ideas that are shared on the TED stage profound, the speakers themselves are some of the best presenters you’ll ever see. Unlike the boring, dull, lifeless corporate presentations you hear these days, TED talks are powerful and captivating. They keep you hooked onto every word. The speakers on the TED stage are confident, powerful and persuasive. So, what is it that makes these TED talks so inspiring? What are the secrets of delivering a powerful TED talk? And more importantly, how can you use those secrets to make your presentations more powerful, dynamic and engaging? To try to answer these questions, I studied over 200 of the best TED talks. I broke each TED talk down in terms of structure, message and delivery. talk down in terms of structure, message and delivery. So, what did I discover? What was the magic ingredient that made a TED talk captivating? What was it that made the best TED talks inspiring - which is a word that is often associated with TED talks? Here’s what I discovered. After studying over 200 TED talks, the one commonality among all the great TED talks is that they contain stories. Essentially, the best speakers on the TED stage were the ones who had mastered the art of storytelling. They had mastered how to craft and present their stories in a way that allowed them to share their message with the world without seeming like they were lecturing their audience. That’s just one of the advantages of stories - they allow you to share your message without your audience feeling like you’re preaching to them, which in turn makes it easier for them to accept your message. In this short guide, you are going to learn how to use stories to make your presentations engaging and inspiring. You’ll learn how to craft stories that keep your audience mesmerized. You’ll also learn how to use stories to make your message memorable. By the time you’ve finished this guide, you will have picked up twenty-three principles on how to create stories that keep your audiences hooked onto your every word. Whether you are giving a TED talk or a corporate presentation, you’ll be able to apply the principles used in this guide to make your next talk a roaring success. Ready? Let’s get started... IN A NUTSHELL The one thing that all great TED speakers have in common is that they are master storytellers. CHAPTER TWO THE ‘STORY START’ How many speakers have you seen that hooked you into their presentation within the first thirty seconds? How many times have you attended a presentation, and within the first thirty seconds, thought, “Wow, this is going to be good!” Not many? Don’t worry. As a public speaking coach, one of the questions I get asked most often is, “What’s the best way to begin my presentation? How do I open my speech?” The opening of a presentation is one of the most important parts of the presentation. If you don’t grab your audience’s attention within the first thirty seconds, they are going to mentally tune out of it - and it’s going to be very difficult to bring them back. You only get one chance at making a first impression, so you better utilize it well. I have seen too many speakers open their presentations in boring, dull and lifeless ways. The most common (and thus boring) opening is, “Thank you for inviting me. My name is XYZ and I want to talk to you about...” This opening literally sucks the excitement out of the room. If your audience members were excited about listening to you, they certainly aren’t going to be after that opening! So, what is the best way to open a speech? You’ve probably guessed it: open with a story. In her great TED talk (http://bit.ly/10gmj3t), titled The Power of Introverts, Susan Cain masterfully hooked her audience into her speech with the following opening. I highly encourage you to watch her speech, if you haven’t already. Analyzing the effect a presentation has on you is a fantastic way to learn what works and what doesn’t when it comes to public speaking. Therefore, as you read the following opening, consider how it makes you feel. Does it arouse your curiosity? Does it invoke any memories? Does it make you interested in the rest of the presentation? “When I was nine years old I went off to summer camp for the first time. And my mother packed me a suitcase full of books, which to me seemed like a perfectly natural thing to do. Because in my family, reading was the primary group activity. And this might sound antisocial to you, but for us it was really just a different way of being social. You have the animal warmth of your family sitting right next to you, but you are also free to go roaming around the adventure-land inside your own mind. And I had this idea that camp was going to be just like this, but better...” - Susan Cain, TED talk (http://bit.ly/10gmj3t) INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ARE BORING Notice how Susan doesn’t open her speech with introductory remarks. She doesn’t bore her audience with an introduction of herself (the introducer/emcee should be the one who introduces you before you get up on stage). She doesn’t bore her audience with gratitude by trying to express how thankful she is that she was invited to speak at TED. Instead, she immediately dives into a story. The best way to thank your audience for the opportunity to speak to them is to deliver a speech that keeps them engaged, interested and involved. DIVE INTO THE STORY The reason Susan’s opening is powerful is because she dives straight into the story. Starting your presentation with a story one of the best techniques for getting your audience’s attention: “When I was nine years old I went off to summer camp for the first time. And my mother packed me a suitcase full of books...” The above opening is powerful because: