The Bad Thing about TED Talks

by Dwayne Phillips

Every now and then, someone shows how well you can do something. In rare situations, everyone else improves. Most of the time, however, not so much.

I like to watch TED talks. They are so goooooood. Twenty minutes. Every sentence full of content. Just enough visuals, but not too many. Relevant topics. Wow. Good stuff.

Then I turn to watch someone present a topic at a conference (all online in the year of the virus) or somewhere. Huh? What is that? Their face points at the camera while their eyes point at the words that are somewhere off to the side. The lighting is awful. There are too many graphics, and I can’t read them. The sentences are not sentences. The, “well, uh, you know, uh, uh, uh, you know” is endless.

There was hope that TED talks would show everyone else how well you can make a presentation. A few followed along, but those were the V E R Y few. Otherwise, the TED talk simply showed how baaaaaaaad everyone else was.

Sigh. There is an old saying, “Excellence is the exception.” The root words of excellence and exception are the same or maybe just a convenient coincidence.

Regardless, if you are making a presentation, watch a few TED talks. Read about how they make TED talks so good. Try harder. Please.

You have something to say. Help others hear it.