I am a huge fan of TED talks, it is my go-to place for seeking out speaking traits to mirror in manner, movement, pitch or pace. There are some extraordinary speakers all on a stage for no more than 15 minutes sharing some extraordinary findings and work.
There are some I can recommend as my go-to to re-watch and the reasons why :
Andrew Soloman, his stories and work are extraordinary; he shares the story of connection and I love him for his work and the life that bought him to the stage.
Rives does a talk that relates to an experiment about 4 in the morning. It is one the most ingenious things I have seen and how he pulls off some of the pacing in the talk to match the song is something of genius.
I love Margaret Hefferman and Trish Millines Dziko because they both talk about things that I strongly believe in and so support them and their work.
Finally, I only recently discovered Sir Ken Robinson, I know, very late to the game with his 73 million views. He weaves humour and relatability into his talks, and not only holds the stage audience but his work is wonderful.
I love a live stage with a speaker, there is nothing better than sitting in a seat and watching someone take you on a journey with them, it is an art. I was speaking at a Rotary conference, there were a few other speakers they had for the event so I stayed after I spoke to hear one of them. He was a chap called Peter Barron, I later discovered he had an MBE, but he would never have said so, it wasn’t his aim. He held the audience in laughter and tears, flipping between stories from a lifetime in journalism.
Most of all he was a storyteller, he glided from one funny life story to the next appearing to just be chatting with friends but with his slides (simple images) perfectly supporting the stories that he told. To the untrained listener you may imagine he just walked in and started speaking, it was seamless. However, I know the work that goes into presentations such as his.
I remember him as one of the greatest speakers I have seen, not because I took much away but it was how he made me feel. I felt laughter and deep sadness but he gave me a message that great things can happen through the power of a paper.