Marketing Podcast with Carmine Gallo

2014 marks the 30th anniversary of the phenomenon knows simply as TED. At this point in time an entire generation has grown up feasting on TED Talks.

In the world of communication TED Talks are the gold standard by which not only formal presentations are gauged, but most forms of communication are gauged.

Within the thousands of successful TED Talks there runs a somewhat common thread, or formula perhaps, that has transformed the way presenters present, leaders lead and teachers teach.

Mastering, or at least acknowledging, this art form has become required study for marketers, business leaders and communicators alike.

My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Carmine Gallo, author of Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds.

Gallo has made a career out of studying TED Talks and in his book he breaks down the elements of the most successful talks. The book is filled with example after example of real talks and, along with the TED repository, acts as a bit of a master’s class in the art of great presenting.

If you’re not tapping the TED library to get better at speaking you’re missing out on a tremendous free training resource.

Gallo starts our interview by suggesting, as I have in the title of this post, that in business today your communication skills are likely being compared to the TED standard.

Gallo’s book breaks down the very specific elements you need to master, but in the end, there’s one skill that will take you farther than any other and that’s the ability to communicate with stories.

I’ve always contended that the best leaders, the best marketers, are the best storytellers and at its very core the art of the TED Talk is framed in the art of storytelling.