As a speaker, one major milestone you face is your first highly public speech. Most of you won’t have to give that first talk at a TED conference as I did. However, if you do, it helps to remember that the things which make TED talks great can make all talks great.

TED speakers are asked to do six things in their talk:

1. Distill your life’s work or experience into a 3, 6, 9 or 18 minute talk
2. Be authentic/vulnerable
3. Convey one strong idea
4. Tell a story that hasn’t been told before
5. Tell and not sell
6. Absolutely and positively stick to the time limit

Do those things and you too can give “the talk of your life.”

How I Came to Speak at TED

In 2006 I was living in a Chevy van with my Rottweiler and cat in a Wal-Mart shopping lot in Denver, Colorado. A “grand adventure” had gone awry and left me more homeless than free spirit. My father had recently died. I’d quit a good paying job to escape the stress and grief of his death and recent life changes, and dug my hole of depression deeper. I had become invisible, one of the 3.5 million working homeless in America.

Yet three years later the lowest point of my life was suddenly fodder for a TED talk. I’d just won an all-expenses-paid trip to TED Global 2009, courtesy of Daniel Pink, best-selling author, former speech writer for Al Gore and a professional speaker himself. As an attendee, I was eligible to compete for a chance to talk at TED.

Coincidently, TED Global 2009’s theme was “The essence of things not seen.” It summed up my year of being invisible as a homeless woman. But now that year or more of being invisible to society had the potential to educate and inspire society.

All I had to do was give the “talk of my life.”

How to Write the Talk of Your Life in Six Minutes

Easy? Not really. Not only was I not a speaker, I’d never given a formal, prepared talk to a large group before. This would not only be the first professional speech of my life, it would be about the most emotional and trying year of my life.  I had less than two months to prepare. It was a challenge.

I turned to a variety of sources, including Six Minutes, for help. Here’s what I learned:

1. Distill Your Life’s Work or Experience into a 3, 6, 9 or 18 minute talk

Any of us could fill books with the story of our lives. But how do you narrow your focus and distill a life to mere minutes? Determine your message – is it to educate? Motivate? Persuade? Entertain? Or inspire? I wanted to do all those things.

I had lived in my van for a year with a dog and house cat while working a full-time job.  I was dealing with heat, depression, hassles from police and security guards whose job it was to make sure I didn’t sleep in my van on their property. There was the day-to-day struggle to eat, sleep, work, shower and survive on the streets. There was the struggle to remain true to the vision I had of being a free spirit on an adventure while fighting clinical depression. As I prepared for the talk, I was living in an apartment, and couldn’t decide what part of the van-dwelling experience I wanted to convey.

2. Be Authentic

I kept asking myself, what was my message? Where did I focus? It wasn’t easy to decide. I finally climbed back into my van, closed my eyes and asked myself, “What will the audience want to know? What would I want to know if I heard a similar story?” Simple. I’d want to know how I escaped. What got me out of the van and homelessness and back into an apartment? That was the message, the quality, the focus. From there it just got easier.

3. Convey one strong idea

The theme for TED Global was, “The essence of things not seen.” My talk was about being one of the invisible working homeless – the essence of things not seen. But it was also about the essence of things – like perspectives and judgments, that influence our lives. In this context, my message was clear: “People are not where they live, where they sleep, what they are doing at any given moment. People are their dreams and visions.”

Tip: Take time to focus each idea you want to express, then pick the most compelling, the strongest idea.

4. Tell a story that hasn’t been told before

As a journalist I had an advantage. I’m a professional storyteller. Yet I still had to find a new story, a story about being homeless that hadn’t been told before. So I told my story. It’s easy to hide behind talking about other people in similar situations, with similar issues, but the powerful story, the one people want to hear, is your story.

Once I believed that, I could start looking at how my experience, my journey through homelessness, while the same on many levels, was also new and untold in many other ways. I also noticed that with many stories about the homeless, it’s easy to resort to playing on the audience’s heart strings and going for the pity pull. I didn’t want that. I wanted my audience to be with me emotionally, but to identify with me, not to feel sorry for me. I wanted to come across as authentic, not as a victim.

To do that I focused on the facts, not on the trauma of the pain or the emotion. Own the situation, don’t blame the situation.  Tell the story and let the reader or listener make their own choice about the outcome.

5. Tell and not sell

One of the strongest “rules” that TED organizers establish is to not “sell” anything, or use your time to pitch your book, organization, or business. It’s great advice.

Tell the audience something, don’t sell them something. They want solutions. If you can provide that, the rest will come. I had nothing to sell, so abiding by that rule was easy! If you have a great message, a fabulous idea, or an amazing story or product – people will want to buy. You don’t have to sell them. Focus on being remarkable, not profitable.

6. Stick to the time limit

TED organizers don’t budge on this one. I watched several people interrupted when they breached their time limit. The same holds true for any venue where you talk. Even if you go over your limit, the audience is watching the clock. Their timers will go off and you’ll lose them if you talk too long. Set your own limit and keep it.

Practical Speaking Tips

I also learned numerous practical speaking lessons along the way. In terms of preparation and practice, here’s my advice to you:

• Memorize your talk where possible and refer back to notes or prompters
• Get 8-hours sleep after practicing. This helps your brain commit, process, and store the speech, allowing you to remember what you’ve crammed for.
• Give the speech to a small audience the day before
• Give the speech to yourself an hour before your actual speech
• Practice in the venue where you’ll be talking – get on the stage if possible beforehand.

Learn From the Best You Can Access

I also got fantastic advice from some of the best speakers at TED.

From Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO and founder of the Accumen Foundation:(Novogratz is not only a seasoned TED speaker, she’s married to Chris Anderson, moderator for TED.)

• Give your speech (no matter how often you’ve given it before) to a close friend, or out loud to yourself before you actually get on stage for your real talk.

From Daniel Pink, professional speaker, best-selling author, former speech writer for Al Gore, and TED talker:

• Remember your audience wants you to succeed
• Relax and enjoy your time on stage

From June Cohen, TED University Moderator,

• Stand, move, and walk around on stage, but don’t stand and sway or shuffle
• Smile
• Don’t block the TED logo
• Don’t walk out of the camera range
• Don’t worry about looking perfect. We edit out all the mistakes and the parts where you forget your place. The video makes you look perfect, but no one gives an error free presentation.

From the guys who ran the sound checks…
From Bruno Giussani (European Director of TED Global Conferences)…
From Sam Martin, TED Magazine editor…
And from all the TED Global Fellows:

• Breathe
• The louder your voice, the more you’ll naturally gesticulate
• Enjoy the ride
• Be authentic
• It’s not a competition

The advice I would give now?

Practice, practice, practice – in front of mirrors, in front of friends, in front of small audiences before you make your debut in your final venue. And then relax and enjoy it. You’ll be fine. You may not be perfect, but you’ll be fine.

Honestly? I don’t remember the six minutes at all. It was the longest and the shortest six minutes of my life. But for the rest of the week at TED, I was gratified to find those who heard the talk come up to me to thank me for speaking. I swallowed my tendency to protest (“It was no big deal”) and to just say “Thank you,” and take it all in. I resisted the temptation to compare myself to any other speaker. It would have been counterproductive.

Perhaps the most important thing I learned was that the best talks of our lives are the ones that focus on describing the journey more than the outcome.

Watch Becky Blanton’s TEDGlobal Talk

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related to This Story…

• You can read more about Becky’s story in a TED Magazine article.
• Three other TED speakers — Al Gore, Hans Rosling, and Majora Carter — have been featured on Six Minutes previously

Similar Articles You May Like... Average Speakers Suck. Don’t be Average. Book Review: Confessions of a Public Speaker (Scott Berkun) Love the Process and Improve Your Speaking Skills 8 Faulty Speaker Assumptions and How to Fix Them How to Deliver Group Presentations: The Unified Team Approach Watch Becky Blanton’s TED Talk

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Becky Blanton is currently back in her van, with her Rottweiler, traveling across the USA and documenting her journey the second time around, this time as a writer, not a homeless woman. Discover more about Becky at beckyblanton.com.

