The Live English Show: The Secrets of TED Speakers | An Interview with a Speaker Coach

Hi, everyone. We are live. Welcome to the live English show. How are you doing? Let me know that you're here. Let me know where you're from and what time it is for you. Andrew is in the house. Maria is in the house. Good. So let me know that you're here so it doesn't feel lonely. Marcella From Uruguay, it's 1:00pm hey. Daniela from Evgeny's here. So happy to see you. We have people from Mexico. Where are you from? Let me know where you're. You're connecting to us from Argentina. Hey, Ruth.

Hey, Chris.

Good to see you. It is an amazing song. Carlos from Peru. Hey, Cobra. Good to see you. So I have a really, really good episode for you today. So we're gonna wait for a few more people to join in because I know that everyone is going to love hearing this. Cool. Okay, let me. This is the part I love the most in the live English show where I get to turn down music and start speaking. Okay, you guys, thank you so much for joining. I'm so happy that you're here. As you know, we have a special guest today. I'm gonna turn on the AC because it's so freaking hot. And you get to ask all the questions that you've always wanted to ask about public speaking and about TED talks. And I know that a lot of you work with TED Talks as you practice English and I think that it would be really interesting to hear and see what it's really like behind the scenes. So let me know if you're excited about this in the comments. And before that, I have one announcement for you and that is July 27th. Put it in your calendar. July 27th, it's coming up really soon. And that's like the biggest live English event that we're going to have because on July 27th we have a four day training, live training. And I'm going to share with you things that I've never shared before. And there's a lot that is going to happen. I'm not going to share everything right now. I just want you to put it in your calendar and to go here to hadarchemish.com live event. I hope he hasn't changed it. Yeah, live event. That is the link. Thank God. And go there, sign up. You can read more about that and come back here. Okay. I'm going to remind you of that later on, but July 27th, because it's going to be a lot of fun. And really I've never done anything like that before and I'm super thrilled because it's like a new way to.

Do.

Some of the things that I've been doing. And I have a few new ideas that I really would love to share with you. Okay, so today we have a special guest. Her name is Helena. I have contacted Helena a while back because I don't know if you know, I have told. Some of you do know that, but I was offered a TED Talk and it was supposed to be in October, but it got canceled before it got canceled. And it's going to happen, but just like it's going to happen in a little while, but not in October. But before it happened, I started exploring and trying to figure out who I can work with. And I found this amazing coach and I loved her work and I reached out to her and she happened to open a program and I participated in it. And I loved how she was talking about all her experience and about talks and about public speaking. And I asked her if she'd be willing to come and share some of the stories that she has shared with us here. And a bunch of you have already asked some questions about public speaking and about TED Talk. So we are going to leave time for questions at the end. But in the meantime, and let me. I'm going to welcome her. Her name is Helena. And please give her a round of applause, everyone. Yay. Hi, Helena.

Good to see you again. Across the room.

How are you doing? Wait, I can't hear you.

You can't hear me?

I need to put this.

Let's connect. Testing, testing. Can you hear me now?

Okay, wait, wait. You know what? I think. I need to resolve here something now. I can hear you. Can you say something?

Testing, testing.

Hold on. Yes, yes, now I can hear you.

Hi, guys. Hi, Adar.

Thank God. Hi. So good to see you. Wait, let me take off this banner and instead, instead we're gonna do this fancy thing. Hold on, I have one ready for you.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Fancy, right?

Yeah. Good job.

Yeah. Okay, so this is her Instagram account. You can go ahead and follow to get great tips about public speaking. So go and follow her on Instagram. Helena speaking. So, hi, would you like to just first of all introduce yourself to the people watching?

Yeah. Hi, guys, I'm Helena Bowen. I'm a speaker, coach and speech writer. I work primarily with TED and TEDx speakers, but then I work with all kinds of business owners, executives, corporate people who want to become better speakers.

And how have things been, like, recently? Because obviously you've been working with speakers about public speaking and public speaking. Requires public. The public. Right. And that doesn't really exist recently. How has it been for you to transition that way?

Yeah, I mean, it's been such a learning curve. I mean just my entire job and career is kind of revolves around live events. And so for live events to be off the table in many places, kind of indefinitely, like a lot of places we're hearing live stages will come back in 2021, maybe middle of 2021. So that has been crazy, just the change. But I've actually been amazed to see how many events are really, you know, willing to adapt and try new things and try going online. You know, the main TED conference, which is normally a week long conference in Vancouver, quickly changed to doing a eight week digital version of their conference.

Wow.

And many, many conferences are following suit.

And I think there is something like it. I mean there is nothing like the real life experience and interacting with people. But I think there is also an opportunity here because it really does like people can. It's more accessible. Right. For more people around the world, people who can't make it to the conference or who the trip is not possible for them. So I think there is something exciting about that. Knowledge becomes more accessible.

