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How to Create Your TED Talk: An 8-Step Process

by Jezra on March 9, 2017

First, A Little Background on TED

The TED conference (which stands for  technology, entertainment, design ) began life in 1984 as a yearly and very expensive conference where industry leaders and creative types gathered to exchange “Ideas Worth Spreading.”

Back then, it was all about the live experience, and speakers were expected to bring some quirky spontaneity to the stage.

But fast forward more than 30 years, and TED has become an institution, spawning countless local “TEDx” events, putting hundreds of speeches online each year, getting millions upon millions of views, and changing the way we all think about public speaking!

So, What  IS  a TED Talk?

According to Chris Anderson, the owner and global curator of TED, every TED talk starts with an idea :

“You have something meaningful to say, and your goal is to re-create your core idea inside your audience’s minds.” —from TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking

Anderson calls this idea “the gift in every great talk.” Your idea may:

• Be common-sense (“Every kid needs a champion”) or counter-intuitive (“The way we think about charity is wrong”)
• Describe a scientific breakthrough (“How bacteria talk”) or your own experience (“I am the son of a terrorist, here’s how I chose peace”)
• Motivate people to action (“We need to talk about an injustice”) or greater self-awareness (“Your elusive creative genius”)

But in every case, your TED talk will begin with an idea.

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And whether or not your talk actually builds a model of your idea in your listeners’ brain — Anderson takes that literally, and research on “neural coupling” backs him up — your TED talk exists to communicate this idea to your listeners.

That is your talk’s one and only goal.

Other Qualities of Successful TED Talks

In TED’s secret to great public speaking (an eight-minute video that’s worth watching), Anderson offers three guidelines for creating your TED talk:

• Focus on one major idea

Ideas are complex things; you need to slash back your content so that you can focus on the single idea you’re most passionate about , and give yourself a chance to explain that one thing properly… Everything you say [should link] back to it in some way.

• Give people a reason to care

Stir your audience’s curiosity. Use intriguing, provocative questions to identify why something doesn’t make sense and needs explaining. If you can reveal a disconnection in someone’s worldview , they’ll feel the need to bridge that knowledge gap.

• Build your idea with familiar concepts

Build your idea, piece by piece, out of concepts that your audience already understands … A vivid explanation… delivers a satisfying ah-hah! moment as it snaps into place in our minds.

These are important best practices, but they don’t tell you what to  do  to create a TED talk.

For that, try this…

8-Step Process for Creating Your TED Talk

Step 1. find an idea you want to share.

To hone in on your idea worth sharing, it can be useful to ask yourself things like:

• What’s one assumption I’d like to challenge?
• What’s a belief of mine that has changed, and why?
• What does everyone miss when they think about my area of interest or expertise?

And remember, you’re looking for an idea . As Jeremey Donovan says in How to Deliver a TED Talk ,

…an idea is not a theme, a general truth, a platitude or a big goal. “Everyone wants to feel included” is not an idea, it’s a general truth. “Empowering women” is not an idea, it’s a topic.

Step 2. Develop an unexpected and/or catchy way to state your idea

If your idea can be stated in a catchy way, listeners will pay more attention and remember it more easily. Here are some examples (with more conventional versions of the same idea in parentheses):

• We can solve malnutrition now (vs. Malnutrition is a problem that is finally, in our day and age, able to be resolved by advances in science.)
• Almost dying saved my life (vs. A near death experience created the motivation for me to face and overcome problems that otherwise would have slowly killed me.)
• Never, ever give up (vs. Cultivate the ability to commit without wavering; it’s an essential component of your lifelong success.)

Step 3. Collect anything and everything that relates to your idea

To re-create your idea in the minds of your listeners, you’ll need vivid examples, illustrations, stories, facts, questions, comments, etc.

So take a few days to notice anything and everything that relates to your idea, and collect these materials by writing them down, taking photos, recording your thoughts as sound files, etc.

Examples of things you might collect include:

• a snippet of conversation
• a quote you heard in high school
• a story that relates to your idea
• a fact, or cluster of data that supports it
• a metaphor or analogy that helps explain it
• a personal moment in your relationship with the idea
• a physical object that will help your audience understand it (here, my client Erika Frenkel presents an anesthesia machine )

Basically, anything that comes to your mind at this stage should be collected.

And don’t worry yet about which materials will end up in your talk.

You can’t collect  things and evaluate  them at the same time, so just collect for now; you’ll have a chance to evaluate later.

Step 4. Start imagining how you might open and end your talk

While it’s too soon to choose your opening and close, it’s not too soon to start playing with ideas for these important parts of your talk.

An effective way to begin any speech (not just a TED talk) is to grab your audience’s attention — often with a human interest story, a surprising statistic, an unexpected observation, or a thought-provoking question.

There are probably some great attention-grabbers in the material you collected for Step 3. Pick one that you particularly like, and flag it as a possible  opening for your talk.

As for the close , you’ll probably want to end your talk in a positive, forward-looking way . This is often done by:

• calling the audience to action;
• painting a hopeful picture of the future; and/or
• “paying off” (finishing, resolving) a story or discussion that has run through your talk, so that listeners get a sense of closure.

With your provisional opening and close in mind, you’re now ready to…

Step 5. Put the rest of your materials in a reasonable order

The middle of any speech is tricky, and a TED talk is particularly so, because TED talks can take just about any form you’d like.

So to tackle this part of your TED talk, take the materials you’ve collected and shuffle them until you find a good arrangement. To do this, you can:

• Create a high-level outline (leave out most of the detail, just arrange the big points or elements)
• Write each element (story, comment, observation, fact) on a 3 x 5 card and physically shuffle them to see different possible orders. (You can do this on a table, or digitally, by creating one slide per element and shuffling them with PowerPoint’s “slide sorter” feature)
• Use sound (speaking out loud) instead of writing to put your talk elements into different sequences (Ask: Does it sound right if I tell that story first, then give the fact? How about if I give the fact first, then tell the story?)
• Try any other method that works for you.

How will you know when the order is good?

Keep in mind that your goal is to create an understanding of your idea in the minds of your audience members , and try to arrange your explanations, comments, and stories in a way that leads to that goal. (You’ll get to test this on real people in Step 7.)

Trust your instincts: If something seems out of place to you, it probably is. Try moving it to a different part of your talk or even skipping it, and see if that works better.

And don’t expect to find the best organization for your talk the first time you try, because that almost never happens!

Step 6. Talk your way to a rough draft of your script

This is where your “speaking plan” becomes a “speech.”

Take your outline or list of ordered elements and talk about each item in turn.

When I’m writing a speech, I like to literally talk it out loud and type up what I’m saying as I’m saying it — but you can also use your computer’s voice recognition software to capture your words, or talk into the voice memo feature on your phone (this used to be called “dictating”) and type up the sound file later.

Why  record yourself talking  instead of just writing out the speech?

Because most of us get all formal and stiff when we write, and the ideal for a talk is that it sounds like you’re…  talking !

And here’s a hint:

As you do this step, pay particular attention to the way different elements (materials) that you’ve used in your talk are connected.

If, for example, you tell me that:

• The river flooded, and
• Some people moved out of the neighborhood…

I’ll want to know: Did people move  because  the river flooded? Did most people stay even though  the river flooded? Did the river flood  after  people had already moved?

When you spell things out clearly, people will form a clear picture of your point.

Step 7. Try out your Ted talk draft on a volunteer listener

The point of this step is to get feedback on how to improve the structure and clarity of your draft.

Ask someone you trust — a smart 10-year-old is perfect — to listen to your talk.

Read it to them (because you haven’t finalized, let alone memorized, it yet), and then ask them:

• Did I explain my idea clearly?
• Was there anything in my talk that you didn’t follow?
• Was there anything you didn’t understand?
• Did anything seem out of place?
• Did I lose your interest anywhere?

If your listener wants to discuss the 6,000 facts you left out, or how your talk should really be about X instead of Y, gently lead them back to these questions.

The point is not to  change  your talk. The point is to  improve  it’s effectiveness.

Step 8. Repeat the following steps as needed

• Based on your listener’s feedback, make changes that will improve your draft. But don’t get carried away editing; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! (And keep your old drafts in case you want to go back to something you did earlier; I number mine v1, v2, v3, etc.)

2. Practice delivering your new draft out loud.

3. Try out your new draft on a volunteer listener, get their feedback , and repeat these steps as often as needed until your talk has taken a satisfying shape.

And finally…

There’s no better time to start working on your talk than now. Even if your schedule is crammed, you’re better off working for a few minutes each day than leaving everything to the last minute!

And as you work this process, remember that perfection isn’t possible.

So instead of striving for perfection, prepare carefully, take your best shot, and try to  relax .

Your audience is going to love this talk — and you deserve to enjoy it, too!

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Home > Blog > Speaking 101 > How To Write A TED Talk In 7 Easy Steps

How To Write A TED Talk In 7 Easy Steps

Taylorr Payne

Within the speaking industry, there’s more than one way to make it to the top. The most obvious path is the numbers game, in which you speak at as many events as possible. On the other hand, the second option for gaining prestige is by first doing so in your focus industry. For example, if you work in finance, you would climb the latter within the finance industry first. From there, you would branch into speaking as a secondary profession before eventually speaking full-time. In many cases, it is this route that leads to an invitation for a TEDx or TED event. As a result, learning how to write a TED talk can be a bit less structured than writing a normal speech. 

That said, although writing a TED talk can be a challenge, the benefits of speaking for TED events far outnumber the trials. Not only are they a stellar addition to your resume. They’re also a highly publicized and easily accessible way for you to share your message. Unlike in-person events, because TED talks are also available for free online, giving one allows you to reach people and groups that might not otherwise have the opportunity to hear you speak. Together, these benefits supplement your credibility and increase your exposure, aiding in that climb to the top of the speaking industry.

So, without further ado, let’s talk about how to write a TED talk that absolutely blows your audience away. Although, in this guide, we’ll focus on the seven steps below, feel free to check out our companion blog, “ What Is A TED Talk? The Fundamentals of TED Explained ” for more information about the TED Organization.

Choose a topic you care about. 

First and foremost, a great TED talk demands a great topic. As a rule, when choosing your topic, there are four questions to answer. The first, as recommended by the TED organization, is “Is my idea new?” Here, the goal is to either choose a completely new idea or put a new spin on an older idea. Likewise, the second question asks, “Is my idea interesting?” Regardless of your topic’s age, you need to demand attention. Dr. Guy Winch’s 2019 TED Talk , for instance, is a perfect example of this. As a psychologist and speaker , Dr. Winch takes the common idea of work/life balance and makes it relevant to the modern practice of telecommuting. 

That brings me to the third question to keep in mind when you write a TED talk: “Is my idea factual and realistic?” Besides capturing the audience’s attention, you also want to inspire them to action. In Dr. Winch’s talk, he suggests building a metaphorical barrier between your work life and personal life. Ultimately, there are a few ways he recommends doing this, but each way is achievable immediately. Similarly, as you choose your topic, keep in mind that although your idea can be big, the actions you inspire in the audience have to be smaller-scale and realistic.

Lastly, within the SpeakerFlow team, there’s a fourth question we recommend asking yourself as you write a TED talk: “Do I care about my idea?” Unsurprisingly, the more passionate you are about your topic, the easier it will be to write your talk. You’ll also be more confident about the topic, as a whole, making you more confident and comfortable on stage. Plus, if you’re passionate about your idea, the more likely it will be that you can answer “yes” to each of the questions above. 

Craft your message around that topic, and keep it clear and concise. 

The next step, after choosing a topic for your TED talk, is crafting a clear and concise message around it. At most, TED talks run 20 minutes total, some as short as 10 minutes. There are two reasons for this design, the first of which is for the audience. As seen with students throughout the world, there are many factors that contribute to people’s attention spans. In light of this, the more concise your talk, the less likely audience members’ focus will stray. The other reason TED talks are kept short is to test your speaking ability. Since the TED Conference was first hosted in 1984 , their mission has been to “change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world” through the ideas of their speakers. That means each TED speaker has to be exceptionally knowledgeable in their focus industry and able to explain their knowledge on a variety of levels. 

Depending on your topic, this may be easier said than done, especially if you’re discussing a complex subject. This is another reason to choose a topic you are passionate about. In most cases, the more you care about something, the more you know. Because of this, the more easily you’ll be able to identify the most important things the audience needs to know. You’ll also have an easier time when you write a TED talk, as each of these things can serve as a part of your speech. It’s almost like drafting a five-paragraph essay, as a high school student. The introduction and conclusion take care of two paragraphs, leaving three to outline yourself. When you write a TED talk, the same outline applies on a larger scale, and the most important pieces of your message are those body paragraphs. 

Define a key takeaway for the audience. 

After outlining the important bullet points to cover in your TED talk, the next piece of the puzzle is defining a key takeaway for your audience. In our essay analogy, this is like the thesis statement in your opening paragraph. In short, it needs to answer the question, “What sentence or phrase should the audience remember when they leave?” If you’re not sure how to define your thesis, the team at Ethos3 put it perfectly in one of their guides from 2018. In it, they recommended to write a TED talk and then sum it up in a single sentence. Although it sounds difficult, this ultimately forces you to narrow your message as much as possible. This makes it easier for the audience to remember your talk and gives you a reference point as you draft it. 

More inspiration can also be found in video titles in the library of past TED talks or on the TED YouTube channel . Some of my personal favorites include “ Dangerous times call for dangerous women ” by Pat Mitchell and “ To help solve global problems, look to developing countries ” by Bright Simons. In each of these examples, there’s enough information to see what the speaker’s main topic is and get an idea of their argument. Likewise, your key takeaway should be engaging and succinct. Think of it like you’re designing it to be a mini version of your main idea, and remember the questions we covered earlier. Is it new, interesting, factual, and realistic? Can I passionately back it up? If your key takeaway can answer these with a “yes,” you’re all set for the next piece of the puzzle. 

Draft your TED talk as a story. 

At this point, you should be all set to write a TED talk. With your main arguments outlined and your key takeaway narrowed down, all that’s left is to add the entertainment aspect. This is largely where you can bring in your personal style and really make the TED talk your own. If you’re an experienced speaker, although TED talks are unique, you probably already have this nailed down. 

On the other hand, if you’re a new speaker and still a little nervous about this, no worries! Learning to write a TED talk is like learning to write any speech in one way more than any other: the importance of stories. In addition to including facts and evidence, there are a handful of less structured ways to make your speech more of a story than a lecture. This not only makes you more relatable to members of the audience. It’s also yet another way to make your TED talk more engaging. After all, everyone loves a good story, right? 

Some of the simplest ways to write a TED talk as a story are outlined by Disney film writer and director Andrew Stanton . Overall, one of the greatest tips he has can be found in his own TED talk from 2012: “Use what you know. Draw from it. It doesn’t always mean plot or fact. It means capturing a truth from your experiencing it, expressing values you personally feel deep down in your core.” In short, your speech should have a beginning, middle, and end like a story, but it should also be personal. Your audience is full of people just like you, so although being a little emotional might feel scary, it also makes you easier to connect with. If you can make ‘em laugh, too, that’s an added bonus. 👏

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Tailor your visual aids to your audience, your story, and your brand. 

Besides the verbal aspects of your TED talk, you may want to consider a visual component, as well. In many of the examples we’ve touched on, this means a slideshow presentation to play behind you as you speak. Depending on the depth of your topic and the length of your talk, the complexity of your slideshow may vary. That said, it’s important to remember to keep things simple. The goal of the slides is to add to what you’re saying, not distract from it. Knowing this, as you create your visual aids, try to avoid gifs or images that could be distracting or disturbing. Conversely, take note of the less intriguing parts of your speech, too. Then, design your slides to include a visual aid or two during these points. That way, you can keep everyone engaged for necessary information, even if it’s not exciting. 

The other piece to keep in mind, as you write a TED talk, is branding. On any visual aids in your speech, be sure your style is consistent with your spoken language and your brand. For example, if you’re speaking about how to handle grief, steer clear of a slide show with holographic gifs or a hot pink outfit. Again, the goal of visual aids is to add to your message and your stage persona. That means each piece of your TED talk – clothes, body language, wording, cadence, visual aids – works together to convey your message. As you wrap up the drafting part of preparing for a TED talk, keep this in mind. 

Practice, practice, practice.

The final step in the pre-event steps to write a TED talk is a simple one: Practice, practice, practice. In front of as many people as you can, rehearse your speech and iterate as needed. Even as an experienced speaker, there could be ticks or bad habits that you may not notice but your audience will. Take one of my college professors, for example – We’ll call her Ms. Smith. Although Ms. Smith was a font of knowledge when it came to microbiology, she unknowingly was an incredibly distracting speaker. This was largely due to her constant gesticulating and the drama with which she moved her hands as she spoke. Obviously, for her students, this made it hard to follow her, but I’m sure to this day, she doesn’t even realize she does it. 

To sum up, when you write a TED talk and start practicing, learn from Ms. Smith and have someone watch you present. Not only can they catch any habits distracting from your speech. They can also provide their own perspective on your body language or the structure of your presentation. All in all, you’re giving a TED talk for the benefit of the audience, in-person and online. What better way to make sure you reach that audience than to practice with a few “test’ audiences beforehand?

Remember it’s okay to show your flaws. 

Lastly, as you write a TED talk, remember you don’t have to be perfect. Obviously, we all want to nail everything about our presentation, from our clothes to our body language to the words themselves. However, even if you’ve spoken thousands of times before, it’s normal to be nervous or slip up. In fact, tons of past TED speakers have felt the same. Just remember, in the words of artist (and TED speaker) Janice Tanton , “Fear is just a misguided form of creativity.” You entered the speaking industry because of your creativity and passion, so anything that you see as a flaw just makes you all the more memorable for your audience. Plus, if you do slip up on stage, being able to laugh at yourself helps connect you to your audience, too.

In conclusion, there are countless speaker awards and certifications out there that demonstrate how great a speaker you are and how much experience you have. The same validation also comes from speaking for the TED organization. Whether you appear at a small TEDx event or the yearly TED conference itself, having TED on your resume gives decision-makers their answer immediately. In other words, seeing that you’ve given a TED talk makes them more likely to hire you! 

So, this year, as you either write a TED talk for an upcoming event or simply work to gain the TED Organization’s attention, remember this checklist. Feel free to also check out TED’s illustrated preparation guide or TEDx speaker guide , for tips and tricks from the TED Organization itself. 

Have a TED talk in the books already? Let us know! Here at SpeakerFlow, we’re all about real connections with real people, and we’d love to give you and your TED talk a shoutout. 😊🎉

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Tips on Persuading People From the Head of TED Talks

Chris anderson has the inside scoop on the famed lecture series and advice for our sixth grade listener..

Subscribe to How To! on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or Stitcher for the full episode. 

These days, TED Talks have become synonymous with great speeches. There’s Angela Duckworth on the importance of grit , Susan Cain on the power of introverts , and Dan Pink on the puzzle of motivation . Bill Gates even released live mosquitoes into the audience during his talk. So when a 6th grade listener named Lucy wrote into How To! looking for help with an important speech, she mentioned she too hoped to someday share the TED stage. So who better to help than Chris Anderson, the head of the TED Talk series and author of TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking ? On this recent episode of How To! , Chris helps Lucy craft the perfect speech to wow her school board and, in the process, reveals expert tips that can help all of us give TED-worthy speeches—whether in an auditorium, a conference room, or, these days, on Zoom. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

David Epstein: Chris, to start can you walk us through what makes a good TED Talk? 

Chris Anderson: Sometimes speakers think a talk is their chance to push their agenda onto the world. If that is how you’re thinking, the talk is almost certain to fail. So instead, know that in your head there is something really special called an idea, this little pattern of knowledge that can be amazingly transferred to the people in the audience. Just by opening your mouth and sending sound waves out, you can literally rewire their brains. And if you do that in the right way, you have given them a gift that can matter to them for the rest of their lives.

It starts with making a connection with the audience. You have to signal “It’s OK. You can open the doors of your mind to me. We can be friends for the next 15 minutes.” That’s why a lot of talk starts with relaxed humor or the telling of a story that is engaging. The second piece is showing early on why this even matters. It might be articulating a question: “Here is a problem in the world that I’ve been thinking about” or “Here’s something big that happened to me that had really big implications for me and I want to share them with you.” But you have to do something to give people an incentive that they should continue to pay attention.

David: We were hoping that you could give some of this advice directly to our 6th grade listener. Lucy, can you tell us why you wrote into us? 

Lucy: I was trying to write a speech and I was struggling with the beginning and the end especially. I recently read a book called Free to Learn , and I thought that maybe if I could write a speech and talk to my school board, then maybe some of the stuff from the book could be implemented into my school.

David: And so your speech, which you shared with us earlier, is about the benefits of less homework and non-age segregated play. Chris, what advice would you give to Lucy that might help anyone giving a speech for the first time? 

Chris: Goodness, Lucy. If I could have given that talk when I was in 6th grade, I’d have been a very proud boy. I would say a couple of the things you might tweak are first, you asked about how you begin it. [In the version of your speech I heard], you just went straight in—“My name’s Lucy and I’m here to talk about a book I read.” Is that the best way to really grab the attention of the school board? I think you could play with some ideas about why they should listen to this. The way to do that is to think about what is important to them. You could play with something like, “My name is Lucy, I’m in 6th grade and I want to talk about something that I know we all care a lot about here—how to make a great school even greater.”

Then the other main thing I’d say is a really clever technique to persuade someone of something that might seem a bit controversial is to recognize the likely objection. So less homework, right? You know, in some adults’ minds, they’re going, “Oh boy, here’s a sixth grader being lazy and wanting to spend more time playing rather than doing actual work.” I think there’s a case to try and take that head on and say, “I know that this sounds really self-serving. Of course, every 6th grader wants to have less homework, but what I’ve been persuaded of is that play could be more than you think it is. It’s not just wasting time. It’s actually learning.” Then to make that really land, you might need to do one more thing, which is to tell a personal story of when play did something important for you. A story will really make something vivid and land even deeper.

Lucy: OK. And I’d also add how less homework could benefit the teachers. They would have less stuff to do as well.

Chris: Yeah, a key piece [of a good speech] is that you’ve got to explain what’s in it for them. You also asked about the ending and how you could make that more powerful. If you want people to act on an idea, they need to be able to picture what the action is. So could you ask, for example, “I know this seems weird, but here’s a suggestion, why don’t we just try a little experiment. Pick a small group of us and try this policy for one semester and then see what happens. I’m betting you’re going to be amazed.” I always remember a couple of TED Talks where a person made a commitment at the end of the talk and it was super powerful. So if you’re willing to say, “Why don’t you try this and sign me up? I’ll be your guinea pig,” that could be something powerful given how confident and compelling you are.

David: So let’s say Lucy has the speech all written. How can she deliver it well when under pressure? 

Chris: Nerves are there for a reason. They’re there to tell us that this matters. Before the talk, breathe deep. Go for a really vigorous walk to get the blood flowing. Do what you can physically so that you’re relaxed. Also, give the talk to four people in different parts of the room. Give a sentence to one person and look at them and then look at the next person. That will help you ground it. I think that kind of practice is much more powerful than imagining the audience in their underwear. Don’t do that.

David: Have you ever had a mishap during a speech? 

Chris: Oh, goodness, yes. I’ve definitely had moments where I completely freeze. My biggest single failure on stage was when I was carrying a Burmese python. We had a session about the wonder of nature. I wanted to say, “Hey, this thing is incredible.” It was like a yellow python, so beautiful, around my neck. I was just saying, how nature was amazing and then, unfortunately, the audience started guffawing. And what I didn’t know was this python’s head had gone down my back and had emerged from between my legs, waving itself at the audience. That was kind of hilarious.

But I’ll be honest, in many ways I’m baffled by how the great orators do what they do. It’s a skill that arose in times well before microphones, well before the internet, well before television, where one person with a big crowd could weave a kind of magic. You are aware that you are one of thousands of people listening, and you are aware of the sort of the growing belief of those around you. It’s far, far more than simply listening to a talk. You’re part of a movement. I’m going to learn something and listen to this person. Oh gosh, I hope there’s some way to solve this problem. Wait a second, this is making sense . You end up coming to a place of sharing someone’s vision. You start with curiosity and you end with inspiration. That makes the difference between just understanding something and wanting to do something about it.

Subscribe to How To! on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or Stitcher

To hear Lucy give her speech and more behind-the-scenes details about TED Talks from Chris, listen to the episode by clicking the player below or subscribing to How To! wherever you get your podcasts. 

Speaking at TED

Where do you find your speakers?

We search year-round for presenters who will inform and inspire, surprise and delight. But a lot of our speakers come from recommendations from you! If you know someone who belongs on the TED stage, or if you belong there yourself, we want to hear from you. Please use our speaker recommendation form .

You can also read about speaking at TED .

How do I suggest a speaker?

​The best way to submit any speaker to TED is through our speaker nomination form .

We accept nominations on a rolling basis. Once submitted, your nomination will stay in our speaker database so that we may consider your submission as we plan future programs for TED conferences.

Regrettably, we're not able to respond personally to each suggestion due to the high volume of nominations we receive. Please also note that we are unable to respond with an application status at any point, or to let you know whether or not your proposed speaker is likely to be a fit.

We really value speaker nominations, as we find many of our incredible speakers through recommendations and nominations from the community.

We look forward to reviewing your nomination!

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All of our speakers are carefully vetted by our curation team. Our presenters run the world's most admired companies and design its best-loved products; they invent world-changing devices and create ground-breaking media. They are trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. TED is the place to give the talk of your life.

Collectively, TED speakers have won every major prize awarded for excellence, including the Nobel, Pritzker, Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Tony and MacArthur "genius" grant. TED also seeks out emerging artists, scientists and thinkers, introducing them to the TED community well before they hit the mainstream.

If you know someone who belongs on our roster, let us know via our speaker nomination form .

You can also read more about speaking at TED .

5 steps to giving a perfect TED Talk

• James Haynes
• August 1, 2022

Table of Contents

Introduction.

If you’re pursuing a speaking career, you’ve likely seen or heard about TED Talks. But have you ever thought about giving one? TED Talks have become one of the most high-profile examples of public speaking gigs today. If you are excited to learn more about how to give a TED Talk or TEDx talk, let this be your guide! (Interested in other avenues for public speaking? We have a piece on how to best get started here .)

What is a TED Talk?

TED originated in the 1980s on the West Coast as a forum for learning about technological developments in particular in Silicon Valley. In the 1990s, the annual conference grew to a major event, spinning off independent events in major cities around the world under the TEDx banner in the 2000s.

According to TEDx Cambridge director Tamsen Webster , TED Talks are much more exclusive and invite-only, since speakers are invited from around the world. But TEDx Talks, the local, community-based independent forums for TED, are easier to access. If you speak at a TEDx, you’re recorded as a TEDx speaker, but your video may be promoted to the official TED website, ted.com and published on the TEDx official YouTube channel.

Some TEDx speakers, such as academic researcher Brené Brown, get invited to the “Big TED” stage after a breakout performance on the TEDx stage. In Brown’s case, her 2010 TEDx Houston talk, “The Power of Vulnerability”, became a top 5-viewed TED Talk online, and she followed it up with a TED Talk titled “Listening to Shame” in 2012. But, TEDx Cambridge director Tamsen Webster cautions, such cases are rare. Hear more from her interview with Grant Baldwin here (discussion of TEDx gigs begins around the 11:30 mark) .

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How to give a TED Talk in 5 steps

Want to learn how to give a TED Talk? Read on for 5 steps to make it unforgettable:

1. Begin with the end in mind

Have you ever been left at the end of a speech wondering, “What was the point of this talk?” Don’t do that to your audience. When creating your talk, determine the destination that you want to take them to. Once you pick a point, then you can work backwards and reverse engineer how to get your audience to that place. (for more on finding your big idea, check out this episode  of The Speaker Lab podcast)

Answer “now what?” for the audience. Your audience is always asking two questions: so what and now what? So what means what does this have to do with me? Now what is what you want the audience to do as a result of your talk. Give them action steps to implement what you taught them. If they hear you speak but literally don’t do anything differently, what’s the point?

2. Hone your big idea

Professional speakers often have an extra barrier to cross when it comes to being selected even for a TEDx event. While not prohibited from participanting, they are generally discouraged unless they have a particularly original new idea. In Webster’s words, “We want to catch the rising star. We want the new idea before it’s out there. If you’ve already got the book talk, and you’re already making money with that talk, that’s probably not the talk that we want.”

What’s the type of idea that TED or TEDx organizers are typically looking for? According to Webster, it needs to have the three Is: Interesting, Important, and Individual. In other words, it needs to have a speaker 1) who is an authority on the topic (due to background, life experiences, research, etc.), 2) who can address an important unmet need in the world, and 3) be passionate to share about it.

One way to break down the big idea is looking at a problem, an idea and a change. Webster gives the example of an entrepreneur unsuccessfully chasing work-life balance. The problem they see is that they want less pressure in their non-work lives. The idea Webster proposes is that what entrepreurs actually need to achieve work-life balance are not external skills: “That’s adding more pressure on you’re on entrepreneur already.” The change could be choosing to accept internal skills and abilities and delegating more things to de-stress.

3. Write out your material and tell a story

Professional speakers don’t just make stuff up. They don’t write a few thoughts on a notecard and then shoot from the hip for an entire presentation. They take the time to write and carefully craft their material.

Humans relate to stories. We connect to stories. Funny stories. Sad stories. Inspirational stories. We love stories. So tell them. Lots of them. Stories will keep your audience engaged and are also easier for you to memorize. Read  this super helpful post  by my speaker pal Josh Sundquist for his tips on writing your speech, setting your fee, and booking your first gigs.

There’s nothing wrong with telling a 3rd person story or using some case study or example. Telling stories that you lived and experienced generally makes the story better for you and the audience. For the audience, they can often times find themselves in your story. For you as the speaker, it’s much easier (and more powerful) to tell a story that you lived versus one you read in a book.

4. Prepare the presentation

Oftentimes speakers want to have Powerpoint or Keynote slides to use as notes for their presentation. This is lazy. Don’t do this. Any slides you use should be an enhancement not a replacement of your talk. If you’re just going to stand up there and read off the screen, what does the audience need you for?

Use Powerpoint to show images that make a point. Some speakers will build their talk around their slides. Start with the talk FIRST and then determine if slides are needed or necessary. Slides are generally most effective for showing images or videos that can’t be conveyed in words. For example, if you were in some death-defying crash and that’s part of your talk, it’s one thing to tell that story, but it’s incredibly more powerful if you show pictures or video of it all.

Consider writing out your material. Professional speakers don’t just make stuff up. They don’t write a few thoughts on a notecard and then shoot from the hip for an entire presentation. They take the time to write and carefully craft their material. There is no right way to create a talk. You don’t need to memorize your talk like a script, but manuscripting can help you to think through the entire presentation and to know exactly how it all flows together. Some speakers prefer to have an outline with several bullet points and flesh it out from there. Every speaker is different. Find a process that works for you.

5. On stage, be an amplified version of you

The bigger the venue, the bigger you need to be on stage. The way you would communicate to a group of 10 people is very different than how you would need to communicate to a room of 10,000. Both should be an authentic version of you, but simply amplified to the setting. The bottom line is don’t try to be something you’re not on stage. Be you.

Keep it slow and steady. When you are talking really fast, it becomes difficult for the audience to follow. It’s hard to keep up and process. Plus the faster you talk, the harder it is to understand what you’re saying. So slow down and enunciate. Give the audience the chance to keep up with where you’re going.

Don’t be afraid of the silence. The silence to a speaker can feel deafening but it can be powerful. Silence shows confidence that you’re in control of the talk and the room and you’re continuing to guide them towards a common purpose. When you make a strong point, don’t rush to the next line. Stop and let it hang there. The silence is your friend.

All in all, though giving a TED and TEDx Talk isn’t going to drive revenue for anyone’s speaking business, it can provide a tremendous platform for reach in your area of expertise, and giving either one is a great feather in anyone’s cap.

If you found this piece helpful, we have a great podcast with Tamsen Webster digging even deeper into the world of TED–especially the ins and outs of the TEDx selection process! She tells us how she helps her speakers prepare for their TEDx talks, how you can get your foot in the door with your local TEDx and how to know if your idea is interesting enough to be considered for a TEDx talk. You can listen to this “inside look” at TED here . Want to read more about speaking tips? Take a look at our 100 tips for motivational speaking for any speaking engagement!

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While you mull all of that over, here are a few rapid fire FAQs about TED Talks. Happy speaking!

What does TED Talk stand for?

TED is an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, the original topics of TED Talks when the organization launched in the mid-1980s.

How long is a TED Talk?

TED Talks are limited in length to 18 minutes or less.

How much do you get paid to give a TED Talk?

Although TED and TEDx Conference speakers do not get paid, presenters may receive travel and lodging costs for the conference they speak at.

Does TED have any tips for giving a TED Talk?

TED has many resources for aspiring speakers at ted.com. And some past TED speakers have given talks of their own on how to deliver a great TED Talk! See below for a video from TED Curator Chris Anderson, who shares his secret ingredient that all the best ones have in common, along with four ways to make it work for you.

• Last Updated: February 29, 2024

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10 ways to prepare for a TED style talk

Nancy Duarte

I’ve given all types of talks. And while all presentations take an investment to make them effective, the creation of a high-stakes, beautifully staged TED-style talk often proves to be especially difficult. It takes work to craft the talk, and then even more to make the delivery sound natural.

What makes preparing for a TED Talk so tough?

A TED Talk is 18 minutes long—a length that was chosen by TED organizers based both on neuroscience and strategy . They understood that 18 minutes was long enough for a speaker to flesh out an idea, but short enough that a listener could take in, digest, and understand all of the important information.

TED curator Chris Anderson explains :

“The 18-minute length works much like the way Twitter forces people to be disciplined in what they write. By forcing speakers who are used to going on for 45 minutes to bring it down to 18, you get them to really think about what they want to say. What is the key point they want to communicate? It has a clarifying effect. It brings discipline.”

In reality, creating a talk that is ONLY 18 minutes, instead of 45, is tougher than you might imagine. Woodrow Wilson summed up the process of giving a short, but effective speech best when he said:

“If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.”

Not only is the 18-minute speech editing process challenging, but the rehearsal process takes a lot of time. In fact, I discovered that the amount of rehearsal time required is inversely proportionate to the length of the talk. True story: for the last 18-minute TEDx Talk I gave, it took me approximately 18 hours to rehearse.

Preparation tips: How to give a TED Talk that gets a lot of views

Here are ten preparation tips for how to give a TED Talk that fits within tight time limits and results in a presentation that’s as effective as possible.

1. Print your current slide deck as 9-up handouts.

The 9-up format is conveniently the same size as the smallest sticky note. When I prepared for my TEDx Talk , I arranged and re-arranged my message onto sticky notes—adding sticky notes until I was happy with the flow. If I’m whittling down my talk from, say, a 40 minute talk, I make sure I cut at least half of my slides. Keep trimming and trimming until you feel you are close to 18 minutes. During this process it becomes clear that your big idea can be communicated in a succinct, distilled manner.

2. Solicit feedback.

Assemble a handful of people who are effective presenters that you trust to give honest, unfiltered feedback on your narrative and slides. Verbally run the ideas by these folks (it doesn’t have to be a formal presentation). Have them look at all the slides at once so they give feedback on the “whole,” not the parts. Have them give you feedback on the content you’ve chosen and ask whether they think it will resonate with your audience. Consider doing this a handful of times: when I did my TEDx Talk, I repeated this step four times, twice with my ExComm Manager and twice with my company President. After they added their insights, I was ready to have the slides designed.

3. Rehearse with a great (honest) communicator.

Choose someone you trust and also that understands how to give a TED Talk, and rehearse with them. In my case, I rehearsed with a Duarte speaker coach . She would say honest things like: “When you say it that way, it can be interpreted differently than you intended,” “When you use that term, you come across derogatory,” “I thought that when you said it last time it was better, you said…” She worked hard tracking phrases and rounds of what was said. When it comes to preparing for a TED Talk, honesty is the best policy. Make sure your coach is not afraid to speak up; 18 minutes goes by fast. You love your material and you want to include all of it, but if you want to master how to give a TED Talk successfully, you need someone you trust to help you murder your darlings.

4. Close the loop.

A lot of times, as the presenter, you know your material so well that you think you’re making each key point clear. You might not be. Your coach should make sure you are telling people why. It’s the “why” around our ideas that make them spread, not the “how.” Articulate the why so your audience understands what’s magnificent about your big idea.

5. Practice with clock counting up.

The first few times, rehearse with the clock counting up. That’s because if you go over, you need to know how much you’re over. Do NOT be looking at the clock at this time. Have your coach look at it because you don’t want to remember any of the timestamps in your mind. Finish your entire talk and then have your coach tell you how much you need to trim. Keep practicing until you’re consistently within 18 minutes. Your coach should be able to tell you to trim 30 seconds here or add 15 seconds there so that your content is weighted toward the most important information.

6. Practice with clock counting down.

Once you’re within the timeframe, begin practicing with the clock counting down. You need to set a few places in your talk where you benchmark a time stamp. Calculate where you need to be in the content in six-minute increments. You should know roughly where you should be at 6, 12 and 18 minutes. You should know which slide you should be on and what you’re saying so that you will know immediately from the stage if you’re on time or running over.

7. Be noteworthy.

Your coach is there to jot down what you say well and what you don’t. They should work from a printout of the slides and write phrases you deliver effectively so they can be added to your script. They should help you capture phrases so you can type them into your notes.

8. Don’t be camera shy.

Videotape some of your final practices. It doesn’t have to be a high-end video setup—I’ve used my iPhone camera on a tripod in a hotel room. You just need to feel like something’s at stake. Videotaping yourself helps you get used to looking at the camera, and you can review the video to look at your stage presence, eye contact, gestures, plus identify any expressions that need modification. Also, if you do an especially good practice run, you can go back and listen to the audio and add the best snippets to your slide notes. The TED audience has only about 1,000 people in it, but the TED.com audience has millions. So, talk to the camera like there are humans on the other side of it.

9. Do one more FULL timed rehearsal right before you walk on stage.

Right before you go onstage (we’re talking day-of), do one more timed rehearsal. This will ensure that you know the speech and that you’re well aware of where you might need to slow down or speed up.

10. Have two natural ending points.

I gave a TED-style talk in India with a head cold. I knew I’d possibly lose track of timing. Give your talk two natural ending points. Pick two natural places you could stop in your talk, then demarcate those as possible endings. That way, if you’re running way over, you can stop at your first ending point, and while your audience may miss out on some inspirational or emotional ending, they’ll have heard all of the most important information that matters.

Check out these related resources

How to “Talk Like TED” and other insights from Carmine Gallo

Graphic recording at #illustraTED | Progress enigma

#illustraTED | Duarte is visualizing TED talks all week

Lights, Camera, Inaction: The Onion’s Take on TED

10 Ways to Prepare for a TED-format Talk

Impressions of TED2010 so far…

How To Prepare A Speech Like You're A TED Talk Speaker

It’s no secret that TED Talk speakers are some of the most influential and successful speakers to have ever stepped on stage.

But do you know why their speeches are so effective?

One main reason is the TED Talk format.

You see, to deliver a successful TED Talk speech, you must transfer your ONE big idea in a clear and concise yet powerful way that sticks with your audience… in under 18 minutes.

This short timeframe forces you to make every minute of your speech count.

Every second in your 18-minute speech must be perfectly rehearsed before you step on stage. So that you are able to deliver an impactful speech that gets people to digest your idea, think differently and take some sort of action to better their lives.

Here are 8 tips you can use to prepare like a Ted Talk speaker to flawlessly deliver your BIG idea and give an unforgettable speech.

Discovering Your BIG Idea

“You have something meaningful to say, and your goal is to re-create your core idea inside your audience’s minds.”

Chris Anderson, the owner and global curator of TED, expresses that every TED Talk starts with one big idea .

It’s helpful to come up with your core message BEFORE crafting your speech (and build everything else around it - to support and enhance this message). Struggling to come up with your big idea?

Ask yourself… “What can I say in these 18 minutes that will change someone’s life for the better?”

Break down your answer into one easy-to-understand sentence - the ONE thing you want your audience to walk away with and remember.

Taking the time to flesh out your idea and simplifying it into one sentence, will give you clarity and make crafting the rest of your speech a whole lot easier.

Start With the Beginning and the End

An easy way for you to create your speech in the TED format is to focus on perfecting the beginning and the ending first.

This gives you a sense of structure and balance.

The best way to begin any speech is to grab your audience’s attention right away. There are many techniques you can use to do so.

Here are three:

• Tell an interesting and personal story
• Give a hard-hitting fact or statistic
• Ask a thought-provoking question

As for the end, you’ll want to wrap up your speech in a positive and inspiring way. Aim for a delightful payoff to your story and call your audience to action. Perfecting the beginning and end of your speech will ensure you start off on a high note with your audience deeply invested in your story and leave them feeling empowered to change their lives.

Rehearse One Hour for Every Minute

On TED’s stage, you only get 18 minutes to change your audience’s lives…

So, you need to make every minute count!

The process of giving a short and effective speech requires a LOT more discipline and practice than long speeches.

Think of the rehearsal time needed to perfect your speech in direct opposite of the time you speak on stage.

A good rule to follow is rehearsing for one hour for every minute of your speech.

This will help you gain an inside-out understanding of exactly what you’re going to say, minute by minute, to deliver an engaging speech where every word is important and relevant to your core message.

Watch & Listen to Yourself

In public speaking, a great way to rehearse is to record yourself (your phone will do).

Listen and pay close attention to your tone, speed, volume, rhythm and voice when practicing your speech.

Get used to your voice and listen to your delivery over and over again before you step on stage.

You’ll also want to watch yourself rehearsing, to give you a better idea of how your audience sees you on stage.

If you want to be a motivational speaker, you’ll need to study your body language.

Always look for ways to improve your hand gestures, facial expressions, body movements, posture and eye contact.

Keep practicing until you come across as charismatic and confident.

An added benefit of recording yourself makes the rehearsal feel more real and puts some helpful pressure on you to deliver a successful speech.

Mimic Stage Conditions

When practicing public speaking, it’s far more effective to rehearse as if you were on stage delivering your speech.

Try to replicate the on-stage experience as much as possible:

• Move around freely, don’t stay in one spot for too long
• Practice looking at your audience
• Talk without using any notes
• Practice good body language, etc.

By practicing public speaking the RIGHT way, every time you rehearse, you will train your body and mind to present successfully in the spotlight.

Rehearse In Front of Your Peers

It’s always a good idea to practice in front of a live audience before your speech.

Not only does this simulate the real public speaking experience, but you can also get honest feedback from your peers on ways to improve.

Often, you’ll gain insights that are not so obvious to you, even after watching and listening to yourself via recordings.

One Last Rehearsal Before Your Speech

On the day of your speech, go through your entire rehearsal one more time.

This will get you in the right mindset and assure that you know your speech and are able to deliver it within the time frame.

Many public speakers find it helpful to craft a speech from talking off the cuff rather than writing word to word.

Record yourself each time you practice and jot down notes for improvement.

This will save you tons of editing and eliminate sounding like a robot.

You’ll be able to give a much more natural and engaging speech on stage because you have created your speech from talking rather than writing.

If you want to be a great public speaker you need to study the best in the game. Not just how they perform on stage, but how they prepare before their speech.

By understanding the entire process, you’ll be on the right track to crafting your own masterpiece that is remembered long after you step off stage.

Just remember, when it comes to delivering an impactful speech in a short amount of time, PRACTICE is everything.

Practicing the RIGHT way is your key to success in the few minutes you’re up on stage.

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10 tips for speaking like a Ted Talk pro

Advice from the experts on how to make any presentation sing

By Katherine Lee

February 2017, Vol 48, No. 2

Print version: page 64

Psychologists and graduate students are often called upon to speak to an audience, whether to give a conference presentation, deliver a lecture to a class, lead a meeting or give a talk in the community. But public speaking is a skill that comes more naturally to some than to others, and there are some common pitfalls to avoid, such as seeming disorganized or looking down at notes rather than at your audience.

Regardless of how practiced you may be at public speaking, there are some very effective strategies to use to deliver engaging talks. The next time you have a speaking engagement, try these tips to deliver your message like a TED Talk presenter:

1. Know your audience. Keep in mind whom you are going to be addressing when you craft your presentation, says Robert Sternberg, PhD, a former APA president who is a professor of human development at Cornell University. Is the audience going to be mainly fellow psychologists, health professionals, other professional groups, students or consumers? What do they want and need to hear? Knowing whom you are speaking to will help you tailor the talk and will help keep the audience engaged.

2. Keep it simple, especially if you're going to give a talk to a general audience. "People have a tendency to give presentations the audience doesn't understand," says Barry Schwartz, PhD, a psychology professor emeritus at Swarthmore College and a visiting professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He suggests giving a talk that makes people feel like they're smart and like they want to learn more about the topic. "The curse of knowledge is that once you know something, you forget what it was like when you didn't know it," he says. "I imagine that I'm going to present to my grandmother, who had a fifth-grade education."

3. Emphasize connection over content. To best engage listeners, build your speech from an emotional place rather than from the content, says Kristi Hedges, leadership coach and author of the 2011 book "The Power of Presence: Unlock Your Potential to Influence and Engage Others." Rattling off facts and figures and talking at the audience isn't effective if they aren't interested in what you are saying. "Be clear about what you want the audience to walk away with when they leave and use that intent as a structure to frame your talk," says Hedges. Your passion for a topic can draw people in; talking without any enthusiasm for the topic can deplete energy in the room and eclipse your message. "Talk to persuade, not just to inform," adds Sternberg.

