Contact: Stephanie Kim, Publicity Manager (212) 420-5878 stephanie.kim@hmhco.

com
Margaret Sullivan, TED PR margaret.sullivan@groupsjr.com 646-833-0205

Since taking over TED in the early 2000s, Chris Anderson has shown how carefully crafted short talks can be
the key to unlocking empathy, stirring excitement, spreading knowledge, and promoting a shared dream. His
exciting and informative new book, TED TALKS: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking (On-Sale
May 3, 2016 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ISBN: 9780544634497) serves as Andersons instruction manual
from his 15 years of working with many of the worlds most impactful speakers.
Using quotes and examples from talks given by the likes of Bill Gates, Sir Ken Robinson, and Elizabeth
Gilbert, Anderson makes clear that there is no one right formula for how to give the perfect talk. But there is
a common goal: to plant the seed of a powerful idea. The book is devoted to
explaining how to do that effectively.

CHRIS ANDERSON is the curator of TED. Trained as a journalist after

graduating from Oxford University, Anderson launched more than 100 successful
magazines and websites before turning his attention to TED, which he and his
nonprofit organization acquired in 2001. His TED mantra Ideas worth spreading
continues to blossom on an international scale. He lives in New York City.

TED TALKS by Chris Anderson

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ! On-sale: May 3, 2016
288 pages ! $28.00 ! ISBN: 9780544634497 ! Also available as an eBook

Chris New

Anderson has created a community of both live audiences and an online following
with a common goal the dissemination of knowledge. TED is about spreading
knowledge and experience and this guide gives the reader an inside view of how
Anderson has constructed a phenomenon. This is the twenty-first centurys new
manual for truly effective communication, and it is a must-read for anyone who is
ready to create impact with their ideas.

Contact: Stephanie Kim, Publicity Manager (212) 420-5878 stephanie.kim@hmhco.com

Margaret Sullivan, TED PR margaret.sullivan@groupsjr.com 646-833-0205

Praise for

This is not just the most insightful book ever written on public speakingits also a brilliant, profound look
at how to communicate. If you ever plan to utter a sound, this is a must-read. It gives me hope that words
can actually change the world.
Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take, and Originals
The TED Talk has reinvented the art of rhetoric for the 21st century. Goodbye to windy academese,
scientific gobbledygook, pompous moralizing, powerpoint chloroform we now know that ideas worth
spreading can indeed be spread far and wide, and with clarity and panache. Behind this revolution lies Chris
Anderson, who had a vision that powerful ideas can improve the world and has developed a coherent
philosophy and a set of guidelines for compelling communication. This book may restore rhetoric to its timehonored place as one of the essential skills of an educated citizen.
Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works
and The Sense of Style
Nobody in the world better understands the art and science of public speaking than Chris Anderson. He has
nurtured, coaxed, and encouraged so many speakers over the years (myself included) helping us to bring
forth our very best performances onstage, even when we were at our most nervous and overwhelmed. He is
the absolutely perfect person to have written this book, and it will be a gift to many.
Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Big Magic and The Signature of All Things
"Over the past 25 years, TED has revitalized the whole world of conferences and speaking events. Here for
the first time, Chris Anderson and the TED leadership team set out all they've learnt about the dos and don'ts
of public speaking. An essential read for all event organizers and speakers. Is there a single recipe for a great
speech? Of course not. But there are some essential ingredients, which the TED team sets out here with
concision, verve and wit (which are also some of the ingredients). An inspiring, contemporary guide to the
venerable arts of oratory."
Sir Ken Robinson, best-selling author of The Element, Out of Our Minds, and Creative Schools.
"The TED Talk may well be the defining essay genre of our time: what the pamphlet was to the 18th-century,
and the newspaper Op-Ed was to the twentieth. TED Talks is the guidebook to this new language, written by
the man who made into it a global force."
Steven Johnson, bestselling author of How We Got to Now

TED TALKS by Chris Anderson

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ! On-sale: May 3, 2016
288 pages ! $28.00 ! ISBN: 9780544634497 ! Also available as an eBook

Contact: Stephanie Kim, Publicity Manager (212) 420-5878 stephanie.kim@hmhco.com

Margaret Sullivan, TED PR margaret.sullivan@groupsjr.com 646-833-0205

The Talking Points

Theres no formula for a great talk. Public speaking is a skill to build, not acquire. There are no
step-by-step instructions. However, this book will give you the tools you need to go about creating
your own successful talk.

A speakers job is to give, not to take. Sales pitches and organizational boasts make for terrible
talks. So is it a gift or a grab? What is it that you are gifting to your listeners with your talk?

Slash back your topics to a single big idea and connect every point to that theme. Dont let
yourself or your talk get distracted. Any good speech has a theme or a major point that runs through
its entirety. Dont be afraid to cut things you may like or think are great stories if it doesnt help really
promote what you want your gift to the audience to be. Focus on what youre talking about.

