UNLEASH THE MASTER WITHIN.
Stories, slides, and body language are important components of a persuasive presentation, yet they mean little if the speaker isn’t passionate about his or her topic.

MASTER THE ART OF STORYTELLING.
Ideas are the currency of the 21st century, and stories facilitate the exchange of that currency. Stories illustrate, illuminate, and inspire.

HAVE A CONVERSATION.
Your delivery and gestures, mastered through hours and hours of practice, will enhance your overall message.

TEACH ME SOMETHING NEW.
Reveal information that’s completely new to your audience, packaged differently, or offers a fresh and novel way to solve an old problem.

DELIVER JAW-DROPPING MOMENTS.
Every performer [should have] at least one emotionally charged event that your audience members will be talking about the next day.

LIGHTEN UP.
Humor involves some risk, and most people don’t have the courage for it. The key is to be authentic.

STICK TO THE 18-MINUTE RULE.
Constrained presentations require more creativity.

PAINT A MENTAL PICTURE WITH MULTISENSORY EXPERIENCES.
Deliver presentations with components that touch more than one of the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.

STAY IN YOUR LANE.
Each person must find his or her own passion about the topic to make an authentic connection with the audience.


Excerpted from Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds, by Carmine Gallo. Published by St. Martin’s Press. © 2014.