4. Be authentic. Some speakers may try to sound like someone they admire instead of being themselves, notes Daniel Gilbert, PhD, professor of psychology at Harvard University. "Some people try to sing like their favorite singer or dance like their favorite dancer," says Gilbert. "Similarly, some speakers may try to sound like Martin Luther King Jr. or John F. Kennedy." Authenticity—sounding like yourself and using everyday language—is key to getting your message across to an audience, says Gilbert.

5. Diversify your delivery. People don't learn just by listening—different people learn in different ways, says Susan H. McDaniel, PhD, APA's 2016 president. Use visual tools (such as slides or a video), incorporate research and tell stories. Anecdotes can be a particularly effective way to connect with an audience. "It could be a story about yourself, especially if you're using humor and making fun of yourself," says McDaniel. One important tip to keep in mind about multimedia presentations: Don't let the technology obscure what you're trying to say, says Schwartz. "PowerPoint is incredibly powerful, but use it to get halfway there, rather than expecting it to do the whole job for you," he says.

6. Shake it up. Another reason to use different media in your talk is to make it more dynamic and compelling. "Using mixed media creates energy and vibrancy," says Hedges. Think about ways to use slides, video, audio, handouts, props and even spontaneous smartphone polls to engage your audience. You might, for instance, start with a video and then use powerful images later in your talk, says Hedges. Or you can begin with an engrossing question and use the audience feedback as data with polling software such as Poll Everywhere .

7. Stick to your points. Before you talk, determine your main points and outline them, says McDaniel. Some people refer to notes on stage while others may use PowerPoint or Keynote slides as prompts. One cautionary tip: Avoid simply putting the text of your speech in slides. "Writing out the words you'll be saying on slides is boring," says McDaniel. "Slides should be used for emphasis."

8. Know the setup. Have a run-through in the space you'll be speaking at if possible, especially if you'll be talking in front of a large audience. Test the tech system during that practice run to troubleshoot possible problems in advance. For instance, the sound may not run properly with your video or your slides may be set up behind you (which would mean you'll have to constantly turn your head to see where you are in your talk).

9. Don't lecture the whole time. Keep in mind that people don't have long attention spans. If you need to explore a topic deeply, use humor, an engaging video or other media to present various aspects of the topic. You can also break up a long talk by posing questions to the audience, suggests Hedges.

10. Leave time for questions. Talking until the last minute is a common mistake many speakers make, says Hedges. If you have an hourlong presentation, plan for 45 minutes of talking and 15 minutes for questions.

A Ted Talk on Ted Talks: To watch a video on how to give a great talk, go to www.ted.com/talks/chris_anderson_teds_secret_to_great_public_speaking .

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How to Give A TED Talk: Deliver Your Speech With Confidence

So you landed a TED talk. Now what?

While speaking at TED requires practice and speech memorization, those tips don’t tell you how to give a TED talk. We also discussthose concepts more in part two of this three-part series: How to Plan A TED Talk .

Here, we will expound on some TED talk tips you can use to bring a stage presence like that of Brene Brown.

This article will help you:

• Understand how to give a killer presentation with TED Talks
• Finish crafting a TED Talk presentation that resonates with your audience
• Uncover top TEDx presentation tips so you can deliver a viral-worthy talk

Now that you know about this article let’s dive into the steps involved in giving a TED talk people will reference for generations to come

1. Speak Boldly and Confidently

Politicians, professional athletes, and paid speakers have one thing in common: they must speak boldly and exert confidence to perform successfully in their careers. For example, a football player could exert confidence through fearless action taken on the field. Meanwhile, he may have to speak boldly in a press conference to exert that same confidence level.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke confidently when he gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, and, as a result, thousands gathered to hear what he had to say. Therefore, spoken confidence is key to gaining influence and getting others to listen to your words.

So, if you want to give a talk at a TEDx event that’s worth listening to, speak as though the entire world is listening. Here’s one exercise you can do that can help you exert more confidence through your spoken word:

The MountainTop Excercise

Close your eyes and picture yourself on the edge of a cliff. In this scenario, you aren’t afraid of heights. You’re far enough back to avoid fear but far enough forward for everyone below to listen to you and take notice. Then, take a deep breath and imagine the entire world is standing below the cliff. There’s one thing you feel you should tell them. You boldly proclaim your idea to the entire world.

When it’s time to give your speech, make sure to speak with the same level of authority you would on the cliff talking to millions of people.

2. Give Your Audience Time To Retain Your Content

When planning a speech for the TED stage, the most significant gift you can give your audience is a moment to absorb your content. This concept of paying attention to your audience is why comedians often pause after delivering a joke. They understand if you don’t have time to process the joke, you won’t laugh; and more than likely won’t return to another one of their shows.

Plan out pauses in your script as you prepare to speak at a TEDx event. If you don’t incorporate breaths ahead of time, you might rush through your talk when it’s time to deliver it. However, if you intentionally create a habit around pausing after crucial moments, your audience has the time to rest and retain what you’re telling them.

3. Plan On-Stage Movement

Have you ever acted in a play? If so, you know that directors often make stagehands mark off certain areas with tape. This taping method helps actors know where to go during different scenes and creates muscle memory while giving their lines in practice.

The primary purpose behind this planning is to help deliver a fluid performance to your audience. You don’t want your on-stage movement to be aimless because that creates a visual distraction for those watching your performance.

As a TEDx speaker, you need to prepare how to use the stage. First, create blocking zones within your presentation timeline. For example, zone one could be planting your feet, executing a point, and pausing. Zone two could mean shifting your feet, delivering a new concept, and pausing.

Planning on-stage movement lets you think about how your action supports the concept you’re trying to deliver.

4. Engage With TED Talk Slides

Growing up, you might recall a teacher writing something on a board and then turning around to face you and discuss the lesson. Imagine if the teacher wrote on the board and tried to explain the lesson while writing. His or her back would be to you while presenting, which isn’t ideal.

In the same way, we won’t want a teacher to present while writing, we shouldn’t talk while delivering a slide during a speaking presentation The goal of this concept is never to compete visually with something else on-stage.

As TEDx speaker, we want to be the primary point of focus. So, when you are engaging with tech, you need to reference the slide and then show it without speaking. Only once the audience has seen the slide do you reference it verbally.

TED Talk Slide Example

For example, if our talk is about world hunger, we might have a statistic about the number of children that don’t receive dinner each night within a particular region. Before sharing a slide with that statistic, we might say, “What we’re talking about is the number of children who don’t get dinner each night.” Then we’d point to the slide or gesture toward the PowerPoint and say, “Let me show you.”

We pause when the slide with the number 35% appears so the audience has time to digest the material. Then, once this number has registered with the audience, we might say, “35% of children in Madagascar don’t get a meal each night.”

Breaking up your speech and slides helps you engage with your audience on a new level.

More TED Talk Presentation Tips

Whether you’re speaking at an in-person TED conference or a virtual TEDx, your big ideas are only worth sharing if you’re comfortable presenting them. In other words, confidence in yourself and your speech is the key to effectively presenting for the TED community.

Therefore, we’ve come up with a few final tips you can use to prepare for your 18-minute talk successfully:

How to Memorize A TED talk

We spoke about the concept of memorization more in our previous article: How to Prepare A TED Talk . We discuss memorization elements such as muscle memory, focused thoughts, and body conditioning. Here we’re going to focus on the role teaching plays in the TED talk memorization process.

Studies show that individuals who teach what they’ve learned have better knowledge retention than those who spend the same time re-studying. The same rule applies to speech memorization. Taking opportunities to discuss your speech topic with others helps you remember it better than simply reviewing lines repeatedly.

Giving The TED Talk of Your Dreams

We hope that you now feel confident in your TED talk journey. From speech writing and applications to preparation and memorization tips , our goal with this series has been to equip you with the necessary resources to follow this TEDx path.

While the TED stage isn’t an overnight process, it’s a learning experience that can propel you forward in your career. So, what are you waiting for? Reach for the stars. Follow your dreams, and change the world.

Check out more great articles from the Thought-Leader Blog covering TEDx Talks, success mindsets, and everything else in between

How to Get a TED Talk

How to prepare a ted talk, how to market yourself effectively, how to become a keynote speaker, how to speak professionally.

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Here's How to Apply to Give a TEDx Talk Most people want to give a TEDx talk but have no idea how hard it is to refine an idea to get it accepted and to advance through the formal process.

By Laura Briggs Edited by Mackenzie Truman Apr 12, 2022

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

In 2019, I was lucky enough to give two TEDx talks. But the end result of the talk doesn't reflect the months, and possibly even years, of work that goes into doing something like that. Since so much work goes into a polished final product, it's easy to overlook the massive rejection, idea editing, and memorization that speaker put into their talk.

Recently, someone asked me if I'd give them some advice on getting a TEDx talk. My first question was, "Are you ready to be rejected dozens of times, and will you still have the fortitude to keep going if that happens?"

That's because some people think it's as simple as finding your local TEDx event and applying to talk. Most speakers who get those talks, however, have put in time reading books about TED talks, watching many talks to learn about format, substance, and pacing, and have possibly even hired a coach to help them. More often, it's a strategic application process spread out over multiple cities or event states.

Related: 6 Things Successful TEDx Speakers Do to Crush Any Speaking Gig

Here are some tips if you're thinking about giving a TEDx talk and how to stand out from the crowd.

1. Your First Idea is Not Good Enough Alone; Keep Pushing

This can be hard to hear, but the thread of an idea you have for a TEDx talk needs work. You need a compelling story, ideally in three parts, that will stand out from thousands of other talks. You might start with an idea like "pushing through rejection" but a quick search will reveal that many speakers have covered that topic already. How will yours be different?

Local organizers will pass over your application if you don't keep pushing the concept. If you do advance, they'll definitely ask what makes your talk different, so you need to be prepared to speak to this.

Watch other TEDx videos both in your area of expertise and beyond. Use this to note what you like and don't like that other speakers did, and look for how they broke their idea down into 2-3 ideas over the course of the talk.

2. Brainstorm Your Idea in Three Parts

Most talks open with a clear hook, but have 2-3 sections of content ideas inside. This helps to provide a flow of the entire talk and makes it easier for you to memorize in the future by thinking about 2-3 main points you'll make in the talk.

For my first talk, my idea was simply my title, "The Future is Freelancing." My argument was that the freelance revolution is already picking up steam and that it's got a lot of power for both those wanting a career change and for small, medium and large-sized businesses to scale faster by using freelance talent.

That's a nugget of an idea, but it's not a talk.

Working on my idea pushed me to a next level with it:

• Part 1: Freelancing is the future, and the numbers back it (sharing my own story but also diving into the number of freelancers in the US and how many are making six figures.) The goal of this section is to introduce me and to show the audience how freelancing is on the rise.
• Part 2: People aren't taking freelancing seriously as a career, which means many people fall into it with very little background on how to build a successful freelance business. In this section, the goal was to debunk four myths around freelancing.
• Part 3: Explain how to work as a freelancer using real examples from people who have modeled their business in different ways. The goal is to show who this might be/not be for.

Each of those three sections could work on its own, but are also really powerful together.

Related: 5 Creative Ways to Get Exposure for Your TEDx Talk

3. Share Your Idea with Someone Who Has a TEDx Connection

Another TEDx speaker, a former organizer, or a speaker coordinator at an event can be a great sounding board. This is also a good time to talk with a public speaking coach, if applicable. They can really help workshop your idea into something you're proud to share.

Don't let someone shoot down your idea, but ask things like, "Do you have any general tips for me?" You can learn a lot from people who have been through the process.

I once guided someone all the way through the application process just by sharing my experience with the person applying and it helped her avoid a few missteps and increase her chances of ultimate success just because she now knew the lay of the land.