Absolutely. To so many people. I think that's the really exciting opportunity is that there are these aspects of virtual events that live events can accommodate. Obviously more interactivity. Weirdly. Right. In a digital space. Because all of you guys can submit your questions. We can get questions in real time. That would never happen in a theater. And then to your point, the accessibility is amazing. The costs are so much lower for events, so they're able to lower their ticket prices and way more able to join. So even though there's some obvious losses, you know, I love a good live event, obviously, but there's some good benefits too. And so I think we'll see in the future that some events will end up doing some of those because they find that they like some aspects of this digital world.

I mean, ideally when I was offered the TED Talk, like at first it was a dream come true and then it was supposed to have gone virtual. Right. And I was like, you know, I was a little disappointed. And then I said, well, then everyone would be able to see it live as I'm doing it. So I had this excitement around that and then that like also. Because there was a lot that went into it, including the budget and everything. But I think that this is a great, you know, like streaming live events can be very exciting. Like especially TED Talks.

Definitely. And already so much of TED'S brand revolves around the recorded videos anyway. And you know, as you mentioned earlier, a lot of people I'm sure listening to this right now are using TED talks as a way to learn and improve their English. And that's, you know, one of the things that I've enjoyed most about the TED brand and actually how I got involved originally. If you guys didn't know this was an opportunity, by the way, I would look into it. Into it. But TED has this program called TED Translators, and that's actually how I got started, is working on the English transcription side of TED Translators.

So I'm going to write it down for you. Okay, so first of all, let us know in the comments if you use TED to practice English and if you know of TED translators. Okay. So you started just transcribing.

So basically, TED Translators, interestingly, is a volunteer program with volunteers like you all over the world. And basically they take the TED talks that are available online and translate them into their native languages. And so my job, what I was doing as a volunteer originally was transcribing English language talks into English. So then all of these volunteers around the world could translate them into other languages. And so if you guys have any interest in that, I'm sure all of you here are bilingual. Trilingual, Quadrilingual. I don't know if that's a word, but that could be. Always be a fun way for you.

We can invent it.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's like a lot of responsibility to write the English captions or like to transcribe it because if you mess up, then like the entire world, everyone messes up because everyone bases their. Yeah. So respect. Have you, like, doing that work? Have you noticed certain patterns in TED talks?

Yeah, I actually, I think in retrospect, I didn't realize this at the time. It was just my way of easily getting involved. And at the time, I was working in Hollywood, so it was crazy long hours. My schedule was completely unpredictable. There was no way for me to have a volunteer job in any sort of normal capacity. And so I did this TED Translators volunteer job because I could do it at like two in the morning on a Wednesday in my pajamas. And I did this over and over and over and over again. Yeah. For dozens and dozens of talks. And I think in hindsight, that really, really helped me as a coach because I learned almost intuitively what makes a TED Talk or not by sitting there, like, typing it out slowly over and over again, syncing all the everything.

Yeah. I think that as a teacher and as A learner before that, like, I was using a lot of TED talks and I definitely remember that, you know, some of the patterns or the intonation patterns, right? Like they, they stuck with me and I kind of use them subconsciously. And this is why I think repetition or like looking into such talks again and again, because they do have a lot of similar patterns, right? Like how they build up the, you know, the main point and how the intonation builds up. So I think that you can really learn a lot. And again, I'm waiting, you guys tell me in the comments if you've been using TED talks as a form of practice. But I think that also as a learner, there's so much to learn about how to use the language and phrasing and pauses and all of that.

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, really all. I think the biggest takeaway that I've learned from TED about clear communication is that the way that you write your talk for TED and tedx both is very, very simple. And I think a lot of people see TED as this very prestigious, reputable brand. And so they think they talk like senior academics when really they're using in general like second to fourth grade English. They're writing in the most clear, simple way possible. And I personally think that's why TED has become such a global brand, is because all of these people who don't necessarily speak English or they don't speak XYZ language can so much easier understand that than like many other academic texts or anything that are written at such a hard level to understand.

Right. And it's great because sometimes we're really talking about complex ideas. Right. That are delivered in 18 minutes or 20 minutes or 15 minutes. Right. And yeah, with, you know, basically not basic language, but not fancy language. Right. And this is why it's so relatable not just by non native speakers, but by everyone. I love that. So, okay, so sometimes when we watch TED talks, it feels like they have it all figured out. Like they're so talented and they have it right. Like, and they, it's just they're gifted. It's these people that do so well. So my question is, having worked with so many TED and TEDx speakers, is it really like that at the beginning or is there.

