Winston Thomas

Ideas change everything —  and since language lets us share our ideas, learning how to use it well gives speakers the power to inspire people and even change how they think.

To help young people develop these skills and practice their public speaking, TED-Ed has created an exciting new video series! Public Speaking 101 is an 11-episode course that will teach you how to identify, develop, and share your best ideas, while mastering essential communication skills along the way. This course is great to use in classroom settings, for parents looking to guide their children on presentation and public speaking skills, or for independent learners who work best at their own pace.

How Public Speaking 101 works

The course guides you in developing your own TED-style talk through a progression of videos. Each episode focuses on an integral part of giving an engaging, memorable, and transformative talk. This ranges from strategies to uncover your best ideas, to choosing your presentation style, connecting with an audience, developing body language, and more.

The course uses excerpts from past TED speakers to highlight key ideas and prompts, and to offer a deeper understanding of what makes a talk meaningful to an audience. Each episode also comes with supporting resources and materials for further learning. This includes multiple choice questions that review the content of the episode, writing and brainstorming exercises, and a vocabulary list.

Here are the first 6 episodes of the course, with more to come by the end of 2025:

Episode 1: What happens when you share an idea?

Learn how to identify the qualities that make an idea worth sharing with an audience.

Episode 2: How to uncover your best ideas

Uncover your best ideas by exploring your unique experiences, interests, and perspective.

Episode 3: How to communicate clearly

Discover how to put together the throughline, or main idea that acts as a connective thread or roadmap for your presentation.

Episode 4: What’s the best way to give a presentation?

Decide on a presentation plan that makes you feel prepared to communicate an idea to an audience confidently and passionately.

Episode 5: How to speak with meaning

Learn to develop your voice and body language so that you are conveying meaning authentically, confidently, and comfortably.

Episode 6: 5 ways to connect with people

Find a way to build trust, interest, and a connection with your audience so that they will be open to what you have to say.

For educators looking to support students in building public speaking and communication skills in the classroom, check out TED-Ed Student Talks. This program provides free, customizable activities for educators to guide their students in identifying, developing, and sharing their ideas with each other and the world. You can find a sample of the Student Talks curriculum and more information here.

Watch the episodes and check out the course materials here, and make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the latest installments!

Xixi Wang

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources. To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks, we have been collecting stories of impact from the program’s facilitators as part of our “10 for 10 years” series.

For this installment of the series, we are highlighting Fernando Oringo, an educator with over a decade of experience in diverse learning environments, who has led Student Talks programs in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia.

Here, he speaks with TED-Ed’s Programs Manager Sasha Rudenko about his thoughts on the program, its successes, growing pains, and how it impacted his students, fellow educators, parents, and the community at large:

Sasha Rudenko (SR): Tell us a little about IGC School, what this organization is, and about your role in particular.

Fernando Oringo (FO): IGC stands for Institute for Global Citizens and it is a group of schools around Vietnam. As of today we have more than 25,000 students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. Regarding my role, I am in charge of extracurricular programs, specifically in the international programs of IGC group. I am also in charge of partnering with our sister schools from Thailand and Cambodia when it comes to these programs that we’re implementing as one big institution.

SR: If you were to think about what kind of students you serve in your role, how would you describe them?

FO: Being a Filipino teacher here in Vietnam, it’s a totally different culture. Vietnam, in general, they’re slowly trying to open up to other countries; opening up their culture and in such a way that they’re also opening up the concept of globalization and internationalization. I think that my students should also be open about these kinds of opportunities. So, I would describe my students as eager to learn, open for opportunities, and open-minded. There are so many small voices that I appreciate that it is really worth sharing not only in their own country but [their ideas] around the world, and that is one thing that really ignited my motivation to initiate this kind of program.

IGC students

SR: If you were to pick one standout moment from your time leading the TED-Ed Student talks, what would you highlight? 

FO: In terms of the activities, the Connect Calls is one of the most interesting parts because most of my students never had an opportunity to meet students from other countries. They have been so eager to get connected to people of different ages. It was just so magical that instantly our students got connected to the others [across age groups and cultures].

[Editor's note: Connect Calls are opportunities for a TED-Ed Student Talks group from any country to connect with other groups online made possible through the exclusive TED-Ed Community — a platform for all program facilitators.]

Another highlight that is very special to this journey is seeing my students go from not being able to talk in English in a complete sentence at all to creating their own speeches, and [delivering them] on stage, while being supported by the community, the parents, the foreign teachers, and our staff from the school.

“This program has not only developed communication skills but also instilled confidence and a love of learning in my students.”

They really created a community where they wanted to give every student the opportunity to share— even the stories that are so simple about toys, about the food that they love eating— and eventually [Student Talks] spread throughout our school system. Everyone is eager to have it.

One thing that scared me the most when I implemented it is would the program be successful? Will they feel bored? Will the teachers understand the essence of this program? [The response] has been really overwhelming: teachers are volunteering, students are asking before the school year starts, parents are involving themselves in supporting the program.

Students and faculty at IGC

Right now we are implementing it as a curricular program wherein we’re trying to extend it from grades 1 to 12.  And every teacher is now being informed about this program and given the opportunity to apply to learn and to explore what this kind of program offers. And checking the feedback from the teachers in our school, they have emphasized that this program promotes diversity and inclusion. Diversity as the program is set for everyone to adopt and also allows for you to make changes wherever it is appropriate within the context of the students. It is inclusive because it chooses no specific grade level.

“It’s been an incredible journey of growth and empowerment for all of us.”

SR: What are the top three skills that you’ve seen your students improve the most by going through the TED-Ed Student Talks activities and program?

FO: Firstly, it’s collaboration and communication. This is the top skill because every time we implement our program, we see students not only focusing on their own ideas and speeches, but they open themselves up, and allow themselves to be vulnerable when it comes to asking for feedback. They try to see if there’s any connections regarding the ideas that they have among the different members of the club.

Secondly, it has [helped them] develop a very strong sense of intercultural understanding. I was worried that there might be a lot of questions. If I’m going to expose my students to different cultures, to different concepts, or even videos from TEDx or TED, will they be able to get the idea behind it? And surprisingly, most of our students are getting more excited about it because they really feel connected and they are so amazed that there’s a bigger world for them to explore.

An IGC student working on their activities

And thirdly, this program is not just improving their English proficiency— it’s improving their public speaking skills. Public speaking skills that inspire, public speaking skills that motivate people to be better, and public speaking skills that allow students to really showcase their true identity. Not only as Vietnamese people, but as people who can connect to the different issues of the world and primary students as they are. They have so many things to say about what they see and what they feel about world news right now, and the platform of TED-Ed Student Talks is giving that opportunity.

SR: Let’s think about somebody who is interested in applying like you were. What has been the most challenging part about implementing something like this at IGC and how did you overcome it?

FO: Time management. Although the program is very flexible, sometimes it can be overwhelming when you want to do everything. Along the way, you will  see what is the proper pace for you to implement the program. One of the things that we learned when it comes to dealing with this problem is not seeing it as something that is mandatory. But rather seeing it as an opportunity for both students and teachers to learn and explore. And at the same time having proper communication with your administration is very essential because the success of this program is not only determined by the teachers and students, but by how the community accepts it.

It taught us a good lesson in ensuring that everyone involved in the implementation should have a common understanding [of the program]. At the same time, they should focus on the main purpose and not on the immediate impacts of the program. Time management can be a struggle but try to ensure that stakeholders are properly involved— including the parents— and everything will go smoothly.

“The excitement and pride in [parents'] eyes as their children transformed from shy individuals to articulate speakers was truly heartwarming.”

SR: Do you have any tips or words of wisdom you would share with somebody considering TED-Ed Student Talks activities for their students or classroom?

FO: For those who are interested in this program, there’s one thing that you really have to think about carefully: it’s not how it fits into the school system, but rather, will this opportunity benefit the students? Always remember that joining TED-Ed Student Talks as a facilitator and as a mentor is not for your own personal gain, but for helping them inspire [themselves] and others. And that is indeed worth sharing— not only to your classroom, not only to the smaller community, but to a bigger community: the world.

The IGC community

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

Check out the other pieces in the 10 for 10 years series here.

Xixi Wang

At TED-Ed, we’re passionate about sharing diverse and meaningful student voices with the world.

Since 2014, thousands of student groups across the globe have been developing and sharing their ideas using our free TED-Ed Student Talks resources.

To celebrate 10 years of TED-Ed Student Talks (also known as TED-Ed Clubs), we are introducing a new “10 for 10 years” series. The first in this series highlights 10 updated features from the new-and-improved Facilitator Guidebook and Student Idea Journal! We will continue to celebrate this exciting milestone with additional posts as part of this series.

 “A great talk can have a huge impact — maybe on millions of people, maybe on just one. But no talk can be great without a lot of thought and hard work. The best speakers go through a process to transform their idea into something others want to share.”

