TED Commandments

If you are a speaker or plan on speaking in the future you need to have personal guidelines for yourself and your speech. My personal pet peeve is speakers who ramble about the same topic for nearly an hour.If you have guidelines for yourself you will be more memorable and you will keep from boring your audience.
   In his article, " Ten Tips from Lincoln on Writing a Kick-ass Speech" Leo Babauta tells us to keep it short. "If you can deliver a two-minute speech, instead of a 30-minute droner, your audience will actually listen, and will love you for your brevity."
All ten of the points he makes are fantastic! Being a huge Abe Lincoln fan, I am in complete agreement of each of them. Especially the last one, End Strong. "Lincoln ended the Gettysburg Address with the line “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” And that line went down in history. End with a line people will remember, that contains the message you want them to remember, because, aside from the opening, it’s the most important line."

TED organization is known for having some of the most inspiring, creative, passionate speakers on the planet. Before a new member speaks for the first time, the organization will send the new member a stone slate with the following TED commandments inscribed on it. Each "commandment" is incredible. I challenge you to apply these at your next speaking engagement!

The TED Commandments:

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick
2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before
3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion
4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story
5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Skae of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy
6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee