TED Talk training Scotland: five steps to write your own

At Pink Elephant, we’re often asked how to write a TED Talk.

That’s a difficult question to answer when the TED format is notoriously unformatted.

But there is a structure behind it.

Knowing how to craft a good one can be the difference between you and your next sale, a promotion, or new customer.

Here’s how to write a TED talk in five simple steps.

1. Decide your style

Here are three different headlines coming out of the UK regarding the recent COP28 summit:

“Countries agree deal calling for global transition away from fossil fuels” (The Independent);

“Critical or concerning? Cop28 debates role of carbon markets in climate crisis” (The Guardian);

“Scotland must show world way to a future without oil and gas” (Scottish Green Party).

Each is written in a different style.

The Independent’s is informative: offering information, without an explicit agenda.

The Guardian’s is argumentative: weighing up two more more sides of a debate.

The Green Party’s is persuasive: expressly looking to change your opinion.

So that’s the first question to answer.

Which is your style?

Knowing in advance will help you create the most impact and help make good editorial decisions as you progress through the writing of your speech.

Before writing your TED talk, consider:

• What’s my goal?
• Do I have an opinion?
• What do I want to the audience to do?

2. Craft your argument

Your audience cares more about one thing than anything else: themselves.

Your argument must connect with the “what’s in it for me?”

In short, we need to see how your big picture affects us.

If we have a stake in your talk, we’re far more likely to engage.

Stories have a unique role to play here.

If I told you that lots of parents felt guilty about spending too little time with their children, your brain will understand the point.

But if I told you a story about how my daughter cried when she realised I was working late last night, you’d connect emotionally.

You’d begin to feel the same emotions I did.

Discomfort, regret, shame.

Find the right story that connects with your audience on the day.

If it’s powerful enough, start there.

3. Find your evidence

We need a way to show that our small story has a big point.

Use statistics to zoom out from your story.

By saying, for example, that 80% parents feel guilty about spending too little time with their kids, you now see I’m part of a bigger picture.

But there’s a better way to put it: 4 in 5 parents.

Now we can see that image, we’re more likely to remember it.

And we can repeat it to other people.

Use stats sparingly.

There’s little worse than being bombarded with percentages and PowerPoint graphs.

But use them to translate an emotive anecdote into a scientific study.

4. Make it conversational

It’s easy to get bogged down in jargon.

Technical language, management speak, acronyms and initialisms.

All that does is alienate your audience.

Far better to go the opposite way.

Explain it so simply that they fully understand it for the first time.

Ask yourself: would a child understand it?

And if the answer is ‘no’, work harder to make it simple.

Simple language is easier to digest, so our brains find it easier to listen along.

It also has the advantage of being warmer.

On our TED talk training courses, I could tell people at the start that today is about accelerating their communication and presentation skills.

Or I could tell them that I want them to walk out the room at the end of the day feeling inspired.

The second is far warmer simply because it’s simple and image-based.

Become the David Attenborough of TED Talks by making everything intelligible first time.

5. Find the right images

Once you’ve settled on your content, turn to the imagery.

It’s so important to make sure this is the final step rather than the first one.

If the slides come first, you’re drawing together information that’s already out-of-date.

But if you’ve done your audience analysis, chosen your style and found your evidence, now you can reinforce these points visually.

Make sure any wording is brief. Images and videos are far better to support your talk.

And finally, less is more.

I’m far more likely to remember what you’ve said if you simply say it slowly several times, rather than writing your own quote on the screen.

Make sure the slides are designed for the audience.

Your notes are for you.

TED Talk training Scotland

So there you have it: five steps to write your next TED Talk.

But rather than wait to be invited to speak by TED, use this internally or at your next customer meeting.

Or as always, come and practise these skills with us.

You can come to our Lochinch House studios, or we’ll come to you.

You’ll gain our expert feedback on what we like and what you can keep improving.

Andrew McFarlan runs Pink Elephant Communications.

Read more about him here.

TED Talk training Scotland blog written by Andrew McFarlan.
TED Talk training Scotland blog edited by Colin Stone.
All photos in TED Talk training Scotland blog by Pink Elephant Communications.