Get personal. People crave a sense of connection to others, whether its their friends, families, coworkers, or a speaker they are listening to. Connection can come from unexpected places, like fear,
humor and vulnerability. Dont be afraid to show how you too are vulnerable and dont let your fears
hold you back. Make sure to park your ego. Its a connection killer.

Knowledge cant be pushed into a brain, it has to be pulled in. You cant force people to learn
or listen by shoving your point down their throat. Build your idea step by step using concepts the
audience is already familiar with. How can you intrigue, entice and engage your listeners to want to
hear what you have to say?

Start strong, end stronger. Once youve gotten your audience hooked with a great opening and
kept them engaged with your through line, dont let the ending fizzle. Make sure whatever revelations
youve given them sticks.

Everyone can learn to give an effective talk. What matters is only that you have something worth
sharing, and that you share it in a way that is authentically you.

TED TALKS by Chris Anderson

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ! On-sale: May 3, 2016
288 pages ! $28.00 ! ISBN: 9780544634497 ! Also available as an eBook

Contact: Stephanie Kim, Publicity Manager (212) 420-5878 stephanie.kim@hmhco.com

Margaret Sullivan, TED PR margaret.sullivan@groupsjr.com 646-833-0205

Key Lessons
Share an Idea that Matters:
Harvard Business School professor AMY CUDDY concluded her talk on power posing by inviting
people to try it in their own lives, and to pass it on to others. Give it away. Share it with people, because
the people who can use it the most are the ones with no resources and no technology and no status and no
power. Give it to them because they can do it in private. They need their bodies, privacy, and two minutes,
and it can significantly change the outcomes of their life. Perhaps that confident call contributed to the talks
extraordinary viral success. (170)

Fear as Motivation:
Thats what happened when MONICA LEWNISKY came to TEDBut she was not an experienced
public speaker, and she knew that it would be disastrous if she messed upMonica found a way to turn
that fear aroundHer talk won a standing ovation at the event, rocketed to a million views within a few
days, and earned rave reviews online. (4)

Power of Storytelling:
Author ELIZABETH GILBERT showed how the power of storytelling can be a key part of the
persuasion toolkit. Her goal was to change the way we thought about creative genius Gilbert used
her brilliance as a storyteller to persuade us otherwise. She opened up with her own tale of terror at the
prospect of having the repeat the success of her bestseller Eat, Pray, Love and shared hilarious and touching
stories of famous creatives beset by angst over their inability to perform on demand. (86)

A Dose of Drama:
Activist chef JAMIE OLIVER came to TED to accept our annual TED prize. Heres how he opened.
Sadly, in the next 18 minutesfour Americans that are alive will be deadthrough the food that they eat. I think you
want to hear moreAsk yourself: if your talk were a movie or novel, how would it open? That doesnt
mean you have to crams something dramatic into the opening sentence, you definitely have a few
moments of audience attention. But by the end of the first paragraph, something needs to land.
(156)

TED TALKS by Chris Anderson

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ! On-sale: May 3, 2016
288 pages ! $28.00 ! ISBN: 9780544634497 ! Also available as an eBook

Contact: Stephanie Kim, Publicity Manager (212) 420-5878 stephanie.kim@hmhco.com

Margaret Sullivan, TED PR margaret.sullivan@groupsjr.com 646-833-0205

National Tour
BOSTON, MA
Tuesday, May 3
Harvard Book Store at the Brattle Theatre
40 Brattle St
6pm

LOS ANGELES, CA
Monday, May 9
Live Talks LA at The Aero Theatre
1328 Montana Ave
8pm

NEW YORK, NY
Wednesday, May 4
Rubin Museum of Art, "Brainwaves" Series
In Conversation with Bren Brown
150 W 17th St
7pm

SAN FRANCISCO/ BAY AREA, CA

Tuesday, May 10
Berkeley Arts & Letters at The Hillside Club
2286 Cedar St
7:30pm
Wednesday, May 11
Commonwealth Club-Silicon Valley
578 Valley Way, Milpitas
7pm

WASHINGTON, D.C.
Thursday, May 5
Sixth & I
600 I St NW
7pm

Thursday, May 12
Books Inc at Opera Plaza
601 Van Ness Ave
7pm

CHICAGO, IL
Friday, May 6
Illinois Science Council at 1871
222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza
6pm

SEATTLE, WA
Friday, May 13
Town Hall Seattle at the Great Hall
1119 Eighth Avenue
7:30pm

AUSTIN, TX
Saturday, May 7
BookPeople
603 N Lamar Blvd
LOS ANG7pm ELES, CA

TED TALKS by Chris Anderson

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ! On-sale: May 3, 2016
288 pages ! $28.00 ! ISBN: 9780544634497 ! Also available as an eBook