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How to Turn Your Team Meetings into Mini-TED Talks

Written by Jairo Gomez | Mar 29, 2017 2:11:31 PM

Staff meetings are a necessary evil to some people. They can be boring, tedious, and inspire more dread than a trip to the dentist. But they don't have to be!

Don't let staff meetings go to waste. Optimize your get-togethers with strategies practiced by TED Talks speakers. Never heard of this? Founded in 1984, TED Talks is a global set of conferences that feature ideas from some of the brightest minds in the world. These bright minds share their insight before a crowd using innovative, thought-provoking methods.

Go ahead and check out a brilliant talk given by Morgan Spurlock about brand marketing. As you can see from the video, TED Talks speakers employ tactics that inspire, educate, and entertain people.

Lucky for you, we've compiled a list of TED Talks communication strategies you can apply to your staff meetings. Have your employees walking away feeling inspired to bring creative solutions to life.

Be Passionate & Authentic

Engaging TED Talks speakers display passion on the stage. Aim to approach every staff meeting with sincere passion. Passion for your creative solutions, your position, your relationship with employees and customers, as well as everything else that makes your business shine.

Passion is the road to mastery, which is governed by inspired, purposeful doing. It helps you dive in deep after dipping your feet into a pool of creative solutions. Let this passion permeate every aspect of your staff meetings from the planning process to execution.

Radiating inspiration as a true leader has the power to persuade your staff to radiate the same. Besides, who will take you seriously if you're disengaged from the purpose of your business? No one. Successful Ted Talks speakers understand this, which is why their facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and content of their messages move people.

Just make sure you stay in your lane. Be inspired but also be true to yourself. Focus on your strengths and avoid pretending to show yourself as someone you're not. This will help you maintain confidence as you speak, especially when debating issues.

Show, Don't Simply Tell

Besides incorporating passion into your staff meetings, add in captivating visuals. Great TED Talks speakers love taking advantage of this tactic. This is a fantastic way to convey complex messages in an easy-to-understand fashion.

The human brain is able to process information quicker, meaning your staff is more likely to understand your perspectives. Besides, it's believed that a picture is worth a thousand words.

It may be tempting to lean on wordy reports but go with graph-oriented displays instead. This includes bar graphs, pie graphs, and more! Even add in real-life photographs to get your points across.

Take things up a notch with colorful infographics. Fortunately, there are free infographic makers online, allowing you to utilize imagery that illuminates the context of your messages.

Reach the Heart with Stories & Novelty

Go beyond passion and visuals. Include riveting storytelling to make your messages stick in the minds of your staff. Stories help bring the life out of complicated and boring topics. They trigger emotional responses from your listeners, indicating humanity in what you say. 

Share three stories like Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Her original TED Talk was going to be "chock full of facts and figures, and nothing personal." Instead, she told three interesting stories that initiated a movement. Talk about powerful!

For example, instead of simply focusing on analytics-driven numbers and figures during your staff meetings, provide stories about customer success or dissatisfaction. Help your staff understand the tangible impact of your creative solutions using real scenarios.

 


Practice Makes Progress

Like all things, giving a great presentation requires practice, which is next on the list of strategies. Make an effort to relentlessly practice communicating your messages before sharing them in staff meetings.

This is similar to what Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor did before her "stroke of insight" TED Talk, which has been viewed more than 10 million times on TED.com. In fact, she rehearsed her presentation 200 times before delivering it. This allowed her to internalize her message enough to share it comfortably before an audience.

You can do the same and make it feel as though you're having an easy-going conversation with close friends.

With a little help from Ted Talks, you can transform your staff meetings from fluff to phenomenal. Make your creative solutions unforgettable. On top of this, we can help you achieve unforgettable online marketing strategies that are sure to please. Schedule a consultation so we can get started together.