Majora Carter’s TED talk has both incredible strengths — passion, energy, authenticity — and one unfortunate weakness — rapid speaking rate. Both extremes are worthy of public speaking analysis.

I encourage you to:

1. Watch the video;
2. Read the analysis in this speech critique; and
3. Share your thoughts on this presentation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

What is Phenomenal about this Speech?

Guy Kawasaki has written a thorough 15-point speech review, describing the many wonderful aspects of this talk. His entire review is worth reading, but I’d like to quote a few excerpts which echoed my own analysis:

• She immediately provides a clear problem statement. (1:00-2:00)
• She personalizes her story all the way through the speech.
• She shows raw emotions and unveils a piece of her soul when she breaks into tears when talking about her brother being gunned down. (5:10)
• She capitalizes on alliteration: “pimps and pushers and prostitutes” (6:50) and repetition: “economic degradation begets environmental degradation which begets social degradation” (7:24).
• Her presence exudes power and confidence without a trace of arrogance, fear, or condescension.
• She ends with an insanely great call-to-action: “Please don’t waste me.” (17:57)

In short, Majora Carter exhibits incredible passion — more in 19 minutes than many of my college professors in an entire semester. Her message is captivating, and her enthusiasm is infectious. All speakers can learn from Majora Carter.

But… it could be much, much better

This talk by Majora Carter is not without flaws. Here’s what Guy Kawasaki wrote about her speaking rate:

• She speaks rapidly—bordering on too rapidly, but she is articulate at all times. And she slows her cadence for her most important points. You can tell that she’s trying to observe her time limit—communicating that she respects the audience’s time.

While I agreed with much of Guy Kawasaki’s analysis, I believe he is being too generous on this point.

Majora Carter speaks too fast for much of this talk. Period. It does not “border on too rapidly.” It is too rapid.

Her talk is packed with dense information, often delivered at a rate too fast for many in the audience to absorb. Garr Reynolds recently wrote about a presentation by economist Robert Frank. One of Frank’s slides asks these questions:

• How much can I cover today?
  vs.
  How much can my students absorb today?

While Majora Carter may be respecting the audience’s time, she is not respecting the audience’s capacity to absorb information.

I have the luxury of watching this video three times, pausing, and rewinding to get the meaning. This is a luxury that your audience rarely has. More importantly, your audience will rarely give you more than one opportunity. Overloading them with information is not effective.

Her speaking rate is so fast that she trips over her own words multiple times. At times, she seems breathless. Used sparingly, a rapid speaking rate can be used to very good effect by a speaker. However, when most of the talk is delivered at this rate, that’s a clear sign that too much information is being presented.

What’s the Solution? Aggressive Editing.

If you have a 20-minute time slot and 40 minutes of information, the solution is not to double your speaking rate. The solution is to cut the material in half. Keep the best lines, the best stories, and the most powerful images. Be ruthless in trimming the rest.

Depending on your speaking scenario, you may be able to include additional facts, figures, statistics, stories, and diagrams in handout material for the audience.

What about Reading from a Script?

It is generally better to avoid reading from notes, but that in itself didn’t bother me in this presentation. Despite frequently reading, Majora connects deeply with the audience throughout the talk. Her face is expressive, her body is active, and her vocal variety is excellent. She compensates well for the use of notes.

The indirect problem with reading notes is that it encourages rapid delivery. This is a problem that I have personally battled. In the past, I often wrote with red pen in margins of my notes: “SLOW DOWN!” In recent years, I go without notes or with only a few key phrases to guide me along. The time it takes me to occasionally catch my thoughts is time well spent — it allows the audience time to digest what I’ve just said.

