TED has earned a lot of attention over the years for many reasons, including the nature and quality of its short-form conference presentations. All presenters lucky enough to be asked to speak at TED are given 18-minute slots maximum (some are for even less time such as 3- and 6-minute slots). Some who present at TED are not used to speaking on a large stage, or are at least not used to speaking on their topic with strict time restraints. TED does not make a big deal publicly out of the TED Commandments, but many TED presenters have referenced the speaking guidelines in their talks and in their blogs over the years.



Thanks to Tim Longhurst (The TED Commandments - rules every speaker needs to know) you can see the list in an easier to read format below.



Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion. Thou Shalt Tell a Story. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.

TEDxTokyo

In less than two weeks TEDx Tokyo 2009 will have its unveiling. I am advising some of the presenters on site the day before TEDx and pointing them to this particular post and other resources in the days ahead. There is not one best way to speak at a TED conference, there are many different ways. But what the good presentations have in common is that they were created carefully and thoughtfully with the audience in mind and were delivered with passion, clarity, brevity, and always with "the story" of it (whatever it is) in mind. So let the list of 10 above be your general guide. In addition, take a look at some of the TED presentations below. They all follow a different style but were effective and memorable in their own way.



• Presenting fully naked, no slides, no script

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? Sir Ken knows what he wants to say and usually has 2-3 key points in mind, but he does not read a script or use notes. He makes good use of humor and story to illustrate his points.



• Presenting with highly visual slides in the PZ style

Seth Godin: Why tribes, not money or factories, will change the world. Seth uses many, large colorful slides in his talks but the slides have very little (if any) text. Seth is out front totally engaged.



• Presenting with slides kind of like Al Gore

Al Gore: 15 ways to avert a climate crisis. Al Gore became an engaging presenter with the aid of simple, high-impact visuals that helped him tell the story and give evidence supporting his content.



• Using a prepared script from the lectern (no slides)

Isabel Allende: Tales of passion. In general, I do not recommend reading a speech at such a conference, but if you do read, do it in a way that is engaging as demonstrated by Isabel Allende.



• Using a prepared script from the lectern (with slides/video)

Sylvia Earle (TED Prize winner 2009). Although Dr. Earle was using a script, she knew her material so well that it felt natural and the pacing was almost perfect with the visuals.



• Presenting well in spite of superfluous, cruddy bulleted slides

Tony Robbins: Why we do what we do. Tony Robbins speaks for a living, and while I do not recommend swearing from the stage, Tony was able to engage a rather skeptical audience at TED in spite of poor visuals. Watch the presentation to see how.



• Presenting in a way that makes an amazing connection with the audience

Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight. Dr. Taylor uses some slides and one prop (an actual human brain), but mainly she lets her emotions out and tells her story in an honest, sincere way. Amazing.



• Presenting data with slides to tell meaningful stories

Hans Rosling: Debunking third-world myths with the best stats you've ever seen. Who says data is boring? Data is like notes on a page, says Dr. Rosling, it's up to the presenter (the conductor) to bring the data (music) alive for the people.



• Presenting in sync with many, many slides

Larry Lessig: How creativity is being strangled by the law. Who says you can't speak well to 200 PowerPoint/Keynote slides? No one does it like Prof. Lessig.



• Presenting from the piano, the stage, & within the audience

Benjamin Zander: Classical music with shining eyes. What can I say? If you present with even half the conviction and passion of the great Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic and loyal TEDster, you will blow their socks off.



These are not the only good presentations at TED, but these are some of the better ones. Perhaps you'd like to share your personal favorites from the point of view not just of content but from the stand point of preparation, design, and delivery.



Bill Gates vs. Bill Gates

Again, you do not have to use slides at TED (or TEDx, etc.), but if you do use slides, think of using them more in the style of Bill Gates the TEDster rather than Bill Gates the bullet point guy from the past. As Bill has shown, everyone can get better at presenting on stage.





If you have a short-form presentation to give, be more like the new & improved Bill Gates (left).

