How to create and deliver a talk that rocks! | Laura Penn | TEDxHautLacSchool

these days software hardware and gadgetry galore are making it easier than ever to deliver presentations this word easier is interesting I recently encountered it at a training session that I was delivering abroad where I met a woman who considered herself to be an introvert and she said that it was easier for her to deliver presentations these days because quote she could hide behind them end quote she didn't have to take center stage anymore you know I don't dislike technological innovations but I worry that they're starting to hijack the human being in all of this that it's becoming more about overcrowded slides stunning visuals in HD and less much less about that person standing there on stage sharing their message and themselves with the audience and being present in their presentation I feel that we're heading for a time when the speaker doesn't even have to be on stage anymore maybe they're just a giant avatar projected in the back on a big screen where the speaker has created their perfect version of themselves perfect voice perfect body perfect message or maybe the speaker is a hologram who knows but one thing is sure this kind of technology and a lot more is on the way and knowing this I'm on a mission to defend great living public speaking or what I call human speaking because I fundamentally believe that the best and most powerful talks are where speakers are authentically themselves real raw and riveting and where they are connect ding with the audience human-to-human if you think about it that's how we're designed folks as communicating machines using our amazing senses of sight and sound and smell and touch to create meaning for each other this is what I believe and this is what I want to share with you here now I want to give you a game-changing formula for how to both create and deliver a talk that rocks it is my hope that by sharing this potent formula with you that you will join me as guardians of human speaking the ancient and precious craft of human to human communication that deserves to live on for as long as we people do so this formula has four steps are you ready to receive it or I could step number one when you are creating the content of your talk walk and talk instead of just sitting down and maybe hunching over and straining to figure out what it is you're going to say in your talk get up and walk walk around your room or your house or even better go outside and walk there let the blood move through your body and your mind breathe life into your ideas on your walk bring a smartphone or something like that so that you can record yourself waxing poetic about your theme define things describe things go all-in when you are done with your walking and talking then you come back to your computer and you transcribe what you have said word for word be careful at this point do not start editing or changing things keep things exactly like you said them so they're pure when you're done with that transcription then you go in and edit that's when you move things around so that it works for you but aim to keep as much of your original content as possible so when you're done with the walking and talking and the editing process you will have a script that is fleshy and living and which represents you talking as yourself step number two to bring the text that you have written to life play with words words on their own are static ink on paper your job as a speaker is to breathe life into your words so that they can float into the hearts and minds of your audience one really important way to get this thing going is to first and foremost have a willingness it's a mindset a willingness to play with your words to not take yourself so seriously where you're just repeating blah blah blah your words on that piece of paper and reading them like a robot mechanical and monotone no no when you have a willingness to play you bring life you bring air you bring freshness to what you're saying so one really fun way to play is to do what I call popping words popping like popcorn popping words is about lifting them so that some words are higher take up more space than others and this makes them stand out it makes them sort of get noticed a little bit better here's an example sentence so that you get this it was the happiest day of my life no you and I both know that there is a word in that sentence that needs to pop let me say the sentence again you think of the word it was the happiest day of my life what is that word all right so let's say it like we mean it by popping it it's gonna sound like this happiest okay the whole sentence together it was the day of my life very good so that's us popping words it's kind of straightforward and it's kind of fun when you let yourself go you underline these types of words in your script with a colorful pen and then when you're repeating them in your rehearsal process you're popping them every time see them it's really neat because in addition to popping words you can drop words bringing them down in emphasis and you use a different color pen to underline those words in your script in addition to doing those two things you can play with beats also known as pauses these give what you are saying more space you take your time so the audience has a moment to capture to absorb what you're saying so it helps them to crystallize your words but it also helps you as a speaker because when you pause well you can figure out what you're gonna say next you can also take an important breath which you need for the strength of your voice so pausing is very very important very powerful oratory tool use it a lot you can also play with speed so how fast you speak or how slow you speak this is another way to play you can play with volume how loud or how soft you are talking all these are ways to play with your words so that they live so that they are awake and so that when you're saying them the audience feels them and feels your emotional connection to what you're saying so you don't sound like a rote robot so that is step number two step number three hmm now that we have walked and talked and you played with words it is time to bring your body into the mix this is my favorite part now with the body you might not know this but in the best talks movement is never random that is movement around the space it has been staged you see to support the message what does that mean well let me unpack this you may have seen speakers who when they are talking are walking all over the space and when they are walking it's almost like they are leaking energy from their feet and their legs