Critical analysis notwithstanding, this is still a fantastic talk from Majora Carter. It could have been better with some aggressive editing and a slower delivery. [For contrast, watch this 2-minute video from Majora Carter demonstrating a much better speaking rate.]

Your Thoughts?

Did you enjoy this speech? What did you like most? What did you think of the speaking rate?

Similar Articles You May Like... Six Simple Techniques for Presenting Data: Hans Rosling (TED, 2006) Video Critique: Al Gore (TED, 2006) Video Critique: J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007) Video Critique: Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005) Critique: Lessig Method Presentation Style (Dick Hardt, Identity 2.0, OSCON 2005) How can you inspire your audience? Ask 10-year-old Dalton Sherman.

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Hans Rosling uses six simple techniques for presenting data which transform a run-of-the-mill presentation into a must-see presentation.

I encourage you to:

1. Watch the video;
2. Read the analysis in this speech critique; and
3. Share your thoughts on this presentation.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Six Techniques for Presenting Data

Rosling employs GapMinder to display his statistics. This is a wonderful software tool for displaying data, but the real magic of this presentation lies in the techniques demonstrated by Rosling. These techniques are easy to do, but I’ve rarely (if ever) seen them all demonstrated so well in a single talk. The techniques are:

1. Explain the data axes
2. Highlight subsets of data
3. Dig deeper to unwrap data
4. Place labels close to data points
5. Answer the “Why?” questions
6. Complement data with energetic delivery

Let’s examine each one and compare this presentation to common approaches.

Technique #1: Explain the Data Axes

Common approach. Graphs are displayed with either no explanation of the axes, or a quick, obligatory “Here we see variableX versus variableY“.

As Hans demonstrates, don’t assume that your audience intuitively “gets it,” particularly when presenting statistical data.

Starting around 2:43, he devotes approximately ninety seconds to:

• Explain what quantities are on each of the two axes (e.g. fertility rates versus life expectancy at birth);
• Provide the background story as to why he chose these two quantities (“We vs Them = Western World vs Third World“);
• Share his students’ prediction as to what the data will show.

Because of this careful preparation, the audience understands the context thoroughly. A very energetic description of the data follows while the time advances the “movie” for about 45 seconds.

The “instant reply” is a nice touch which fills the otherwise empty time during audience applause, although I suspect this was added in the post-production by the good folks at TED.

Technique #2: Highlight subsets of data

Common approach: Presenters attempt to explain complex data which they have studied for days, weeks, or months in just a few minutes. The audience grasps little.

Rosling recognizes the impossibility of explaining all of the data in detail. Instead, he carefully selects and explains subsets of the data.

• Example #1: 1964-2003 United States and Vietnam [5:15 to 6:06] This is a clever choice as his (mostly American) audience will easily connect the early part of this period with that of the Vietnam War.
• Example #2: 1960-2003. South Korea, Brazil, Uganda, United Arab Emirates [12:22 to 13:40]

Technique #3: Dig deeper to unwrap data

Common approach: Presenters restrict themselves to one level of data inspection. Deeper analysis is often only present in scientific journals.

Several times, Rosling displays first a high-level data view (e.g. one point for a country) and then digs deeper to lower-level view of the data (e.g. country quintiles).

• Example #1: Income versus population
  Compare the global curve [7:26] to the one broken down by geographic region [7:54]
• Example #2: GDP per capita versus Child survival rate
  Compare the Sub-Saharan Africa bubble [9:48] to the individual country bubbles [9:54]
• Example #3: GDP per capita versus Child survival rate
  Compare Uganda bubble [14:12] to quintile data points for Uganda [14:18]

Technique #4: Place labels close to data points

Common approach: Data legends and labels are often absent. The presenter assumes that the audience will follow their verbal cues. Or, when legends and labels are present, they are often presented far away from associated data points. This forces the audience to visually scan back and forth.

Throughout Rosling’s talk, data labels are presented right next to the data points. An example is shown here for the OECD data point [9:28].

