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Watching curator Chris Anderson in speaker rehearsals before a TED conference feels like witnessing the zen of a longtime coach who knows his sport both inside out and backwards. Whenever a trial run of a talk feels just a little askew, a few simple sentences are whispered. Magically, the next time the talk is given publicly, it is mesmerizing — and without a hint that it was ever anything but.<\/p>\n
In a new essay in The Harvard Business Review<\/i>\u2019s June issue<\/a>, Anderson shares his fine-tuned advice for delivering a powerful talk. A few choice tidbits:<\/p>\n \u201cWe all know that humans are wired to listen to stories, and metaphors abound for the narrative structures that work best to engage people. When I think about compelling presentations, I think about taking an audience on a journey.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMany of our best and most popular TED Talks have been memorized word for word \u2026 Most people go through what I call the \u2018valley of awkwardness,\u2019 where they haven\u2019t quite memorized the talk. If they give the talk while stuck in that valley, the audience will sense it \u2026 Getting past this point is simple, fortunately. It\u2019s just a matter of rehearsing enough times that the flow of words becomes second nature.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps the most important physical act onstage is making eye contact. Find five or six friendly-looking people in different parts of the audience and look them in the eye as you speak. Think of them as friends you haven\u2019t seen in a year, whom you\u2019re bringing up to date on your work.\u201c<\/p>\n
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