If you’re interested in writing and marketing a book to build your personal brand, you should spend a little time each week at www.TED.com. There are over 700 free videos you can watch, analyze, and learn from.
The lessons you can learn at TED.com can help you become a better writer and presenter, essential skills you need to build a strong personal brand.
Background
TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader.
The annual TED conferences, in Long Beach/Palm Springs and Oxford, bring together the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes, or less. There are also additional events around the world.
Be great, but be concise!
The 18 minute presentation limit plays a major role in the lessons you can learn from the videos you can watch at the TED.com site and the audio and video podcasts you can subscribe to at iTunes.
In less than 18 minutes, a presenter comes out on stage, and has to immediately engage the audience’s attention on a topic they may have never thought about before!
Not only do presenters have to immediately explain “sell” – or explain the relevance of their topic, but they also have to present themselves as memorable, likeable, individuals.
Then, in the remaining time, they have to present evidence that will inspire the audience to either get involved or want to learn more about their topic.
Many subject area experts could probably make an impression and inspire action in an hour, or two. But, only the best can create a memorable personal brand in just 18 minutes!
That’s why you can learn so much by studying the TED.com presentations!
Creating a TED.com learning strategy
Here are some ideas and tips for making the most of your time at TED.com:
- Choose the right presentations. Avoid the temptation to pick topics in your field, or that you’re interested in. Instead, expect the unexpected! Invest time watching presentations about topics you know little, or nothing, about. This will help you better understand how your presentations are likely to be perceived by your clients and prospects. You can never predict where you’ll encounter a good idea or technique!
Creativity experts recommend you expose yourself to “out of field” ideas you can apply in your field. This is one of the big lessons Carmine Gallo discusses in his Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs.
- Know what to look for. Don’t concentrate on the presenter’s specific message, or the topic-specific information they’re delivering. Instead, concentrate on your reactions to the ways each presenter engages the audience’s attention, the “likeability” techniques they use, and the way they describe introduce their topic and present new information.
- Track your impressions. Create a worksheet that you can print-out on 3-hole paper and save in a 3-ring binder. List the presenter’s name and topic at the top of the page, and provide space to jot down your impressions as you watch each presenter introduce themselves and their topic. Provide space to answer questions like, What are they wearing? How energetic is their delivery? How do they encourage audience response? Are they speaking above, or below, their audience? Are they presenting too much, or too little, information?
- Rate each presentation. At the bottom of your worksheet, provide space to add a brief overall impression of each presentation. Remember that it’s not the information that’s important, it’s the presenter’s way of engaging his audience and convincingly covering his topic in just 18 minutes that’s important.
- Concise writing. As you spend time on the TED.com site, note the concise titles, descriptions, and presenter background statements. Notice how complex topics and long careers can be summarized in just a few sentences. Let these examples guide you as you learn how to write as concisely as possible.
Create the TED habit
As always, consistency is the key to success. Set aside a half-hour, or so, two or three times a week, to view a new TED.com video and fill out one of your worksheets.
You may find it useful to schedule your viewing sessions late at night, Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, for example, in order to create “the TED habit.” Or, if you’re a commuter with an iPod, commit to watching a new video on the way to work every morning.
Save your worksheets in the 3-ring binder, and review them at the end of each month.
Takeaway
The Internet offers us a universe of learning opportunities. It’s up to us, however, to take advantage of free online learning resources like TED.com. The value of the personal branding lessons you can learn from analyzing the 18-minute presentations at TED.com make it imperative that you develop an ongoing system to profit from new writing and presenting ideas each week.
Author:
Roger C. Parker shares ideas for planning, writing, promoting, & profiting from brand building books in his daily writing tips blog and his latest book, #BOOK TITLE Tweet: 140 Bite-Sized Ideas for Compelling Article, Book, & Event Titles.