Additionally, the appearance of these labels is synchronized well with the verbal component of his speech. In this way, the visual labels complement the audio.

Related to this, there are several instances where GapMinder shows a bubble “about to burst” a second or two before the data is expanded. This is a subtle touch, but an effective measure to draw the eye to the right spot on the screen. The Sub-Saharan Africa example shown is from 9:48. Others are at 10:33 and 10:40.

Technique #5: Answer the “Why?”questions

Common approach: Large data sets are presented, and the presenter often explains only the dominant trend or the one measure of most interest. The audience is left to wonder things like “Why is that data point there?” or “What caused that point to be low/high/odd?”

Obviously, no presenter can answer every question the audience might be thinking, but Rosling does a good job of anticipating these questions. He anticipated several “Why?” questions, and answered them on the spot.

For example:

• Q: Why does the progress in Vietnam accelerate in the 1990’s? [5:43]
  A: They give up communist planning and go for a market economy.
• Q: Why is Mauritius so different from most of Sub-Saharan Africa? [9:54]
  A: Mauritius was the first country to get rid of trade barriers. They could sell their sugar. They could sell their textiles.
• Q: Why is China moving up and then to the right (when most countries are moving diagonally)? [11:52]
  A: Mao Zedong bought health to China (up) and then he died. Deng Xiaoping then brought money to China (right).

Anticipating and answering the why questions achieves two goals:

1. It allows you to satisfy the audience’s curiosity while also maintaining an energetic pace (rather than being interrupted by questions).
2. It demonstrates your credibility and solid grasp of the subject.

Technique #6: Complement data with energetic delivery

Common approach: Statistical data is often presented in a dry, clinical manner. Perhaps the theory is that the audience should naturally be excited about data?

The most memorable technique displayed by Rosling is his energetic delivery. Examples are numerous, and include:

• Highly energetic sequence as he narrates 1962-2003 fertility rates versus life expectancy [4:15 to 5:03]. This is the highlight of the presentation for me. The audience seems to agree, rewarding Rosling with 13 seconds of applause.
• Spider-web shape with his hands to demonstrate how the bubbles burst [9:55]
• Ghost-like acting to accompany “overlooking the United States, almost like a ghost” [18:11]
• Approaching the screen numerous times to align his arms and body with the data

The thoughtful presentation of data makes this an understandable talk. Rosling’s energetic delivery makes it memorable.

Other Opinions from the Public Speaking Blogosphere

• Lisa Braithwaite: Best Presentation Ever?

Your Thoughts?

Did you enjoy this speech? What did you like most? How could this presentation be enhanced?

Similar Articles You May Like... Video Critique: Majora Carter – Greening the Ghetto (TED 2006) Video Critique: Al Gore (TED, 2006) Video Critique: J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007) Video Critique: Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005) Critique: Lessig Method Presentation Style (Dick Hardt, Identity 2.0, OSCON 2005) How can you inspire your audience? Ask 10-year-old Dalton Sherman.

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

This was a fantastic presentation worthy of study. There is much to be learned from analyzing what Gore did well, and what he could have done better.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Humorous Opening Segment

The first six minutes of this sixteen-minute speech are devoted to establishing rapport with the audience. Gore does this with several humorous observations and stories.

Tamsen Salvador writes:

Whether you love him or hate him, Al Gore will make you laugh out loud. No kidding!

Kate Trgovac observes (and laments):

After a wry and witty bit of stand-up (Al, where was this passion, charisma and personality during the 2000 campaign?!?!), Gore got down to brass tacks.

Remarks like those from Kate are echoed often when people view this video. Let’s take a closer look at the techniques employed by Gore in this opening segment.

