The famous TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) completed its 30th anniversary in March. It is an online sensation with many famous and many non-famous people sharing knowledge and presentations. As a BMS student or as an entrepreneur who has to pitch to the investor needs to learn many presentation skills.
Following are the best of TED conferences and tips for improving your presentation skills in no specific order.
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1- Use more pictures than words.
As you can see Astronaut Chris Hadfield receiving a standing ovation at TED 2014, Vancouver. His presentation contained 35 slides out of which 34 were pictures and short videos. With only 5 words in Hadfield’s entire presentation, he has extraordinarily shown us the power of how pictures are important to attract the attention of audience. Researchers have found out that if we hear information, we are likely to recall only 10% of the content. However, if we hear information and see a relevant picture we retain almost 65% of the content. So next time, make sure next time you add more pictures and reduce the text.
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2- Grab the attention of audience.
It is true that the attention span of the audience is highest for the first few seconds. Make your mark and grab that attention just like Jamie Oliver. Create an emotional bond by making them laugh or even horrifying them on throwing a controversial statement. Jamie Oliver began his talk on obesity with “sadly, in the next 18 minutes when I do our chat, four Americans that are alive will be dead from the food that they eat.” That’s the way to grab attention.
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3- Use personal disclosure to relate your message.
Ken Robinson: How schools kill creativity is the most popular ted talk of all time with 27 millions views. Sharing your experiences and emotions to your audience is a good way to attract and connect to them.
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4- One stat, One slide.
VP of trust and safety at Twitter, Del Harvey gave a remarkable presentation on how it keeps 240 million users safe. She wanted the audience to focus on one number making the slides simple and free from clutter. Why to confuse the audience by providing lots of stats in one slide?
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5- Remove word fillers.
Word fillers are a hint of nervousness, stress and weakness of an argument. Umm, so, like, you know, ah and actually are word fillers. Avoid using these by speaking confidently and taking proper pauses. Pauses replace the word fillers and you will feel more confident, level of authority and self-control. Tony Robbins is someone who speaks in bursts, which gives his audience time in the pauses to interpret the thoughts. His “Why We Do What We Do” talk is a great example of this.
Now you are aware of the main and basic skills for giving the best presentation. Make sure you inculcate them in your next best presentation 😉
-Vatsal Doshi
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