4. Create a 1-2 Minute Video of Your Main Idea

Some local TEDx events will ask for this, but it's also an amazing exercise in seeing how well you really know your idea. Do you have a clear thesis? Do you have a hook? Is there enough here for you to talk for 12-18 minutes about it?

It can be surprising how many times you might need to record to get a short video right, but in the process, you'll work through your idea and edit your words for clarity. All of that is helpful for you to keep pushing your idea, too.

5. Apply 6-8 Months in Advance of the Live Event

Many events choose speakers six months in advance. It takes time to select speakers because many local events go through 2-4 rounds of speaker selection.

You should apply to any local event where you have a personal connection. Spreading a wider net will increase your chances of getting an invite. Some places you might want to think about include:

• Cities where you grew up
• Colleges/universities you attended or worked at
• Places you have a personal connection to, like towns you lived in for some time
• Areas within driving/easy travel distance for you

Not every TEDx event demands to have people who live in the region. It can make it much easier for you to travel to or get accepted in some cases. However, some TEDx events specifically look for a broad mix of people with different talk styles and regions.

Apply broadly.

Each event has its own requirements:

• Some want only people who have been nominated by others
• Some ask for videos
• Some ask for an outline of your talk

Do some researcher and pick 5-10 events and make a list of what you'll need for each one.

Related: 4 Easy Steps to Get You on TEDx Talks

6. Start Beefing Up Your Memorization Skills

TEDx talks are delivered from memory. It's not just about all those words or getting them in the right order, it's about knowing where you'll stand on the stage, which words you'll emphasize, which sections require hand gestures, and so much more.

Start practicing memorizing sections of text from a book to get your brain in the practice of remembering pieces of text. This will be really helpful when you do get a talk!

7. Be Resilient

If you don't get an immediate response, that's normal. You'll need to be prepared for 3-6 months of submissions consistently. It can take a long time, especially when you factor in that you need to advance all the way through each local event's process.

It was hard to make it to rounds one and two to get rejected after that point. Finally, I cracked into the final round and was accepted at a local event. Stick with it.

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Outline + script

Constructing a TEDx Talk takes a lot of discipline and creativity, so it’s important your speaker has some great guidance.

First and foremost, you will want to give every speaker for your event a copy of our TEDx Speaker Guide . It provides all of the guidance they’ll need to draft and deliver a compelling talk. However, it’s still important to check in, offer support, and make sure they’re not falling behind.

Here are the things you need to keep track of when your speakers are putting together an outline and script:

Set expectations

The first draft of your speaker’s talk will not be their last. Set a timeline with specific milestones for which your speaker can aim. Here’s a sample timeline:

• 6 months before the event’s day: Thesis and basic outline due
• 5 months out: A script or detailed outline due
• 4 months out: Second draft and first rehearsals
• 3 months out: Final draft and more rehearsals
• 2 months out: Bi-weekly rehearsals
• 1 month out: Weekly rehearsals
• 2 weeks out: Take a break. (Don’t think about the talk.)
• 1 week out: Rehearsals
• 1-2 days out: Dress rehearsals

The above is just an example; your own timeline depends on your overall schedule and the needs of your speakers. Once you have set a realistic timeline with milestones in place, make sure you check in regularly to make sure your speakers are on track.

Look for structure, brevity and purpose.

When you’re reviewing drafts of your speakers’ outlines and talks, you should look for the following:

This is the foundation of a good TEDx Talk. Make sure each speaker’s script has a clear introduction, middle, and end.

Your speaker should know how many minutes they have for their talk. Make sure their script is an appropriate length for their time slot, or else their content may seem cramped. Think: Is there more than one major idea here? If so, which is the best? Help your speaker hone in on the one major point they’re trying to make.

You’ll learn more about assigning the length of a speaker’s talk when you design your program .

Every point within a talk should serve the purpose of proving the talk's main idea and its importance. Make sure these points will be understood by the audience, and there’s a clear explanation as to why they matter.

You also want to make sure the talk is relevant to the audience. Does this talk make a connection with the guests? Is it relatable? Speakers' should always keep the listener and what they might want or need to know in mind.

Next: TEDx Publishing Guidelines + Fact-Checking Guide

Some guidance is best with a little creativity sprinkled in. Check out the illustrated guide for speakers!

• Some TEDx teams choose to include a volunteer speaking coach. While there are advantages to doing this, many professional speaker coaching tactics go against the TED and TEDx format. If you decide to try one out one, keep a close eye on their work and make sure the speaker's independent voice is preserved.
• Speakers should talk like they talk, not how they write. This is why it’s sometimes better for speakers to simply outline their talks and never produce a full written script.
• Make sure that your speakers’ language is conversational in tone, never bombastic.
• Encourage honest, contagious emotions – wonder, optimism, anger, surprise, etc.
• Be wary of overstatements, utopianism, fake emotion, fake self-deprecation, TED puns, and suspicious claims.
• Personal anecdotes are like garnishes. Just the right amount can make a delicious meal, but too much of the wrong kind can destroy a meal.

Rules to remember

Our Content Guidelines give you a set of standards to follow when it comes to TEDx talks, so it’s important both you and your speaker use this as a guide. In fact, make it a requirement that your speaker reads it. This includes:

• No selling from the stage
• No political agendas
• No religious proselytizing (including new age beliefs)
• Only good science.

Also make sure that your speakers know the TEDx rules , which includes information about content and copyright laws, and make sure they sign the speaker release (located under the Recording and sharing content section).

How to give more persuasive presentations: A Q&A with Nancy Duarte

Stepping onto the TED or TEDx stage — or speaking in front of any group of people, for that matter — is truly nerve-wracking. Will you remember everything you wanted to say, or get so discombobulated that you skip over major points? Will the audience be receptive to your ideas, or will you notice a guy in row three nodding off to sleep?

Presentation expert Nancy Duarte , who gave the TED Talk “ The secret structure of great talks ,” has built her career helping people express their ideas in presentations. The author of  Slide:ology  and  Resonate , Duarte has just released a new book through the Harvard Business Review:  The HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations .

What would you say are the three keys to giving a great presentation?

The number one thing, I think, is to be audience-centric. To take the time to think through who the audience is and develop all your material from a place of empathy toward them. You’re asking them to adopt your idea, which means they may have to abandon a belief they hold as true — and that’s hard. So, know your audience — take a walk in their shoes. What keeps them up at night? How are they wired to resist your message? Most presenters are consumed with preparing their content rapidly, which makes the material about their own narrow perspective. By flipping that paradigm to an audience-centric approach, your material will resonate and the audience can feel a deeper connection to you and your material.

Number two, you need to understand your role in the presentation. So many people feel like they’re the central figure — kind of like the hero of the story — because they’re the one talking the most. But in reality, your role is that of a mentor — you should be giving the audience a magical gift or a special tool, or helping them get unstuck in some way. You have to defer to your audience. When you put your idea out there for an audience to contend with — if they reject your idea, your idea will die. You have to think of it as, “The speaker needs the audience more than the audience needs the speaker.” Then you’ll start to approach a material with your audience in mind – you’ll have more of a stance of humility than one of arrogance. That will help you create the kind of movement needed to get your idea to spread.

And then the third thing — wrap your content in story. A story serves like the sugarcoating on the outside of a pill in some ways — it just makes it go down easier. If you look at preliterate generations for thousands and thousands of years, stories would pass down for generation after generation after generation — and stay almost completely intact. Yet, a lot of people can’t remember the last presentation they sat through. So, using principles of story — the tension and release that happens in a story — that’s what will help persuade the audience toward your idea.

What do you feel like you learned from giving your own TED Talk?

I learned so much. Being the “Presentation Lady,” I knew I couldn’t suck at it. The hardest part was getting [my talk] to fit within this finite amount of time. So I trimmed and trimmed, keeping in mind that you still have to nail why this is important to the audience. I had a person coach me and point out places where I could trim. “You took too long here, and that made this part of emphasis too long.” I worked with the timer counting up until I knew I was within the time window — then what I did was work with the timer counting down so I’d know, “When I’m a fourth of the way through, I should be on this slide. When I’m halfway through, I need to be on this slide.” I created markers in my mind so I would know how I was running on time. Sure enough, I finished the talk and I had six seconds left on the clock.

It was a great experience for me because I hadn’t gone through it myself. I’d coached people through it but — wow — to actually be a victim was interesting. I learned the power of rehearsing. If you rehearse really, really, really well — it looks improvisational. Some people rehearse to a point where they’re robotic, and they sound like they have memorized their presentation and didn’t take it to the next level. Going from sounding memorized and canned to sounding natural is a lot of work.

So, the classic advice for stage fright is to imagine the audience in their underwear. What do you recommend people do to calm their nerves?

I don’t usually get nervous, but when I got on [the TED] stage, I was nervous because it’s pretty high stakes. I recommend doing some breathing exercises — breathe in as deep as you can, and then take a couple more big gasps. Then, release it really slowly. That calms my heart down. But my favorite piece of advice isn’t my own — it’s from a guy named Nick Morgan. He said, “What you need to do right before you walk on stage is think of someone that you love dearly.” Doing that, I felt the chemistry in my whole body change. My shoulders relaxed and my heart melted. That feeling of affection makes your body calm itself down. That’s a really great way to stop stage fright.

What is the best way to start creating a presentation?

My best advice is to not start in PowerPoint. Presentation tools force you to think through information linearly, and you really need to start by thinking of the whole instead of the individual lines. I encourage people to use 3×5 note cards or sticky notes — write one idea per note. I tape mine up on the wall and then study them. Then I arrange them and rearrange them — just work and work until the structure feels sound. And from that sound structure, you start to fill it in using a presentation tool.

[For visuals], I think people tend to go with the easiest, fastest idea. Like, “I’m going to put a handshake in front of a globe to mean partnership!” Well, how many handshakes in front of a globe do we have to look at before we realize it’s a total cliche? Another common one — the arrow in the middle of a bullseye. Really? Everyone else is thinking that way. The slides themselves are supposed to be a mnemonic device for the audience so they can remember what you had to say. They’re not just a teleprompter for the speaker. A bullseye isn’t going to make anyone remember anything. Don’t go for the first idea. Think about the point you’re trying to make and brainstorm individual moments that you’re trying to emphasize. Think to the second, the third, the fourth idea — and by the time you get to about the tenth idea, those will be the more clever memorable things for the audience.

One thing that is really different about giving a TED Talk is the fact that you know it will be filmed. How do you think about the difference between live presentations and ones that will exist on video?

On stage, it feels really awkward to do large movements because — normally in life — we’re talking to someone in a more intimate setting and moving your arms really big feels melodramatic. But on the stage, you have to move your body in really big gestures. It feels awkward at first if you’re not used to it, so you have to kind of close your eyes and get used to it. Say things and move largely. Take big bold steps forward, big bold steps backward. You have this grand stage and people don’t use the space enough. I think one of the great things that Jill Bolte Taylor did was how she used her body. Her arms stretched all the way up when she talked about nirvana. Then she when she talks about her whole soul feeling constricted, she brings her hands down and folds her arms down in front of her. She’s using her body as a prop. That’s an important way to create meaning.

Also, with video, a tech rehearsal is important. Your audience on video is exponentially larger than the people in the room. So by familiarizing yourself with the cameras, you can at least look in that general direction. You know how you’re supposed to look around the audience — look and hold for five seconds, look and hold for five seconds? You should look at the camera as if it’s a human. Get used to seeing that circular lens as a face. Feel like it’s a person you’re talking to, because that audience on camera needs to feel like they’re there and that you’re looking right at them.

