Ever since I became active in the TEDx community I’ve been fascinated by what makes a presentation unforgettable. Of course Chris Anderson has written a fantastic book on this topic. It’s called the official TED Guide to Public Speaking and I was very proud to be asked to write the foreword for the Dutch edition.
Besides the TED commandments that Chris writes about, I believe there are also little “speaking hacks” that anyone can use. In cooperation with Logitech I’m sharing some of them in a new video-series.
Speaking of TED… one of the most popular TED speakers of all time is Hans Rosling. When we worked together in 2012, I noticed was that he was constantly clicking through his presentation and mumbling his lines. Over and over again. When I asked why, he responded: “I am preparing so much, so that during my presentation it looks like I didn’t prepare at all. Because if I’m relaxed, the audience will be relaxed.”
There you have it… some people think they can wing it. But if you want to go from Presenter to Storyteller, make sure to use the three R’s (rehearse, rehearse and rehearse).