The TED Commandments

In our business you get to sleep through a large number of dull, uninspiring and overly wordy powerpoint presentations.

When are people going to learn that a presentation is a performance not a presentation?

When are people going to learn that the best way to engage and educate is to involve and inspire?

When are people going to learn that words are not enough?

When are people going to stop talking about how great TED Talks are and start creating TED style presentations of their own?

Hopefully after they read the TED Commandments, which are engraved on a stone tablet and sent to anyone invited to speak at TED.

The TED Commandments

Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick.

Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.

Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.

Thou Shalt Tell a Story.

Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.

Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.

Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.

Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.

Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.

Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.

Tablet Via