and their arms and their hands and in some cases not here but beyond it's a blur of movement and as the audience you're thinking where are they going why are they going there and what does their movement have to do with their message it's confusing so in order to stop or not at all do this leaking all over the place you need to learn about moving with purpose that is what I call step number three moving with purpose and this is all about understanding that on a stage and I'm talking about any kind of stage so this red rug right here that is a stage in and of itself and so is this larger part right here that's also a stage obviously a stage can also be the corner of a conference room where you're standing and giving a presentation to the people in the room so a stage is really any space where you have space and you're speaking to an audience so any stage has nine different positions on it these positions are called blocks let's break it down so right here we are looking at three blocks already these are at the front of the stage this is called downstage and there's a block right here there's one here and then there's one right here and I call these three positions the power line because these are the three most powerful positions on the stage and the one I'm standing in right now is called the power position why well you could probably figure out because it's really close to you it's your visual Center point this is where the speaker needs to sprinkle their magic dust this is where your call-to-action should happen your big takeaway message in fact I use this position already in my speech I don't know if you remember what I said but I think I said it is my hope yes I moved here it is my hope that by sharing this potent formula with you you will join me as Guardi of humans speaking the ancient and precious craft of human to human communication I don't know if you remember what I did next but I didn't stay here I step I step back because when you are in that power position too long it's like you're breathing fire on the audience it gets hot so you need to pull that energy back to here three more blocks center stage block here block here and block here now center stage right here this is home this is a great place to live this is a wonderful place to start your speech and to end it and it's a nice place to come back to when you've been away for a while there's three more positions and they're back here by I'm going further away you feel that we're not as close as we were right so these these positions are more removed from the audience there's a block here there's one here and there's one here it's rare that speakers come this far back it really connects the connection sort of changes here in the connection kind of breaks so let me come back home where you go in these blocks depends on what you are talking about people so you relate your content move you how does that work when you are in the staging process so you've done the playing with words all that's done and now you need to put yourself on stage so when you're in that phase I invite you to listen to your intuition you are speaking your words out and you should be listening to what your body wants because guess what your body starts to lean where it needs to be it starts to lean and in your rehearsal see what happens when you go there if that feels right if that sits right then stay there if it doesn't then lean somewhere else until it feels just right intuition gut feeling visceral all that it happens for you when you start to think about where you need to move trust your instinct that's usually right so that's what moving with purpose is about using the stage with a meaning of your message that matters so you're really focusing on harnessing it so it doesn't spill everywhere okay good so we're almost done here those are three steps so far to recap because we've only got one more step left to recap step number one was walking and talking that's how you're creating your content breathing into your thoughts letting the blood go through your body and then you've got step number two playing with words not being rote and boring but being living in human and real and alive so that the audience feels what you've you're feeling and then there's step number three what was that one called step number three it was called moving with purpose number three alright so number four you know what this step for me is kind of like the glue that binds all of these pieces together ideally and for best results this step should be used from the moment that you start your rehearsals to the very end where you have finished your talk and you are sitting down you're done I call this step hanging out in your living room why well because it is when you are doing exactly that hanging out in your living room with your favorite people that you are the best version of yourself where you're truly you in big capital letters and an exclamation point you're real and it's this realness it's this kind of like cool calm and conversational Ness that works really well in connecting with an audience so you need to get yourself into this state when you're rehearsing you should feel that your knees are loose your hips are loose your shoulders your neck your head your face your lips your tongue all that should be loose so that the words flow out of you so you don't like this tense holding back restrained we feel that energy and we make we start to feel that way when you feel that way and then it tight your voice changes everything when you're tense so this releases you into the room so that's the rehearsal stages and then you know as most people when they are nervous before they give their talk there'll be a little more tense than normal so that you might need to do a little bit more to relax to breathe into your bones maybe you're listening to your favorite theme song get down the song and you're getting down to it maybe you're doing yoga whatever you're doing breathing whatever works for you to get yourself calm and relaxed and ready to be accessible so that the audience can gently reach in and stay there with you for a while and you're reaching out to them and you're hanging out with them in your living room for a while those are the four steps involved in human speaking you got those yes good now go out and create and deliver talks that rock thank you [Applause]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 22,966

Rating: 4.8498898 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Ideas, Motivation, Personal education, Personal growth, Speech

Id: UDls6ZvPLIk

Length: 16min 55sec (1015 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 29 2018