Feedback from facilitators who have used the Guidebook and Student Idea Journal with students in primary and secondary schools have enabled these materials to become even more flexible, fun, thoughtful, and aligned with 21st century skills.

So, what’s new? Creative analogies that represent the talk journey, guidance on effective source evaluation and fact-checking, student TED Talks that serve as models, and facilitation planners to help leaders customize their experience.

Here are 10 new features you can expect from our latest resource release:

 1. Enhanced facilitator support

The updated Facilitator Guidebook helps facilitators adapt and customize our 13 Explorations (modules with activity blocks) to engage students in discovering, developing, and sharing their TED-Ed Student Talks. We’ve provided tips, space and timing estimates to help plan effectively while aligning these materials with important learning objectives like identifying and reflecting on their experiences and curiosities, researching and thinking critically about ideas, writing and presenting compelling stories, giving and receiving feedback, and understanding the perspectives of others. We’ve also made it easier for facilitators to move between the two core resources, our Facilitator Guidebook and Student Ideas Journal, and truly use these resources in tandem.

 2. The water you swim in

During his graduation speech, David Foster Wallace tells a short fable about fish swimming in water, which highlights that we often aren’t aware how our day-to-day experiences might differ from the experiences of others. We use this fable and the analogy of the water we swim in everyday to ask students to explore their own experiences more deeply because when we understand ourselves more fully, it can help us identify what ideas we have to share. This framing helps students grow their cultural and global awareness, perspective taking, and critical thinking skills.

“To give a truly powerful talk, it helps to start with a topic that excites you, in some way defines you, or about which you care deeply.”

3. An idea is like a gift

Great speakers give their audiences a gift that they can apply to their lives and use to expand their perspectives. That’s how great ideas can spread. In these new activities, students think about how an idea is like a gift, and what gift they could give their audience. This helps students with listening and critical thinking skills.

4. The tour guide and the talk roadmap

We compare a successful speaker to a tour guide, in the way they guide their audience on a tour of their idea and ensure that everyone has the information they need to follow along. In this activity, students use the talk roadmap planner to identify what to include in their talk in order to support their idea and take the audience on an engaging journey from start to finish. This new concept helps students with writing skills and tandem peer feedback activities help with students’ listening skills.

Xixi Wang

5. Research and source evaluation

Thorough research is the best way to prepare for critics or skeptics in any room. With TED-Ed Student Talks activities, students learn how to build trust and a solid foundation with an audience through the use of credible sources, verifiable facts, and specificity to support their idea.

A successful speaker draws on their experience, research and “borrowed credibility” (drawing upon the work of experts) in order to create a solid foundation to build upon, provide specificity by, and allows the speaker to consider counter arguments from possible critics. These activities help students grow their research skills.

6. Effective and engaging storytelling

When a story is told well, it can turn data, descriptions of events, and information into something exciting and engaging for an audience. Students explore how they can tell an engaging story, and make sure their audience can follow along and really imagine what the speaker is saying. These activities help students with writing skills.

 “Asking thoughtful questions is a superpower; through these activities students learn to ask questions of themselves, of their peers, and of the world around them.”

7. Fact-checking checklist

It’s important to present information in a way that is compelling — and 100% credible. Students learn how to assess what they claim and make sure it is fully credible with their own checklist based on what TED stage speakers go through with their curators. It is an important process for any event curator to know what sources a speaker used to support their claims and details in their talk. This activity helps students with critical thinking and research skills.

8. Ride the wave delivery tips

Public speaking can be nerve-racking and scary — like facing a giant incoming wave in the ocean. Students are shown how to harness the adrenaline and emotion they often feel before they step in front of an audience. The activities provide tips and tricks for students to not only overcome their fear of the approaching wave, but get up and ride it instead.

9. Using TED Talks to prepare for the stage

We believe that showcasing student ideas can bring people together, help celebrate diverse values, and create an inclusive future. And we want students to see what they can be. TED Talks from fellow students are used to illustrate concepts, help students analyze talks, and allow them to visualize themselves on stage. Students observe Anika, Ashton, Ethan, and Shreya (via both their talk video and talk transcripts) to see how they brought their idea to life on stage.

Xixi Wang

10. The talk rubric

At TED, we believe that a well-developed presentation uses communication in a clear and engaging way that puts the audience first. In order to assess if they have progressed and are successfully engaging their audience, facilitators and students are provided with our definitions for clarity, organization, impact, applicability, credibility, and delivery. The rubric allows facilitators and students to assess whether they have improved and where they might need continued improvement to share their idea the best way possible.

