TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

by Chris J. Anderson

You also need a strategy to avoid the obvious pitfalls of such an approach: That suddenly you can’t, in the moment, find the words to explain a key concept. Antidote: Practice out loud several versions of each step in your journey until you’re confident that you have complete mental clarity around each one. That you leave out something crucial. It may be worth working on a transition from each step to the next that makes the sequence come naturally. Perhaps you commit to remembering those transition phrases, or add them to your notes. That you overrun your time slot. This is upsetting to conference organizers, and to all the speakers who follow you. It can also stress out your audience. Don’t do it. The only antidotes are to A. Try out the talk several times to be sure it can indeed be done within the time limit. If not, you must cut material. B. Be disciplined about watching the clock and know how far you need to be when half of your time has gone by. C. Prepare a talk that is no more than 90 percent of your time limit.