TEDx Talking: Milo Shapiro of IMPROVentures and Public Dynamics On What You Need To Know To Secure, Prepare, and Deliver a Highly Effective TEDx Talk

…Practice it in small chunks. Few of us have the mental capacity to get through 18 minutes take a breath and do that again over and over. But 3 minutes we can do five times. Then do the next three. Then do those six. Set them aside and go on to the next three and the next three, making them six. Not only is this easier to do, but it will keep you from knowing the first part of your speech way better than the rest…

In a world that is more connected than ever, the power of a well-crafted message to inspire, educate, and evoke change cannot be understated. TEDx Talks have emerged as a prestigious platform for sharing ideas worth spreading, reaching a global audience and creating impact on a grand scale. In this series, we are discussing the process of delivering a TEDx Talk that resonates and leaves a lasting impression. We are talking with experts who have successfully navigated the TEDx journey, including TEDx speakers, speaking coaches with a focus on TEDx preparations, and organizers involved in the selection and coaching of speakers. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Milo Shapiro.

Since 2004, Milo Shapiro has helped thousands (from C-Suite to managers to sales reps) to become more prepared, polished and powerful wherever they speak through one-on-one coaching (live and remote), class trainings, conference speeches, webinars, blogging, and his book “Public Speaking: Get A’s, Not Zzzzzz’s!” www.PublicDynamics.com

Milo’s coaching and training came from his alter ego as a motivational and educational speaker. In addition to speaking about public speaking skills, Milo’s keynote “We Gotta Fail…To Succeed!” gets the whole audience playing improvisation games while we look at our relationship with perfectionism, risk, and being okay with some failure to achieve more.

Milo was an active member of the National Speakers Association for over 20 years, serving on his local chapter board. He is a four-time finalist in the VAMP (Visual/Audio Monologue Performance) storytelling program and has coached other storytellers to stronger performance. He is San Diego based, coaching mostly on Zoom.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I was one of two brothers, growing up in a town on Long Island. We were in the lower income end of a wealthy school district, so my classmates were the types with tennis courts and pools in their backyard and I thought we were poor by comparison. It was only in going off to college and meeting people who actually came from truly low economic means that I realized how good we had it. My family is Jewish, which colors so much of how I still see the world today.

Can you tell us a bit about what you do professionally, and what brought you to this specific career path?

I left my information technology job in 2000 to start my business called IMPROVentures, which originally was created to offer team building events using improvisation games (after my then ten years doing improv). People in my team building events kept telling me I should speak to bigger audiences, so I got involved with the National Speakers Association (NSA) to learn the business and craft of keynote speaking. I discovered there that I could be highly interactive and include my improv games in motivational speeches. That became the bigger part of my business.

The surprise twist for me was that, after my speeches, people kept lingering to ask me if I would work with them on their public speaking skills. At first, I kept saying no, despite my years in Toastmasters and how much I had learned from NSA, but eventually someone talked me into it. Our work together, in just a few sessions, made such a difference in his sales on QVC network that I had to accept that I had a good skill in seeing how to help people grow in this area. I added it to my website and it boomed, becoming the biggest part of my business over the last 20 years.

Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussions. Can you tell us a bit about your particular experience with TEDx talks?

I think TEDx Is a tremendous platform and it’s wonderful that it has reawakened the idea of just listening to a single speaker, like people used to do far more before television changed how we take in the world. That said, it’s not the only avenue for people speaking and making a difference. Most of my clients are trying to make a difference in corporate settings, speeches that they are hired to give, open attendance programs where they hope to get people to buy tickets, and more. It’s a treat when I get to coach someone on a TEDx program, but it’s not the biggest part of my coaching work.

That said, the core skills are the same. We want to pull people in quickly, have a strong through line that keeps them listening, and ends solid so they feel like the time has flown by while they have grown in some way. I have said many times that there are only three reasons to give a speech. You want people to know something, do something, or believe something that they didn’t before hearing you. That skill set is critical in TEDx, but really it’s the case almost any place one is speaking well.

Before we talk about the details, let’s consider the big picture. Preparing for a TEDx talk and securing it obviously requires a lot of mindshare, bandwidth, resources, and energy. From your personal experience, why is it worth it to invest all that to do a TEDx talk?