Thanks for celebrating 10 years of amplifying students’ ideas with us! Share this post or our website, which details our registration process, with anyone you think would be interested in helping students develop their TED-Ed Student Talks. You can also learn more about the TED-Ed Student Talks resource and registration process.

Here are some common FAQs:

Q: How much time does this process take?

A: Completing the 13 Explorations and staging the Presentations can take anywhere from 10-20 hours (15 hours is the average). This varies depending on the pace of instruction and how many Explorations the group completes. Facilitators are provided with facilitator planning pages to help think through this based on the activities and learning objectives listed.

Q: How will students engage with the resources?

A: A sample approach to student engagement is what one district calls “all -> some -> few”. In this model, all students do the first two units. Students with strong ideas and the ability to spend extra time working then move onto the last unit. We think exposure to the material can be beneficial no matter how many activities students experience so facilitators can design different ways for students to engage.

Q: How can you celebrate student ideas when they are complete?

A: We provide more details about the TED-Ed Student Talks Showcase, hosting a TEDx event, and submitting strong student talks to the TED-Ed team for review in our Exploration Extras section at the end of this guidebook. We also encourage you to dream up different ways to highlight students within your community!

Q: Can we watch other TED Talks?

A: We provide a list of additional talks to watch in the Exploration Extras section, including specific playlists of younger student videos. We also provide transcripts of the TED Talks so that students can analyze the talk script in addition to watching the talk. Each talk on TED.com has a transcript available.

Q: Is there space for student leadership?

A: Yes! Some roles students can be encouraged to do are: social media manager, photographer, video production coordinator, or Exploration leader.

Q: Can I create a TED talk too?

A: We definitely encourage educators to create talks along with their students! This can create a release of responsibility structure, as students learn from modeled behavior, practice that behavior as a group, then do so independently (e.g. share how you would complete a sentence or answer a question as a model for the students). Additionally, if you’re interested in sharing your talk on a TED stage, check out your local TEDx events or look into our TED-Ed Educator Talks program.

Interested in learning more about TED-Ed Student Talks? Check out our Student Talks page here to find out how the program works and how you can get involved.

iStock

Want to prevent yawns and glazed-over eyes? Before you deliver your next speech, pitch or address, learn how to create exceptional slides by following these rules (with real before-and-afters).

Slides are an expected and crucial part of most speeches, presentations, pitches and addresses. They can simplify complex information or messages, showcase relevant images, and help hold an audience’s attention. But quite often, the best slides aren’t those that make people sit up and comment on how good they are; instead, they’re the ones that people take in without really noticing because the content is effortlessly conveyed and matches the speaker’s words so well.

These days, showing high-quality slides is more important than ever. “We’re living in a visual culture,” says Paul Jurczynski, the cofounder of Improve Presentation and one of the people who works with TED speakers to overhaul their slides. “Everything is visual. Instagram is on fire, and you don’t often see bad images on there. The same trend has come to presentations.”

He says there is no “right” number of slides. However, it’s important that every single one shown — even the blank ones (more on those later) — be, as Jurczynski puts it, “connected with the story you’re telling.” Here, he shares 6 specific tips for creating the most effective slides. (Note: All of the examples below were taken from the actual slides of TED speakers.)

1. Do keep your slides simple and succinct

“The most common mistake I see is slides that are overcrowded. People tend to want to spell everything out and cover too much information,” says Jurczynski. Not only are these everything-but-the-kitchen-sink slides unattractive and amateurish, they also divert your audience’s attention away from what you’re saying. You want them to listen to the words that you slaved over, not get distracted by unscrambling a jam-packed slide.

“The golden rule is to have one claim or idea per slide. If you have more to say, put it on the next slide,” says Jurczynski. Another hallmark of a successful slide: The words and images are placed in a way that begins where the audience’s eyes naturally go and then follows their gaze. Use the position, size, shape and color of your visuals to make it clear what should come first, second and so on. “You don’t just control what the audience sees; you have to control how they see it,” says Jurczynski.

BEFORE: Too crowded

AFTER: Easy to absorb

2. Do choose colors and fonts with care

Colors and fonts are like the herbs and spices of your presentation. When used wisely and with intention, they’ll enhance your slides; but when tossed in haphazardly, they’ll make it an unappealing mess.