• By my count, he gets nineteen laughs from the audience during this time (@ 0:54, 1:01, 1:11, 1:17, 1:30, 1:54, 2:00, 2:12, 2:18, 2:55, 3:02, 3:12, 4:27, 5:05, 5:11, 5:22, 5:26, 5:37, 5:48).
• Primarily self-depracating humour. Not only is this form of humour generally safe, but this humanizes Gore effectively.
• Storytelling! I love it.
• Lots of smiles.
• Delivery and comedic timing is superb.
• Vocal variety is fantastic in several impersonations:
  • Restaurant customer: “He’s come down a long way…”
  • Man on runway: “Call Washington! Call Washington!”
  • News reporter voice.
  • Bill Clinton: “Congratulations…”
• Gore is holding the slide remote during this entire opening sequence, despite not using it once. Why? Holding objects (e.g. remotes, pens, papers, props) can limit mobility to use arm gestures, so he would have been better off picking up the remote only when he needed to use it.

The Fifteen Call-to-Action Slides

A set of 15 text slides forms the core of the presentation. The text of these slides is reproduced here (coloring inspired by Ferry Simatupang):

1. Reduce emissions from your home energy use (better design, insulation, green electricity)
2. Reduce emissions from your car and other transportation (buy a hybrid, light rail, carpool, biking)
3. Buy the most energy-efficient appliances and other products. Be a green consumer.
4. Live a “carbon neutral” life. It’s easier than you think. Reduce; then offset the rest.
5. To find out how, go to: www.climatecrisis.net Use the carbon calculator.
6. Then make your BUSINESS Carbon Neutral. (It’s not as hard as you think.)
7. Then, whether you work in the T, E, or D — INTEGRATE climate solutions into all your innovations.
8. Invest sustainably — in companies and funds that are part of the solution.
9. Become a catalyst for change in your community. Teach others about the Climate Crisis.
10. Raise awareness by promoting “An Inconvenient Truth” in your community.
11. Send someone to Nashville who can learn how to give my slide show in your community.
12. Become politically active – Speak up! Contact your elected officials! Make our Democracy work!
13. Urge the U.S. to join the rest of the world community in capping and trading carbon emissions.
14. Help with the mass persuasion campaign when it is launched this Spring.
15. Let’s call it the “Climate Crisis” It really is a “Planetary Emergency”

Highlight colors. What is the symbolism for the use of green and red here? I cannot figure it out. I thought perhaps green was going to indicate environment friendly phrases, and red the opposite. But, that relationship isn’t used consistently. I think it would have been better to stick to one highlight color.

Text-only slides. This presentation follows one that Gore gave to the same audience earlier in the conference which was highly visual, so I suppose it balances out. Still, audiences prefer more visuals and less reading from the slides.

Tornado slide transition effect. Why was the bizarre swirling effect used to lead into each of the 15 main slides? Perhaps the letters magically falling into place is a metaphor to show how some complex theories are leading to some simple actions? It’s possible, but that isn’t the impression I had.

A better alternative? He’s trying to convince the audience that there are very simple actions they can take. Yet, there’s this complex set of letters flying around the screen that looks anything but simple. A simple appear or wipe effect would have been cleaner.

“Teach others. Learn about it. Talk about it.” (Slide 9) I particularly liked this slide. Simple and effective. A clear call-to-action within a set of calls-to-action.

Audience Awareness and Interaction

T, E, and D. Slide 7 directly references the Technology, Entertainment, and Design groups in the audience. The best presentations are customized for the audience, and Gore demonstrates this.

Ask for Help. Gore asks for help twice from “those of you who are good at branding.” Techniques like this help create a conversation rather than a presentation.

Contextual Ad-libbing. Gore refers to Larry Lessig and other speakers from the conference. This reinforces that he’s not just giving a speech. He is part of the shared experience (the conference) just as he hopes the audience will be part of the shared solution (climate).

Asking a Question with Purpose. Gore asks: “How many people here serve on the Board of Directors of a corporation?” (14:20) Many hands go up. This is textbook audience interaction, but many speakers stop there. Instead, a few seconds later (14:25), he follows up with: “You will have legal liability if you do not urge your CEO…” The emphasis here on you is made more powerful with the earlier question which prompted many audience members to raise their hands. (i.e. “Oh, I raised my hand… when he says YOU, he must mean ME.”)