Despite what I said above, if you can get the opportunity to be a TEDx speaker, there’s just no platform like it. While your live audience may be smaller than many I have coached people for, that factor is so greatly offset by the number of people who will watch the video for years and years to come.

That said, it can be a daunting task because the Internet is forever. Even if you make three others over time, that first one will always be out there. I know one woman who says that she would do anything to take back and erase her first TEDx talk because she’s so much better now and hates when people stumble upon it. But despite what she says about that, she can’t argue that that first video, while it might not suit her now, opened incredible doors. And I’m betting she was still pretty good, if not quite AS good.

Now, let’s talk about the how. Can you describe the application process for becoming a TEDx speaker? What are some common challenges faced in the application process that our readers should be forewarned about?

I’m not the right person to ask about this. I’ve never coached someone through the application process. But what I can tell you is that if you haven’t given this presentation a number of times to live audiences, you probably shouldn’t be filling out the application at all. Ted X is a gold standard of speaking and you want to build up to it, not try to start there.

Is there a website where you can apply for a TEDx talk? How do you apply and submit? How can you find out about all of the TEDx’s that are available?

Again, there are many other experts who focus on this aspect; I’m not the best one to give advice here.

What strategies did you use or would you recommend to ensure that a talk is engaging and impactful?

Despite what people say, most people are so focused on the core middle of their speech that they don’t put enough effort into making that first minute as compelling as possible. Pleasantries weaken your opening. Agendas are energy killers. I saw a study once (and I wish I remembered where, so that I could quote it exactly) which said that college students make a determination in the first NINE seconds they listen to a professor whether or not they’re glad they are in his class. From the tenth second to the end of the semester, the best he can hope to do after that is change their mind. You don’t need to be a psychologist to know that it’s a lot harder to change someone’s mind than it is to make a good first impression. And that’s what most people fail to do in those first nine seconds of their speech.

There’s a saying from Mark Twain about how it takes more time to prepare for a five-minute talk than for a two-hour talk. The point is that crystallizing an idea and using the exact words is much more difficult than a freeform talk. So, how does a person do that? How does a person boil down an idea into five minutes?

I totally get what Mark Twain is talking about, although to be fair, I’ve also seen people try to make a 20 minute presentation that should have been done in five. The ideal amount of time to talk is the amount of time it takes to get the idea across. Unfortunately, we are all slated for time slots (like eighteen TEDx talk minutes) and have to work around those, regardless of our material or the point we want to make.

But coming back to trying to crystallize the most important part in a short time, the first question to ask oneself is who the audience is. I have seen speakers totally lose an audience because they dig quickly into something esoteric or, conversely, have a well-versed audience that they bore with too much background, in case someone in the room isn’t up to speed. So let’s assume we’ve got that issue covered before answering your question.

The next question is whether there is a lot of data they need to get, such as in a technical talk, versus sharing an opinion that you’re trying to bias them toward versus a key story that you are sharing. All of these would be approached differently. In the first case one would have to ask if all of this data is absolutely essential and then build the program around it to get it to the right length. In the case of trying to sway them to an opinion, chances are that story is going to be a part of that and a story can be told in delightful detail or great simplicity; it’s about building it to the right length for your speech to maximize it. And in the case where you’re Speech is primarily one single story, which is the reason you are there, figuring out how to tell it well in slightly less than your full time constraint and use the final amount of time to share what you hope your audience will take away from having heard it.

This is a very case by case question so answering it in just a paragraph is a challenge unto itself!

Most of us can think of maybe half a dozen different topics that they could speak about. How does a person choose, and say “Okay, this is the one for a TED talk”? How do they choose which of all their ideas should be the one?

There’s no specific one answer to this but here are a few of the factors to take into account: Which topic excites me to a level that I wouldn’t mind if I get typecast to that topic for a number of years? Which topic is going to cause more people to want to listen and share the video? Which topic gives you the most opportunity to be a fresh voice compared to other things they have heard about it? And which topic do I feel like I could take on with the most ease and grace so that this experience is positive for me as well as producing a good outcome?

