Transcription
Translator: Hani Eldalees
Speaking in front of a wonderful audience is like magic. Whether it's a school presentation, a talk for your community, or a video message for family and friends, good speaking can excite an audience and even change the world. Everything begins with an idea. Ideas change everything. They bring people together, spark curiosity, and inspire action. The right idea can spread across the planet at the speed of light. But what exactly is an idea? Your first task as a speaker is to take something that matters deeply to you and rebuild it in your listeners' minds. That something is an idea. Think of it as a gift you give to your audience; something they can take away, value, and change. Your idea doesn't need to be a scientific discovery or a genius invention to be wonderful. You can share instructions for a special skill you have. Or a story from your life and the lessons it taught you. Or a vision you have for the future. Or just a reminder of the things that matter most. An idea is anything that can change the way people see the world. If you can conjure an exciting idea into someone's mind, you've done something wonderful. A small piece of you has become a part of them. In March 2015, a scientist named Sophie Scott gave a TED talk: "What I'm going to do now is just play some examples of real humans laughing. And I just want you to think about the sounds that people make and how odd that is, and in fact, how primitive laughter is as a sound. It's more like an animal call than it is speech. So here we have some laughter for you – the first one is very funny." Within minutes, Sophie had captivated the entire audience. She is one of the world's leading researchers on laughter. She was showing the audience just how strange the phenomenon of laughter is. "Now, this next man, I want him to breathe. There's a point in this when I feel like you should take some air in there, because it sounds like he's breathing. This hasn't been edited, this is it." "It's more like an animal call than speech," Sophie said. Listening to Sophie's talk was incredibly enjoyable, but she gave her audience something more than just a good time. She changed the way they thought about laughter. Sophie's core idea is that laughter exists as a way for humans to bond with each other. Her research shows that laughter strengthens relationships. No one who listened to Sophie's talk will ever hear laughter in the same way again. Laughter isn't just a silly sound in reaction to a joke – it's a biological process through which we can connect with each other. Sophie gave her audience a gift. She gave them an idea that would be a part of them forever. For an audience to receive the gift of an idea, the speaker must deliver the idea in a way that the audience can understand. How does a speaker do that? Well, it can be helpful to think of a talk as a journey that the speaker and audience take together. You, the speaker, are the trusted tour guide. To be a good tour guide, the speaker must start where the audience is, and must be careful not to lose anyone by rushing ahead or constantly changing direction. The goal is to lead the audience to a beautiful new place, step by step. And this is done using language. Language is a very powerful tool. Let's prove that. Imagine an elephant with its trunk painted bright red, waving its trunk back and forth in time with the fading footsteps of a giant orange parrot, dancing on the elephant's head and shouting repeatedly: "Let's do the Fandango!" You've just formed in your mind an image of something that has never existed in history, except in the minds of the people who have heard this sentence. One sentence can do that. The fact that we can convey ideas like this is why speaking skills are so important. Language builds our world. Our ideas make us who we are. And speakers who have figured out how to spread their ideas into the minds of others have the power to make an amazing impact. Do you have ideas that are worthy of a wider audience? Focusing on the gift you want to give your audience, or the journey you might lead them on, are two wonderful ways to start preparing your talk.