The 9 Most Horrid Words A Speaker Can Utter

And what top ted speakers do instead

By Devin D. Marks | Published Jun. 28, 2022

Those horrid words?

“Sorry to ask you to drink with a firehose...”

That apology to an audience — whether in a boardroom, keynote, or funding pitch — smacks of amateurism.

It says to the informed in your (long-suffering) audience that you are ill-prepared, ill-disciplined, and ill-mannered.

(OK, that sounds a bit cranky, doesn’t it?)

But don’t just trust me. Nothing new there. Consider an insight by Samuel Clemens — the highest-paid lecturer of the Victorian Era. He felt the same.

In the 1880s, Clemens (aka, Mark Twain) spoke to thousands a year in hundreds of venues. Worldwide. He once observed:

“The right word may be effective, but no word was ever as effective as a rightly timed pause.”

He knew it was better on stage to build tension or release... with a pause.

(Not to overwhelm his audience with a content torrent.)

When you take center stage (or center screen), abandon the firehose. Take the time to build in pause — in pace and words.

Firehoses are for, well... fires.

Pauses are for presentations.

DEVIN D. MARKS is known as The TED Talk Whisperer. His firm, CONNECT to COMPEL, has served 100s of TED, TEDx, and short-talk speakers — including Harvard’s Dr. Robert Waldinger for his all-time Top 10 TEDx Talk. The result: 100s of millions of views for clients. He helps niche experts, authors, and leaders spread world-changing ideas. 

You can reach Devin at 617.804.6020, or DM him here. His newsletters are here.

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