Ted talks are some of the best speeches/talks/chats in the world. For me its one of the greatest gifts of the internet. They issue these guidelines to speakers.

1. Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick

2. Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before

3. Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion

4. Thou Shalt Tell a Story

5. Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy

6. Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.

7. Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desparate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.

8. Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.

9. Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.

10. Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee

This is wonderful advice in a strange style. The advice speaks about being fully yourself (be vulnerable and reveal your passions), be connected (not reading your speech) , to be relaxed (laughter is good, speak of your failures), to be conversational (freely comment on other spearks) It doesn't say this explicitly but being suitably humble is also there.

Commandments were taken from Tim Longhurst's blog and he’s moved since I wrote this blog