Other Observations

Unnecessarily complex language. Recapitulate is the only one I caught. Gore otherwise uses fairly simple, easily understood language.

“Killer app.” (8:45) “CCS is going to become the killer app” Is this phrase mainstream? Or is this more readily understood in technology circles? I liked it, but I have a technical background. It might not be as effective in other audiences.

Failed humour. (7:05): “I know that you wanted some more bad news about the environment.” It seems like he’s looking for laughs here, but doesn’t get any. He also doesn’t get a laugh on his follow-up line: “I’m kidding”. It was reassuring to know that his humour wasn’t all perfect. He demonstrates good technique by not dwelling on the failed joke. He just moves on.

Inconsistent phrases. He uses “It is easier than you think” and then later “It’s not as hard as you think.” Consistency would be better, considering this phrase is one of the key take-home messages from his presentation.

Left hand in his pocket. I suppose one could argue that this adds to a very conversational style. Nonetheless, I don’t like it because if his hand is in his pocket, then it isn’t readily available to punctuate his words with gestures.

Not political? (15:47) “This is not a political issue… We are one.” I agree that it isn’t political, but Gore’s words and gestures are sending mixed messages.

• He gestures to the audience’s right when he refers to Republicans. He gestures left for Democrats. When you’re trying to take politics out of it, perhaps it is better not to reinforce this left-right polarity?
• Earlier in his opening, he takes a crack at the current Republican administration: “What in the world could be wrong in Washington. [pause] I remembered it could be a bunch of things.” If he truly wants to remove the politics from the situation (and I believe he does), partisan jokes should be removed. He’s clearly capable of delivering humour which is safer.

Repetition makes for memorable phrases. (~11:44). “People do what you pay them to do.” Great line, with repetition of “do“. This is followed shortly by: “…based on the short term returns, you’re going to get short term decisions.” Again, repetition of words “short term ” makes for a memorable phrase. Great energy in this segment.

Oops. (14:41) “The market will work to solve this problem” (turn to screen, pause, then turn back to audience) “… if… if we can accomplish this.” The slight glitch in delivery here weakened this point. I’m glad I’m not the only one to botch lines once in a while.

Emotional peak. (~14:50) The segment ending with “we have to buy a lot of those ads” felt like the emotional peak of the presentation. Gore is emphatic with his voice, his facial expressions, and his gestures. I loved the emotion in this segment.

Other Opinions

Loïc Le Meur:

Al Gore gave a mind blowing speech…

Bruno Guissani:

It shows both the “old” Gore – lecturing us about global warming with depth of knowledge and intensity – as well as the “new” Gore that many seem to have discovered only recently – funny and passionate and convincingly authentic.

Finally, here is just one of many comments from TED participants, many who witnessed the presentation live. [If you ever doubt what effect one presentation lasting 16 minutes can have, read all of these comments.]

My wife and I came to TED uncertain about Al Gore and not thrilled to hear him. He seemed fake to us in the national political election he had gone through. His presentation profoundly changed our view of him even more than his message. We bought the messages. We did not buy the message presenter. At TED, he gave a sense of his humor, three-dimensionality, commitment to the cause, ability to criticize himself. We left with a positive attitude toward him and a commitment to help. — David and Heidi Hoffman

Similar Articles You May Like... Video Critique: J.A. Gamache (Toastmasters, 2007) Video Critique: Steve Jobs (Stanford, 2005) Critique: Lessig Method Presentation Style (Dick Hardt, Identity 2.0, OSCON 2005) Video Critique: Majora Carter – Greening the Ghetto (TED 2006) Six Simple Techniques for Presenting Data: Hans Rosling (TED, 2006) How can you inspire your audience? Ask 10-year-old Dalton Sherman.

Have a Question? Contact me anytime, or find me on Twitter: @6minutes

Andrew Dlugan is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.