Carmine Gallo begins by stating that ideas are critical in the modern marketplace and the ability to express them is even more valuable. He highlights his purpose for writing the book: sharing the skills and techniques used by TED speakers with the reader to give them better communication abilities. He says he compiled the tips in the book by examining 500 of the most successful TED presentations. He also refers to interviews with experts on why the elements of presentations he talks about in the book work. He rounds it off by referencing his experience teaching successful individuals in business. The most critical point of the book is to teach the reader how to sell themselves to an audience.

He follows by briefly explaining the TED conference’s founding in 1984 and its following popularity. Its already growing popularity skyrocketed in 2006 when the conference began posting videos of the talks on its website. He links TED’s success to highlighting presentation abilities like those of Steve Jobs, which Gallo wrote about in his prior book Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. The difference between it and Talk Like TED is that, while Presentation Secrets focused on the presentation abilities of one person, this book analyzed a wide range of speakers with different backgrounds and approaches to give a broader view of success.