Analysis of Live a Life of Significance Video

In the keeping attention/content delivery section of this program, I talked about how important it is to utilize the concept of scenes in your speaking.

The primary tool that the "Live a Life of Significance" speech by Tim Tebow utilizes is its use of scenes.

I'll never forget the main point of this five minute talk and that's because his speech was structured with scenes to make the most impact and to cement the main point of his talk into his audience.

Again, the main point of his talk is a simple one. 

It's so simple it's probably cliche.  So, many other people have tried to deliver this message before, but without the same impact.

But, because of the way Tebow delivered this simple message, this simple message really sinks in.

And the way he delivered it was through the use of scenes.

So, let's go over the scenes he used in this five minute talk:

Scene 1: The talk starts with him describing his college football days and how the "Gator Walk" made him feel successful.

Scene 2: Tebow then transitions to a story about a photographer in Africa who takes a famous picture and the photographer's internal dilemma and struggle while taking this very famous picture.

Scene 3:  Then, he transitions to a different scene involving the photographer.  This time the scene involves the same photographer who has come back home to the US.  In this scene, the photographer wins the Pulitzer Prize for this photo. He achieves his profession's most coveted and highest honor.

Scene 4:  Then four months later, that same photographer took his own life.  This is a short scene, but it's jarring and grabs your attention.

Scene 5:  Tebow then transitions to the audience, which is very key. He brings all these scenes back to the audience who wants to know badly right now what the point of these stories are.

No matter what scenes you use to build up to your main point, you always need to bring it back to your audience.

The main point of this entire talk is finally touched up, which is that a life of significance is much more meaningful than a life of mere "success".

Scene 6:  Finally, in the last part of this talk, he introduces the catchphrase about how "success is not enough".  This underscores the main point of his entire talk. 

This scene is important because this was the main point of his entire five minute talk. 

But, he had to go through various scenes to introduce it so that when finally does introduce the main point, it is VERY IMPACTFUL.

And when he introduces this catchphrase, his energy and emotion are at their highest in the entire talk. 

The use of scenes and the contrast in energy and emotion is what makes this talk by Tim Tebow so powerful and unforgettable.

Of course, he could have structured his entire talk differently. 

He could have just come out and said to the audience:

"I'm Tim Tebow.  I've had a lot of success in my life and let me tell you, success is truly meaningless."

However, this straight-to-the-point approach would not have been powerful or impactful and his point would have been forgotten immediately by his audience.

But instead, he used juxtaposed different scenes in his talk to powerfully build up to his point and make it meaningful.

Do you see how powerful this template is?

I hope you take this template and use it over and over to make an impact and create significance in this world!