What makes a TED Talk Great?

As a creative, curiosity driven person you have probably watched hundreds of TED Talks. Before I started creating I was a world class consumer, which included every TED Talk I had the time and capacity to watch.

But what is it about TED Talks that are so great? How can you wind down a rabbit hole of watching 10, 20, 30 a week? So there are some obvious answers such as great storytelling or complex ideas communicated simply, but what are some takeaways that you can use in your next presentation?

To the point

TED Talks have an 18 minute time boundary. That may seem like a long time at first, but ideas worth spreading are not put together in a short space of time. The chances are that every TED speaker can talk for way longer than 18 minutes on their idea.

Every great TED talk is straight to the point. Everything that is said is for the audience. If it does not add value or move the story onto the next critical step it is not told.

The fact that the speeches are kept on point, consistently delivering value makes them great. No fluff, no wasted time, just great ideas that solve problems that you care about. This is the attention game played well.

No distracting slides

When you use slides in a presentation they often act as your crutch. It is a prompt to remember what you are going to say next, or you have too much on screen that means the audience have to focus on the screen whilst you are…