When it comes to designing presentations, my go-to books are Nancy Duarte’s Resonate and Slide:Ology. However, if you’re looking for supplemental material on how to master the art of storytelling and persuasion, then look no further than Akash Karia’s writings on TED Talks. He has written four books on how to incorporate the best of those award-winning speeches into your own.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with TED, it’s an annual conference showcasing the world’s best speeches regarding design, technology, science, entertainment, culture and academia. Karia has closely studied the conference’s most successful communicators, breaking his findings down into four separate titles:
- TED Talks Storytelling: 23 Storytelling Techniques from the Best TED Talks
- How to Deliver A Great TED Talk: Presentation Secrets of the World’s Best Speakers
- How to Open and Close A TED Talk: 11 Proven Techniques to Open and Close Any Speech or Presentation
- How to Design TED Worthy Presentation Slides: Presentation Design Principles from the Best TED Talks
Each of these titles is straight-forward and concise reading -- a Cliff’s Notes on public speaking success. Regardless of whether you’re not yet familiar with TED or already a fan, there is a lot to learn concerning how experts present their case and successfully engage everyone, regardless of whether they agree or disagree with them.
Karia’s observations can be translated to a more intimate setting, but the methods remain the same. Regardless of where you are presenting or how many people you are planning to reach, you can use the forethought, thoroughness and playfulness of an award-winning speech. You will still be as effective as a major player on a big stage.
Here is Akash Karia’s author page on Amazon:
“Akash Karia is a peak performance coach who has trained over 50,000 people worldwide, from bankers in Hong Kong to senior executives in Thailand to government members in Dubai.
“He has twice been ranked the #1 Most Popular Business & Money author on Amazon Kindle and his books have been translated into Italian, Korean and Japanese.
“WHY READ HIS BOOKS?
“Akash writes books on communication, productivity and psychology, sharing proven tools and techniques for the price of a cup of coffee.
“His books are based on hundreds of hours of intensive scientific research, and provide practical tools, techniques and strategies that you can implement immediately.
“WHY SHOULD YOU TRUST HIM?
“Akash is a recognized NLP Trainer, as well as a Strategic Intervention Coach certified by the Robbins-Madanes Center (based on the work of Anthony Robbins and Chloe Madanes).
As a speaker and coach, Akash combines his real-world business experience as the Chief Commercial Officer of a multi-million-dollar tech company along with his expertise in the field of high-performance psychology to create rapid results for his clients.”