To me, presentations are the most powerful device. You can’t really name a movement that didn’t start with the spoken word. TED was once this exclusive, amazing event where ideas were exchanged, but you’ve moved to treating presentations as a media type. You guys have been so refined at it, that what it’s done is created a movement. What TED has done is made a platform for introverts, for scientists, for inventors — to share their ideas in a way that’s clear and appeals to a broad audience so that their ideas spread and get adopted. It’s completely changed how people present. It’s created this desire to be excellent in communication.

When you look at even how businesses communicated in the ’30’s, ’40’s and ’50’s — they were so much clearer and well-crafted. I recently went to the Stanford Library and I got a bunch of old GE Board meetings from, like, 1957. And I thought, “These are so beautiful!” Their presentations referenced history, they quoted things, they crafted their words in such a beautiful way. Then PowerPoint entered into the mix and suddenly there wasn’t any desire to craft anymore. I think TED Talks have brought the desire for the craft back.

Your new book is from the Harvard Business Review. Is it intended for someone who is in business, or for anyone?

All of my books are for anyone who has an idea that they need to communicate! I loved working with Harvard Business Review and I think because of the publisher, business professionals may be more interested in this book. But anyone with an idea can benefit from it. It’s a guidebook, so that people can think, “Oh, I need to know how to do this specific thing. I’m going to go get this book and find that one thing.”

Want more advice on giving talks? Our curator Chris Anderson is writing the official TED guide to public speaking —to be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in spring 2016. Titled Talk This Way! , it will be packed with insights on what makes talks work.

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Fact-checking Biden and Trump's claims at the first debate

Forget alternative facts and political spin: Thursday's presidential debate was more like a tsunami of falsity.

Former President Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of misinformation on topics from terrorism to taxes during the first debate of the 2024 general election, while President Joe Biden flubbed figures and facts about military deaths and insulin prices.

More than a dozen NBC News reporters, editors and correspondents fact-checked the key claims the presidential candidates made Thursday night. Here they are by topic:

Economy, trade and health care

Fact check: did biden inherit 9% inflation.

“He also said he inherited 9% inflation. Now, he inherited almost no inflation, and it stayed that way for 14 months, and then it blew up under his leadership,” Trump said about Biden.

This is false.

The inflation rate when Biden took office in January 2021 wasn’t 9%. It was 1.4%. It has risen on his watch, peaking at about 9.1% in June 2022, but by last month it had come down to 3.3%. Pandemic-related stimulus policies put in place by both Trump and Biden were blamed, in part, for the rise in the inflation rate.

Fact check: Did Biden lower the cost of insulin to $15 a shot?

“We brought down the price of prescription drugs, which is a major issue for many people, to $15 for an insulin shot — as opposed to $400,” Biden said.

Biden capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month under Medicare, not $15 a shot, and some drug companies have matched that cap. The price cap doesn’t apply to everyone , however. 

What’s more, Biden’s also significantly overstating how much insulin cost before the change. A 2022 report by the Department of Health and Human Services found that patients using insulin spent an average of $434 annually on insulin in 2019 — not $400 a shot.

Fact check: Did Trump lower the cost of insulin?

Trump claimed credit for lowering the cost of insulin for seniors, saying, “I am the one who got the insulin down for the seniors.”

That is mostly false.

In 2020, Trump created a voluntary program under Medicare Part D. The program allowed Medicare Part D plans to offer some insulin products for no more than $35 per month. It was active from 2021 to 2023, with fewer than half of the plans participating each year. 

In 2022, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which included a provision that lowered the out-of-pocket cost for people on Medicare to $35 a month and covered all insulin products. The cap didn’t apply to those with private insurance. However, after the law was implemented, insulin manufacturers voluntarily lowered the out-of-pocket cost to $35 a month for people with private insurance.

Fact check: Does Biden want to raise ‘everybody’s taxes’ by four times?

“Nobody ever cut taxes like us. He wants to raise your taxes by four times. He wants to raise everybody’s taxes by four times,” Trump claimed. “He wants the Trump tax cuts to expire.”

Biden’s tax plan “holds harmless for 98% of households,” said Kyle Pomerleau, senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. And Biden wants to extend the majority of the Trump tax cuts, too, though he has advocated for hiking taxes on very high earners.

Fact check: Biden said the U.S. trade deficit with China is at its lowest since 2010

“We are at the lowest trade deficit with China since 2010,” Biden said.

This is true.

The U.S. had $279 billion more in imports than exports to China last year, the lowest trade deficit with the world’s second-largest economy since 2010. The highest deficit in recent years was $418 billion, in 2018, when Trump began a trade war with China. 

The decline has been driven largely by tariffs that Trump imposed in office and that Biden has maintained and in some cases expanded.

Fact check: Are immigrants taking ‘Black jobs’?

Asked about Black voters who are disappointed with their economic progress, Trump claimed Black Americans are losing their jobs because of illegal border crossings under Biden’s administration.

“The fact is that his big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that he’s allowed to come through the border. They’re taking Black jobs now,” Trump said.

There’s no evidence that undocumented immigrants are taking jobs away from Black Americans. In fact, according  to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the Black unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in April 2023 — an all-time low. Before that, the Black unemployment rate was as high as 10.2% in April 2021.

Immigration

Fact check: did trump end catch and release.

“We ended ‘catch and release,’” Trump said.

Trump did not end “catch and release,” a term used to describe the practice of releasing migrants into the country with court dates while they await court hearings. The U.S. doesn’t have enough facilities to detain every migrant who crosses the border until they can see judges, no matter who is president, so Trump — like Barack Obama before him and Biden after him — released many migrants back into the U.S.

Fact check: Did the Border Patrol union endorse Biden?

“By the way, the Border Patrol endorsed me, endorsed my position,” Biden said.

The National Border Patrol Council, the labor union for U.S. Border Patrol agents and staff members, has endorsed Trump. 

“The National Border Patrol Council has proudly endorsed Donald J. Trump for President of the United States,” the group’s vice president, Hector Garza, said in a statement shared exclusively with NBC News. 

The union posted on X , “to be clear, we never have and never will endorse Biden.”

Biden may have been referring to a Senate immigration bill that he backed, which earned the union’s endorsement .

Fact check: Did Trump have ‘the safest border in the history of our country’?

“We had the safest border in the history of our country,” Trump said.

It’s a clear exaggeration. In 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic brought down border crossings, there were roughly 860,000 illegal border crossings, far more than in any year during the Obama administration.

Fact check: Trump says Biden is allowing ‘millions’ of criminals to enter U.S.

“I’d love to ask him … why he’s allowed millions of people to come in from prisons, jails and mental institutions to come into our country and destroy our country,” Trump said.

There is no evidence of this.

Venezuela doesn’t share law enforcement information with U.S. authorities, making it very hard to verify criminal histories of immigrants coming to the U.S. But there’s no evidence that Venezuela is purposefully sending “millions” of people from mental institutions and prisons to the U.S.

Fact check: Did Virginia’s former governor support infanticide?

“They will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month and even after birth. After birth. If you look at the former governor of Virginia, he was willing to do so, and we’ll determine what we do with the baby. Meaning we’ll kill the baby. ... So that means he can take the life of the baby in the ninth month and even after birth. Because some states, Democrat-run, take it after birth. Again, the governor, the former Virginia governor, put the baby down so that we decide what to do with it. He’s willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby. Nobody wants that to happen, Democrat or Republican; nobody wants it to happen,” Trump said.

While some Democrats support broad access to abortion regardless of gestation age, infanticide is illegal, and no Democrats advocate for it. Just 1% of abortions are performed after 21 weeks’ gestation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Trump first made the claim in 2019, after Virginia’s governor at the time, Ralph Northam, made controversial remarks in discussing an abortion bill. NBC News debunked the claim then, reporting that Northam’s remarks were about resuscitating infants with severe deformities or nonviable pregnancies. 

Asked on a radio program what happens when a woman who is going into labor desires a third-trimester abortion, Northam noted that such procedures occur only in cases of severe deformities or nonviable pregnancies. He said that in those scenarios, “the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

Terrorism, foreign policy and the military

Fact check: trump said there was ‘no terror’ during his tenure.

“That’s why you had no terror, at all, during my administration. This place, the whole world, is blowing up under him,” Trump said.

There were two ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks while Trump was president. The first occurred in October 2017, when Sayfullo Saipov killed eight people and injured a dozen more in a vehicle ramming attack on the West Side Highway bike path in New York City. The second occurred in December 2017, when Akayed Ullah injured four people when he set off a bomb strapped to himself.

Fact check: Biden suggests no troops died under his watch

“The truth is I’m the only president this century that doesn’t have any this decade and any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did,” Biden said.

The Defense Department confirmed that 13 U.S. service members were killed in a suicide bombing attack at Abbey Gate at the Kabul airport by a member of ISIS-K as the U.S. was leaving Afghanistan. 

Environment

Fact check: did trump have the ‘best environmental numbers ever’.

“During my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever, and my top environmental people gave me that statistic just before I walked on the stage, actually,” Trump said.

The figure Trump is referring to is the fact that carbon emissions fell during his administration. He posted the talking points his former Environmental Protection Agency chief emailed him on social media before the debate.

And it’s true that carbon emissions are falling — they have been dropping for years. Emissions particularly plunged in 2020, dropping to levels around those in 1983 and 1984. That drop was in large part thanks to Covid lockdowns, and emissions rose again when air travel and in-person working resumed. 

Still, climate activists and experts are quick to note that those drops are nowhere near enough to head off predicted catastrophic effects of global warming. Other major countries cut their emissions at a much faster rate during the Trump administration.

Fact check: The Jan. 6 crowd was not ‘ushered in’ by the police

“If you would see my statements that I made on Twitter at the time and also my statement that I made in the Rose Garden, you would say it’s one of the strongest statements you’ve ever seen. In addition to the speech I made in front of, I believe, the largest crowd I’ve ever spoken to, and I will tell you, nobody ever talks about that. They talk about a relatively small number of people that went to the Capitol and, in many cases, were ushered in by the police. And as Nancy Pelosi said, it was her responsibility, not mine. She said that loud and clear,” Trump said.

During a lengthy answer to a question about whether he would accept the result of the 2024 election and say all political violence is unacceptable, Trump made several false statements, including the claim that police “ushered” rioters into the U.S. Capitol and that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it was her responsibility to keep the chamber safe. 

Video and news reports of the Jan. 6 riots clearly captured the U.S. Capitol under attack by pro-Trump crowds who overran the law enforcement presence around and inside the complex. 

On Pelosi, Trump was most likely referring to video shot by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra for an HBO documentary that showed her during the events of Jan. 6, 2021, tensely wondering how the Capitol was allowed to be stormed.

“We have responsibility, Terri,” Pelosi tells her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, as they leave the Capitol in a vehicle. “We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous.”

“You’re going to ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, ‘Should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean the National Guard. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?” Pelosi says in the video. 

“They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more,” she says. 

Many allies of Trump have tried for the more than three years since the riots to paint Pelosi as somehow being responsible for the violence. Some Trump-backing Republicans have, for example, falsely claimed that she blocked the National Guard from going to the Capitol during the riots.

And everything else ...

Fact check: trump skipped world war i cemetery visit because the soldiers who died were ‘losers’.

Biden said that Trump “refused to go to” a World War I cemetery and that “he was standing with his four-star general” who said Trump said, “I don’t want to go in there, because they’re a bunch of losers and suckers.”

In 2018, during a trip to France, Trump canceled a visit to an American cemetery near Paris, blaming weather for the decision. 

But in September 2020, The Atlantic reported that Trump had axed the visit because he felt that those who’d lost their lives and been buried there were “losers.” The magazine cited “four people with firsthand knowledge of those discussions.”

According to The Atlantic, Trump said: “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In another conversation, The Atlantic reported, Trump said the 1,800 American Marines who died were “suckers.” 

