TED Talks are amazing. It still amazes me how me great people can be found to produce such insightful talks. And usually, the presentations are excellent.

Jeremey Donovan has written How To Deliver A TED Talk in an attempt to identify just exactly what makes for a great TED talk. For a professional public speaker, this book might be a bit too elementary. But for the rest of us who only do it occasionally, it’s a good resource and well worth reading.

Of course, delivering a TED talk is a different form of public speaking than most situations. It’s shorter, well edited, and the rules require a very specific focus. Other forms of public speaking can be broader in context, longer (or significantly shorter), and we don’t have highly trained professional videographers cutting out our “ums”. Still, we can learn a lot from the first rate public speakers, and Donovan does a good job of consolidating the data.

Caution, though. This book won’t help much if your issue is a fear of public speaking. He addresses that a bit, but the book is really meant for people who are already comfortable in front of people. The point of the book is to take you to a new level of competency, not get you over fears.