Feedback is crucial in shaping a compelling TEDx talk. Can you describe how to seek out and incorporate feedback during the talk’s preparation? Who do you turn to for honest critiques, and how do you iterate on your presentation based on the feedback received?

Let’s start with the fact that very few of us are in a primary relationship where that is the right person to bounce it off of. Between their lack of expertise and speaking in most cases and the fact that they have a certain image of you, their feedback is likely to be skewed. Likewise for your best friend and other family. There’s no getting around the fact that hiring a speaking coach is going to be the greatest way to escalate your material because this is what we do and, if we do it right, we have learned how to not make you try to sound like Martin Luther King, Tony Robbins, or ourselves. The goal is to hear your way of speaking and show you the best way to accentuate that so that it is still authentically you but at your best. If working with a coach isn’t a reasonable option for you for whatever reason, seek out people whose presentations you have been impressed with in the past so you’ve already bypassed the notion that this person knows less than you. Recognize that you don’t have to agree with everything they say but take what advice they give, incorporate the parts that feel right to you, go back to practice some more, and then either return to that person or take it on to the next.

Let’s talk about the actual delivery of an excellent TEDx Talk. Most people are scared of speaking in public. How do you manage the stage fright before the talk?

I remind myself that most of us of given the very bad advice that ”it’s not about you it’s about them.” This is too much responsibility to put on anyone and we are not responsible for what our audiences think or feel. Our responsibility is to deliver our message to the best of our ability and that’s all anyone can ask. Also, I wrote an article for LinkedIn called, “Don’t kill the butterflies” (you can find it more quickly on www.MiloShapiro.com/blog ) on why we don’t actually want to quell the butterflies in our tummies because of the role they serve.

What can a person do to ensure that people will remember the talk and that it won’t just go in one ear and out the other? Can you share how you gauge and adapt to audience reactions in real time during your talk to ensure maximum engagement?

The idea of adapting your speech while you’re giving it is a tall order for most people, especially if they’re in a tedx setting we’re switching gears could throw off your timing. It’s not about switching gears at that point. The time to make the program as interesting, engaging, and enlightening as can be was when you were writing it and, outside Ted X, designing a highly visual slide deck (ie: NOT sentences on the screen). Once you’re on that stage, even if you’re not getting the laughs and the “ooohhs” that you are hoping for, maintain your course with a smile and good energy and chalk it up to the fact that you’re doing your best and nothing is perfect. Then share it with others later to see how you can grow from it rather than kicking yourself.

Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience or research, what are the “Five Things You Need To Deliver a Highly Effective TEDx Talk ”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.

1 . Focus more on the beginning than anything else so that it’s so compelling that they have to hear where you’re going from there rather than building to the middle, by which time of you or may have given up on you.

2 . As much as you can, make your points through story rather than sharing lots of data. People can only absorb so much and in many cases they’ll stop even trying. But a good story (or a few) we’ll have them clicking “share”.

3 . Learn all the different things that vocal variety means. I coach my clients and something called the seven variants of vocal variety. There’s so much more to it than just pitch and, within pitch, it’s not just about varying it to hold interest; changing your pitch can change the intention of the sentence.

4 . Unless your topic is truly dire, look for excuses to include humor. That doesn’t mean you have to make a joke. It can just be in an intonation, a look you give the camera, or a self deprecating comment said with a smile. People want to feel good so give them a means to do so.

5 . Practice it in small chunks. Few of us have the mental capacity to get through 18 minutes take a breath and do that again over and over. But 3 minutes we can do five times. Then do the next three. Then do those six. Set them aside and go on to the next three and the next three, making them six. Not only is this easier to do, but it will keep you from knowing the first part of your speech way better than the rest.

After delivering a TEDx talk, what strategies do you use to maximize its impact and reach? Could you share how to engage with your audience through social media, follow-up events, or other means to encourage action or further discussion on the topic?

Any and all of the above. Publicity is a very separate topic than preparation. No more should you be asking a PR firm for advice in how to prepare your speech than you should ask a speaking coach advice in publicity. :-)

How can our readers watch your TEDx talk and follow your work?

The best way to learn about me, my work, and how I help people in any presentations they might give (from TEDx to conference room to Zoom webinar to Father of the Bride) is by visiting http://PublicDynamics.com .

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!