Let’s start with color. “Color is a key way to communicate visually and to evoke emotion,” says Jurczynski. “It can be a game changer.” Your impulse might be to pick your favorite hue and start from there, but he advises, “it’s important to use color with a purpose.” For example, if you’re giving a presentation about a positive topic, you’ll want to use bright, playful colors. But if you’re speaking about a serious subject such as gun violence or lung cancer, you’d probably go for darker or neutral colors.

While it’s fine to use a variety of colors in your presentation, overall you should adhere to a consistent color scheme, or palette. “The good news is you don’t need a degree in color theory to build a palette,” says Jurczynski. Check out one of the many free sites — such as Coolors or Color Hunt — that can help you assemble color schemes.

With fonts, settle on just one or two, and make sure they match the tone of your presentation. “You don’t have to stick to the fonts that you have in PowerPoint,” or whatever program you’re using, says Jurczynski. “People are now designing and sharing fonts that are easy to install in different programs. It’s been an amazing breakthrough.” Experiment. Try swapping a commonly used font like Arial for Lato or Bebas, two of many lesser known fonts available online. Most important: “Use a big enough font, which people often forget to do,” advises Jurczynski. Your text has to be both legible and large enough to read from the back of the room, he recommends — about 30 points or so.

BEFORE: Weak and hard-to-read font, muddy colors

AFTER: Strong font, color that’s striking but not jarring

3. Don’t settle for visual cliches

When you’re attempting to illustrate concepts, go beyond the first idea that comes to your mind. Why? The reason it appears so readily may be because it’s a cliché. For example, “a light bulb as a symbol for innovation has gotten really tired,” says Jurczynski. Other oft-used metaphors include a bull’s-eye target or shaking hands. After you’ve come up with your symbol or idea, he advises people to resist the lure of Google images (where there are too many low-quality and clichéd choices) and browse other free image sites such as Unsplash to find more unique visuals. One trick: If you do use stock, amp it up with a color overlay (as in the pic at the top of this article) or tweak it in some other way to counteract — or at least muffle — its stock-i-ness.

One potential source of pictures is much closer at hand. “If it fits the storyline, I encourage people to use their own images,” says Jurczynski. “Like one TED Talk where the speaker, a doctor, used photos of his experience treating people in Africa. That was all he needed. They were very powerful.” Major caveat: Any personal photos must support your speech or presentation. Do not squander your audience’s precious time by showing them a gratuitous picture of your children or grandparents — beautiful as they may be.

BEFORE: Fake-looking stock photo to illustrate teamwork

AFTER: Eye-catching photo of nature to illustrate teamwork

4. Don’t get bogged down by charts and graphs

Less is also more when it comes to data visualization. Keep any charts or graphs streamlined. When building them, ask yourself these questions:

What do I want the audience to take away from my infographic?

Why is it important for them to know this?

How does it tie into my overall story or message?

You may need to highlight key numbers or data points by using color, bolding, enlarging or some other visual treatment that makes them pop.

Maps are another commonly used infographic. Again, exercise restraint and use them only if they enhance your talk. “Sometimes, people put a map because they don’t know what else to show,” says Jurczynski. He suggests employing labels, color schemes or highlighting to direct your audience where to look. He adds, if you have the skill or know an artist, “you may even consider a hand-drawn map.”

BEFORE: Yikes! What’s important?!?

AFTER: The takeaway is clear

5.Don’t be scared of blank slides

It may seem counterintuitive, but at certain points in your speech or pitch, the best visual is … no visual at all. “At the beginning, I was not a fan of blank slides,” says Jurczynski. “But the more talks I’ve seen, the more a fan I am of them, because sometimes you want all the attention on yourself and you don’t want people distracted by what they see in the slides. Or, you might use them to give the audience a visual break from a series of slides. Or maybe you want to shift the mood or tempo of the presentation.”

The blank slide is the visual equivalent of a pause, and most stories could use at least one. And with blank slides, Jurczynski has one main “don’t”: “You cannot use white blank slides, because if you do, people will see it and think something is broken.”

6. Do remember to practice

The easiest way to figure out if your slides really work? Recruit a colleague, friend or family member, and run through your entire presentation with them. Sometimes, people can get so carried away with rehearsing their delivery and memorizing their words that they forget to make sure their slides complement and synch up with what they’re saying.

“Even if you have the best visuals in the world, you need to practice in front of someone else. Once you start practicing, you may see, ‘I’m talking about a sad story, but on the slide behind me, I have something funny and that doesn’t make sense,’” says Jurczynski. “Or, ‘Oh, this could be a good place for a blank slide.’”