Yeah, well, I mean, I don't want to put any of my speakers on blast, obviously. But I think what most people don't realize is that for most TED talks that you see on the homepage of Ted.com or a lot of the TedX talks you see on YouTube, there have been months of work that went into that talk with a coach. Yeah. So I think the standard for most of the speakers that I work with is two to three months of preparation. And yeah, I think what's really interesting about the TED brand is a lot of times people see a TED speaker and they see what a great speaker they are, and so they think they must have, like, climbed this ladder to get to the top of the speaking world. And that's really not how it works at all. A lot of the TED speakers that I work with have very little experience, experience as a public speaker, but they have a really cool idea, so they have a really great idea that they want to talk about, so they get booked to speak based on that idea. And then it's our job to kind of get them up to speed and make sure that they're a really awesome, clear speaker, even if they have very little experience to begin with.

And that is so refreshing to hear because, again, it's like, for. For people in my community, for example, speakers who, you know, anyway, there is that gap between how they come across in English and how they come across in their native language. So there is this gap, and they always feel the lack.

Right.

Like, it's not enough. And then they always also, as speakers, they compare themselves to native speakers or they compare themselves to the people who they learn with, like, TED speakers. And it all seems so perfect, and it's really good to hear. And I might even ask you to, like, give me a few examples of transformational journey of, like, one of the speakers that you've worked with. Like, it's really refreshing to hear that. No, they need to put in a lot of work. And sometimes, like, especially when it comes to speaking English, we expect ourselves to perform really well right off the bat, you know, like, okay, I need to have a meeting. Let me prepare the slides. And I should be, you know, really good presenting it just because I'm expected to hear. But now, like, even if it. Whether it's a meeting or a TED Talk, if you are, you know, if you haven't done it many times before, you got to do it again and again and again before to be able to do it well. And if you don't do that, then don't expect, you know, results that are different from where you're at, like where you're starting. Right. If you're not doing something differently than usual, don't expect different results.

Absolutely. I mean, I think people are almost sometimes shocked at how much preparation goes into it, and I sometimes purposely don't tell my speakers how much preparation goes into it, because I think they might be scared to hear that. Yeah, I mean, we're not only, like, iterating draft after draft after draft, writing and rewriting and rewriting, you know, over the course of a month, month and a half, two months. But then when we rehearse, we're rehearsing over and over and over and over and over again. And if you looked at. I almost kind of wish TED would publish some of this stuff and show people, like, where they started and how far they came, but often that's huge. Oh, my gosh, it's so huge. And it just goes to show how much work is really being done behind the scenes, which, unfortunately, none of us ever see. So we just see the TED speaker and we're like, oh, my God, they're so talented. It's not talent, it's work.

Exactly. Like, it's very much like Instagram, where you see this ideal, you know, one of the thought leaders or the, like, you know, Instagrammers, and you look at them and they're like, they all look so beautiful and perfect and, like, they don't know that everything was curated. And they were like, you know, sending. And it's not what you see. It's like, you. You. If something is successful, well, maybe it was not the best example because it's not just, like, external. But when something is successful, like you, what you see is the result of really, like, all the work behind the scenes. And I would love that. Like, you should definitely promote it. Go to TED and be like, let's document, like, all the processes. Because it's so good. Yeah. So what is the process like? For example, one of the things that I've learned from you was I loved how you layered it instead of going to the end result, okay, let's write the script, or let's write bullet points. You really go step by step by step. Now, we're not going to get into that, but how do you. What is the process like when you're just starting out with someone who doesn't, like, they have an idea, but they don't even. They don't know how to build it into a course. Now I'm asking these questions, and you guys listening, you might be like, okay, I don't have a TED Talk planned, so this is not for me. Right. So I want to say that this is, like, the tips that you're going to share with us is about pretty much anything, Right? Like, if you want to make a video to promote yourself or to talk about, you know, to convince someone you can use those, those steps. It doesn't even have to be in public or if you have a presentation at work. Am I right?

Absolutely. I mean, I know a lot of you use create videos to practice your English, so anything I talk about here you can use in those videos as well. But yeah, I mean, really what I try to do when I work with speakers is to break the process down into very manageable little bite sized chunks so the process doesn't feel too overwhelming. Because I find that a lot of people are really scared of public speaking. And a lot of that anxiety comes from the fact that they are trying to rush the process or do it all really quickly or feel like they're not prepared. But if you prepare adequately, there's really nothing to be that afraid of. Once you're prepared, you're just doing something that you've already done a hundred times before and you can feel so confident in it. So when I was speakers, normally what I'm doing is helping them identify up front, you know, what is this idea you want to cover in the talk? Same thing could go for your video as well. And the key with TED and I think online video to the same degree. Ted, of course, has been popularized as online video is picking a very narrow slice, like picking a very, very specific topic. So once the word oh my gosh, what do I do? And so rather we're getting you to learn the content. So like an example would be if the sentence in your talk was today I went to the supermarket and bought a bunch of bananas, you might memorize that sentence. Or you could just say like, I went to the grocery store and bought some bananas today.