Professor Elam

Monday March 24, 2014

If you are invited to speak at TED, you have arrived. This is an annual high tech confab of who is who. 

Carminhe Gallo examined 500 TED talks and came up with these three recommendations.

1. Don't bore people with facts and figures, tell a story. Everyone from Bill Cosby to Jesus Chrits used this idea to their advantage. People remember stories. This was the foundation that launched Cosby's career. He told stories about hea nd his Brother, he and the neighborhood kids like Fat Albert, and everyone identified with the stories. With the movie Noah on tap, one of his first was Noah talking to God. 

2. Create Emotionally Charged Events. Frankly I don't think I would let mosquitoes go on stage but the idea has merit. Use a demonstration to illustrate your point. In high school, regarding a topic on nuclear weapons proliferation, one debater painted the earth on an empty egg shell. At his conclusion warning of imminent danger he held it aloft and crushed it, demonstrating the danger of nuclear weapons proliferation. 

3. Use the rule of three, people remember three not two or four.