Extra credit reflection by DEVON H.
Original TED page w/ speaker bio, links, comments, etc:
Sebastian Wernicke: Lies, damned lies and statistics (about TED Talks)
This talk was very useful when I was preparing my own TED-inspired talk. Sebastian Wernicke gives you all the statistics you could ever want about a TED talk. He put every 1.3 million words of the talks through statistical analysis to figure out what made a good talk, and what made a bad talk. He analyzed everything about a talk from its topic to what colors you should wear while presenting.
He starts off talking about what your topic should be. He organized possible topics into a scale from rational to emotional, and actions to ideas. He then blocked out areas that were most emailed, most commented, and most favorite. He continued to place adjectives along this scale such as courageous, persuasive, informative educating, ingenious, funny, jaw-dropping, beautiful, and inspiring. He then took out the top 10 words used in the most successful talks, and the top 10 words in the least successful talks. He also mentions that the most successful and favorite talks are those that people can connect with.
He then moves on to talk about your delivery. He says a big tip you should use is to utilize every second you have on the clock. He also tells you what you should wear. For example, you should be a little more dressed up than usual, and that you should let your hair grow out a little longer than normal. He then mentions certain 4 word phrases to use in a successful talk, and 4 word phrases to avoid.
If you ever need to give any type of talk, you should watch this talk to help you know how. He even has his own TED Pad that you can download to help you create sentences for your own successful talk.
The TEDxClassroomProject 