Don't Wing It

Ever seen a TED talk? These short talks are designed to spread ideas and they cover a wide range of topics and ideas. They are usually very engaging (even if you don't agree and I often don't) and that's one reason why they are so popular. Chris Anderson wrote a book about how they help these experts give great talks. In one chapter he talks about what to avoid, and he called it "The Ramble".  I think its worthy to consider. If you stand up before people, and are addressing them on the most important themes of eternal value, don't wing it.

"In the first TED I organized, one of the speakers began, “As I was driving down here wondering what to say to you . . .” There followed an unfocused list of observations about possible futures. Nothing obnoxious. Nothing that was particularly hard to understand. But also no arguments of power. No revelations. No aha moments. No takeaways. The audience clapped politely. But no one really learned anything. I was fuming. It’s one thing to underprepare. But to boast that you’ve underprepared? That’s insulting. It tells the audience that their time doesn’t matter. That the event doesn’t matter. So many talks are like this. Meandering, no clear direction. A speaker might kid himself that even an unfocused exploration of his brilliant thinking is bound to be fascinating to others. But if 800 people are planning to devote 15 minutes of their day to your words, you really can’t just wing it. As my colleague Bruno Giussani puts it, “When people sit in a room to listen to a speaker, they are offering her something extremely precious, something that isn’t recoverable once given: a few minutes of their time and of their attention. Her task is to use that time as well as possible.” So if you’re going to gift people with a wondrous idea, you first have to spend some preparation time. Rambling is not an option. As it turned out, this particular rambling speaker did give TED a gift of sorts. From that talk on, we redoubled our efforts on speaker preparation."

TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking by Chris Anderson