So you don't want to be a TED speaker. For starters, let's figure out what actually is a TED speaker. It's really just someone who gives a speech or a presentation. That's interesting when you think about it. Because after all, most speakers in the world at most conventions at most conferences, the lecture halls at most universities are boring. They're way too long.
They're way too boring, and nobody remembers anything. Now, this course is going to go into a lot of very specific details of things that most Ted presentations have. But before you get into the specifics of home this exact 17 minutes or this walking around the stage, you've got to really step back and ask yourself, do you have something interesting to say? It can't just be a really good sales pitch on why to buy my paper for your copy machine. Now. If you've got some way of creating Eating paper out of trees and it doesn't chop down trees and it solves the energy crisis.
And it's completely biodegradable in a way that doesn't cause any landfill problem. Well, then maybe you have the elements of a TED speech, but simply buy my product because it delivers a greater value. That's not a TED speech, ideas worth spreading. That's the slogan of Ted. They do take it very, very seriously. One of the reasons Ted is successful as an organization, is they have the discipline to say no, because most trade associations, most conferences all over the world.
They let people speak because they have political influence or because of their stature in the industry or because they underwrite it or their sponsors. Or because they have high name ID or because they're famous, all sorts of reasons people get invited to give speeches at organizations. Ted is different. If you can't actually deliver an interesting speech and deliver it well, they don't care who you are, you're not going to speak because of that. They have a better brand a better reputation. Frankly, anyone I can think of when it comes to a forum, just for speakers.
If you're like me, you probably watch a lot of Ted speeches. Because it's frankly, more interesting than what you see on regular television. And you can watch it on your smart TV, on your cell phone, on your tablet, any anywhere. And even if it's not a topic that you're fascinated by, you always learn one thing. There's always something compelling. There's something that kind of changes your thought process, and it never goes on and on and on too long.
You know, it's going to be for a set amount of time and it's typically going to be less than 20 minutes. That's the beauty of Ted. So if you want to be a TED speaker, you've got to first step back and ask yourself, do you really have something that's genuinely interesting? Do you have something that is an idea worth spreading? If you don't have that, you can still be a great public speaker. You can be a great sales presenter, you can be a good spokesperson, you can be a good CEO.
You might not be a good candidate to speak at TED. So that's the first thing you've got to do is really step back and ask yourself, do you fundamentally have an idea worth spreading