45 pages • 1 hour read
Carmine GalloTalk Like Ted: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds
Carmine GalloNonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Carmine Gallo
Carmine Gallo is a respected communications coach, speaker, journalist, and author. He published Talk Like TED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds in 2014, and it earned him a place on the Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list. This book builds on his previous writing about Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Gallo’s first book on Jobs was The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience (2009). The book delves into the techniques employed by Jobs in his presentation and dissects the elements that made him such a successful communicator. It became a Wall Street Journal bestselling book and established Gallo as an authority on effective presentation skills. He followed with the Axiom Award–winning The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs (2011) and The Apple Experience (2012). Following Talk Like TED, Gallo also published The Storyteller’s Secret (2016), Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great (2018), and The Bezos Blueprint: Communication Secrets of the World’s Greatest Salesman (2022).
Gallo was born in 1965 in San Jose, California, to Italian immigrant parents. His father worked for an early Silicon Valley tech company called Varian Associates. In 1988, Gallo received a BA in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MS in broadcast journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in 1989. Gallo worked as a journalist for most of his early career. He was a correspondent for the former financial network CNNfn, a host on Tech TV’s program “The Money Machine,” and covered northern California news for KCAL 9. He finally served as Ketchum’s vice president of media relations. He left this position to focus on Gallo Communications Group, the consulting firm he founded in 2004 with his wife, Vanessa. Through it, he began coaching executives and professionals on the power of persuasive communication and presentations. Following a partnership with the e-learning company eVision Design, Gallo launched the Carmine Gallo Academy. It is a self-paced online learning program on business communication based on The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs.
He is also a senior contributor for Forbes, where he is the creator of the column Your Communications Coach, and also contributes for Business Insider and the Harvard Business Review. Gallo serves as an instructor at Harvard, in addition to delivering lectures at the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; and Stanford. He also conducts workshops at renowned organizations and conferences across the globe.
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (1955-2011) was an American businessman and the cofounder of Apple Inc. A prominent figure in the world of technology and design, he was known for his ability to inspire audiences with charismatic presentations. Gallo uses Jobs as the archetype of an effective public speaker, and Talk Like TED is a follow-up to Gallo’s three books on Jobs: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs (2009), The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs (2011), and The Apple Experience (2012).
Jobs cofounded Apple Computer Inc. in 1976 with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Under Jobs’s leadership, Apple became one of the most valuable companies globally, introducing products that transformed the world of consumer technology. Gallo cites Jobs’s growth as a speaker from his 1984 launch for the Macintosh, during which he was “pretty stiff, holding on to the lectern and reading from prepared notes” (80), to his Three Products in One launch of the iPhone in 2007, which was “an emotionally charged event” (147). Gallo cites the key to Jobs’s success as his ability to answer the question, “What makes your heart sing?” (20) and pursue that passion.
Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California, to Iranian immigrant parents. His early interest in electronics eventually led to the establishment of Apple, where he played a crucial role in developing personal computers that were user-friendly and accessible to the general public unlike the more business-oriented IBM computers, which were standard at the time.
Despite his achievements, Jobs’s tenure at Apple faced internal challenges, leading to his departure in 1985. Following this, he founded NeXT Computer, a company that aimed to create high-end computers for educational and business purposes. Although NeXT did not achieve widespread commercial success, it played a significant role in the development of the World Wide Web, with computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee using a NeXT computer to create the first web browser.
In 1996, Apple acquired NeXT, and Jobs returned as the company’s CEO. He spearheaded innovative products, such as the iPod in 2001, which transformed the way people consumed music. The iPhone, launched in 2007, redefined the smartphone market, revolutionized communication, and expanded personal and business productivity.
Jobs’s emphasis on design and user experience set Apple products apart from their competitors. His dedication to streamlined aesthetics and attention to detail created iconic and recognizable devices. As Gallo notes, his keynote presentations became legendary events, eagerly awaited by tech enthusiasts and the public alike, showcasing his ability to communicate complex technological concepts in a clear and engaging manner.
Steve Jobs passed away on October 5, 2011, from pancreatic cancer. His untimely death met with an outpouring of grief from around the world, reflecting the profound impact he had on contemporary society.
TED
TED, short for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, is a renowned nonprofit organization that has made a significant impact on global knowledge dissemination since its inception. Its innovative TED Talks are the inspiration for Gallo’s book, Talk Like TED. Established in 1984 by Richard Saul Wurman, TED’s primary objective was to provide a platform for experts and thought leaders to share innovative ideas and insights in the fields of technology, entertainment, and design.
The first TED conference was held in Monterey, California, and featured notable speakers discussing a wide range of topics. Over the years, TED expanded its scope to include diverse fields such as science, business, education, arts, and social issues. This expansion led to TED Talks becoming increasingly popular and accessible to a global audience. In 2006, TED started its online initiative, making TED Talks available on the internet for free. This move further boosted its popularity, and TED became a cultural phenomenon, attracting millions of viewers worldwide. To extend its impact, TEDx events were introduced in 2009, allowing local communities to organize independent TED-like conferences.
TED’s motto is to spread “ideas worth sharing,” and its goal is to inspire positive change worldwide. Gallo notes that one of the main reasons for TED Talks’ success is their strict 18-minute time limit, which requires speakers to distill their ideas down to their core elements. Using personal stories, humor, and effective visual and sensory aids are other factors that make TED Talks consistently compelling.
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