Several media outlets confirmed the remarks, and Trump’s former White House chief of staff John Kelly also said those specific comments were true.

Fact check: Trump says Biden didn’t run for president due to 2017 Charlottesville rally

“He made up the Charlottesville story, and you’ll see it’s debunked all over the place. Every anchor has — every reasonable anchor has debunked it, and just the other day it came out where it was fully debunked. It’s a nonsense story. He knows that, and he didn’t run because of Charlottesville. He used that as an excuse to run,” Trump said about Biden.

The “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 featured torch-bearing white supremacists marching to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue and chanting racist slogans like “You will not replace us.” It turned deadly when a car plowed into a crowd .

In recent months, Trump has downplayed the violence, saying it was “nothing” compared to recent pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses.

Meanwhile, Biden has always pointed to Trump’s 2017 comments as the primary reason he decided to seek the presidency in 2020, including in his campaign announcement video back in April 2019 .

Jane C. Timm is a senior reporter for NBC News.

Julia Ainsley is the homeland security correspondent for NBC News and covers the Department of Homeland Security for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

Adam Edelman is a political reporter for NBC News.

Tom Winter is a New York-based correspondent covering crime, courts, terrorism and financial fraud on the East Coast for the NBC News Investigative Unit.

The Facts About Trump's Remarks Regarding Water, Washing Machines and Rain

The former president delivered the remarks about water during a campaign speech in philadelphia on june 22, 2024., jordan liles, published june 26, 2024.

On June 24, 2024, a Reddit user posted in the r/facepalm subreddit a screenshot containing a long quote attributed to former U.S. President Donald Trump. The post also featured a still image of Trump delivering a speech at a campaign rally. In the purported quote, Trump speaks about people having "no water in your faucets," "washing machines to wash your dishes," and rain.

Trump genuinely did say those words during a speech at a campaign rally hosted at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia on June 22. The source of the Reddit screenshot, however, omitted two parts of Trump's comments that could have provided some context for what the former president was saying.

A Google search helped to find the source of the screenshot in the Reddit post: a June 22 post on X from @BidenHQ, the rapid response account for President Joe Biden's reelection campaign. The X post featured a video of Trump making the remarks that appear in the text of the post. That video was not available to users viewing the screenshot in the Reddit post.

At least one X user responding to the @BidenHQ post  noted  that, while the video included with the post was continuous and did not contain edits, the text transcript included above the video omitted two parts of Trump's comments. Both of those omissions featured Trump talking about flow restrictors.

Flow restrictors are devices perhaps best known for their inclusion in showerheads. They are designed to regulate the flow rate of water through various outlets in homes.

We transcribed Trump's full comments and bolded  the two parts omitted from the text of the Biden campaign's post. Just prior to the beginning of Trump's remarks about water, he referenced Biden and the Green New Deal , saying, "I will end 'Crooked Joe's' wasteful spending and rapidly terminate the green new scam. The green new scam. You know what the green new scam is?" He then continued:

No water in your faucets. You ever tried buying a new home and you turn it on? They have restrictors in there. You want to wash your hair. You want to wash your hands. You turn on the water and it goes drip, drip. The soap, you can't get it off your hand. So you keep it running for about ten times longer. You're trying. The worst is your hair. I have this beautiful, luxuriant hair, and I put stuff on. I put it in. Lather. I like lots of lather because I like it to come out extremely dry because it seems to be slightly thicker that way. And I lather up and then you turn on this crazy shower and the thing drip, drip, and you say, 'I'm gonna be here for 45 minutes. What?' They put restrictors and they put them on in places like here where there's so much water you don't know what to do with it. You know, it's called rain. It rains a lot in certain places. But, now their idea, you know, did you see the other day? They just, I opened it up and they closed it again. I opened it, they close it, washing machines to wash your dishes. There is a problem. They don't want you to have any water. They want no water.

We contacted the Biden campaign by email to ask about the post's transcript omissions and also reached out to the Trump campaign to ask about the former president's comments. We will update this story if we receive any responses.

We were unable to find any information linking the Green New Deal to a flow-restrictor requirement but will update this story if relevant information comes to light.

Video of Trump's Philadelphia Speech

Readers can watch the relevant portion of Trump's speech in a video from a live broadcast hosted on the YouTube channel for The Times and The Sunday Times. The moment regarding his comments about water question begins at around the 42:09 mark.

Trump's Past Remarks About Faucets, Water and Toilets

Trump previously made similar comments about water and flow restrictors at a Whirlpool manufacturing plant in August 2020. At the time, he said, "And the same thing with sinks, toilets and showers. You go into a new home, you turn on the faucet; no water comes out. You turn on the shower. If you're like me, you can't wash your beautiful hair properly. (Laughter and applause). You waste 20 minutes longer. 'Please come out.' The water — it drips, right? You know what I'm talking — they put restrictors on. I got rid of that. I signed it out. That's common sense."

In 2021, the Biden administration reversed Trump's rule that previously increased the flow of water in showerheads. The Washington Post reported at the time, "Trump's shower head rule was part of a broader effort within the administration to relax energy efficiency standards and regulations for an array of household appliances, including dishwashers, washing machines and clothes dryers."

Trump also once spoke about water during a White House meeting in December 2019. At the time, he claimed Americans experienced problems with water "dripping out" of faucets. He also added, "People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once."  The New York Times reported the toilet-flushing matter related to the EPA and a federal standard for the amount of water used per flush.

Trump and Whirlpool

Immediately after the end of Trump's comments highlighted in the @BidenHQ post, he continued by talking about Whirlpool and laundry machines. Trump said, "And I was with Whirlpool. The head of Whirlpool. I helped save that company because they were being attacked by China and South Korea, and I put tariffs on those machines coming in."

The New York Times reported in April 2019 these washing machine tariffs "stung consumers while lifting corporate profits." The article cited research from April 2019 conducted by the University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. That research concluded, "Despite the increase in domestic production and employment, the costs of these 2018 tariffs are substantial: in a partial equilibrium setting, we estimate increased annual consumer costs of around 1.5 billion USD, or roughly 820,000 USD per job created."

Further, the conservative Heritage Foundation published an article in August 2020 displaying the headline, "Why Trump's Washing Machine Tariffs Are Cronyism." The story's author concluded, "When the government imposes regulations, taxes or tariffs to aid one industry or company, others pay the price. Beneficiaries of these policies say the government is 'leveling the playing field,' but the truth is that unfairness in the market just shifts to someone else. Ultimately, consumers foot the bill, and American families suffer."

Dapcevich, Madison. "Does Biden Support the Green New Deal?" Snopes , 1 Oct. 2020, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/does-biden-support-green-new-deal/.

Diaz, Johnny. "Trump Wants a Review of Toilets: Americans Are Flushing '10 Times, 15 Times.'"  The New York Times , 7 Dec. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/07/us/politics/trump-toilet-flushing.html.

Flaaen, Aaron, et al. "The Production, Relocation, and Price Effects of US Trade Policy: The Case of Washing Machines." The University of Chicago's Becker Friedman Institute for Economics , 18 Apr. 2019, https://bfi.uchicago.edu/working-paper/the-production-relocation-and-price-effects-of-us-trade-policy-the-case-of-washing-machines/.

"FULL REMARKS: President Trump at Whirlpool Factory in Ohio."  YouTube , LiveNOW from Fox, 6 Aug. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr-gnvs_qF4.

"LIVE: Donald Trump Hosts MAGA Rally in Philadelphia." YouTube , The Times and The Sunday Times, 22 June 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R7hzWfu7wg.

"Remarks by President Trump at Whirlpool Corporation Manufacturing Plant."  Trump White House Archives , 6 Aug. 2020, https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-whirlpool-corporation-manufacturing-plant/.

Smith, Tori K. "Why Trump's Washing Machine Tariffs Are Cronyism." The Heritage Foundation , 7 Aug. 2020, https://www.heritage.org/trade/commentary/why-trumps-washing-machine-tariffs-are-cronyism.

Tankersley, Jim. "Trump's Washing Machine Tariffs Stung Consumers While Lifting Corporate Profits." The New York Times , 21 Apr. 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/business/trump-tariffs-washing-machines.html.

"Trump Says People Are 'Flushing Toilets 10, 15 Times' in Call for Better Water Standards."  YouTube , Guardian News, 7 Dec. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGChTEfeeC4.

Woodard, John. "What Is a Flow Restrictor and How Does It Work?"  Fresh Water Systems , 11 Mar. 2024, https://www.freshwatersystems.com/blogs/blog/what-is-a-flow-restrictor-and-how-does-it-work.

By Jordan Liles

Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016.

Article Tags

Jill Biden enthusiastically supports Joe after debate: 'You did such a great job'

First Lady Jill Biden gave President Joe Biden a warm welcome as he stepped on stage at an Atlanta hotel after Thursday night's debate − despite his performance sparking concerns about his candidacy .

"Didn't the president do a great job? Yes!" said Jill Biden to supporters who gathered at the hotel after Joe stepped on stage. After a brief pause, the crowd starting chanting "four more years!" before Jill joined in on the chant.

"Joe you did such a great job," she went on. "You answered every question, you knew all the facts." Then she turned to the crowd to ask, "And what did Trump do?"

"Lie!" they all shouted in unison.

Other reactions to the first debate were mostly negative. Here's a look at what people are saying.

Swing state voters react to Trump-Biden debate

Reporters for USA TODAY's network partners interviewed swing-state residents shortly after the debate ended to see how they thought each candidate fared.

A voter in Nevada compared  President Joe Biden’s performance  to elder abuse.

A voter in Georgia was so disgusted with  what he was hearing  from the Democratic incumbent and former President Donald Trump that he quit watching, walked to a liquor store and bought a six-pack of beer.

Another voter in Wisconsin called it “a painful experience.”

Debate reactions from morning television

Morning show anchors had a variety of reactions Friday morning to what happened on stage Thursday night.

"The president struggled with answers...Trump struggled with the truth," "Good Morning America" host George Stephanopoulos said Friday morning at the opening of the show.

Pres. Biden and former Pres. Trump go head-to-head and trade personal attacks in first debate. @rachelvscott reports. https://t.co/ld2zv1VO9B pic.twitter.com/USbMbiObPu — Good Morning America (@GMA) June 28, 2024

"Both presumptive nominees were hoping to shake off concerns about their age and their fitness for office, but President Biden failed to land any knockout blows, and his stumbling performance is raising a lot of alarm bells for many Democrats this morning," "CBS Mornings" host Gayle King said.

"His struggles drew attention away from a blizzard of false claims from Donald Trump," "CBS News" Chief White House Correspondent Nancy Cordes said in the post-debate report.

Both candidates are facing criticism after last night’s presidential debate, with Democratic lawmakers using words like “disappointing” and “painful” to describe President Biden’s performance. Some are now openly questioning whether it’s too late to replace him. pic.twitter.com/GgUkKtLAnM — CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 28, 2024

"Today" kicked off their Friday morning show with reactions and analysis to the debate with anchors from "NBC Nightly News" and "Meet the Press."

"President Biden's struggles in some ways overshadowing the multiple lies and grievances from former President Trump as both candidates now look ahead to rallies today in states they hope to win," "Sunday NBC Nightly News" anchor Hallie Jackson told hosts Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie.

Contributing: Michael Collins, Melissa Cruz, Christina Avery, Fernando Cervantes Jr., Sabine Martin, Kerria Weaver, Laura Schulte, Matthew Rink, Chris Ullery, Mark Robison, Emily DeLetter & Karissa Waddick; USA TODAY

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X  @GabeHauari  or email him at [email protected].