How to start a movement by Derek Simons TED talk worksheet

with phrases for starting and ending presentations

Keynote Intermediate Unit 2

You are going to watch a TED talk on starting a movement. Describe any movements that you know about, e.g.

  • Anti-immigration movements (e.g. the Minutemen volunteers guarding the American/ Mexican border)
  • Anti-nuclear protests (e.g. those in Japan post-Fukushima)
  • Anti-war movements (e.g. the protests against the war in Vietnam)
  • Civil rights movements (e.g. Black Lives Matter)
  • Ecological movements (e.g. anti-whaling groups)
  • Independence movements (e.g. Gandhi’s non-violent campaign for Indian independence)
  • Movements within political parties (e.g. the Tea Party movement within the American Republican Party)
  • Pro-democracy movements (e.g. Arab Spring, Orange Revolution in Ukraine)
  • Protests against military bases
  • Religious movements (e.g. new pilgrimages)
  • Social media campaigns (e.g. Twitter campaigns)
  • Youth movements, e.g. hippies, mods, punks, skinheads and goths

What do those kinds of movements have in common?

What do you think the stages of starting a movement are?

Put the following stages in order:

  • A leader/ A “lone nut” (e.g. the shirtless guy dancing on his own)
  • A second follower
  • People who were sitting on the fence/ People who want to be part of the in-crowd
  • The first follower
  • The tipping point/ The movement gets momentum
  • Three more people
  • Two more people

Rank those stages and people from the most important to the least important.

Watch Derek Simons’ TED talk on starting a movement and listen for which of those people/ stages is the most important (described as a crucial role, an underestimated form of leadership, something that is emulated by the followers, etc) and which is not so important (described as over-glorified, gets all the credit without necessarily deserving it, etc).

Decide which of the two people mentioned in the last question each of the phrases refer to, then maybe watch again to check.

  • need the guts to stand out and be ridiculed
  • a crucial role
  • show everyone else how to follow
  • calling to his friends
  • an underestimated form of leadership
  • emulated by the followers
  • over-glorified
  • get all the credit
  • have the courage to stand up and join in

Collocations

Without looking above for now, try to match up the words below to make common collocations.

ladies and                                                                   momentum

let’s watch a movement                                              happen

the guts to stand                                                        gentlemen

with a crucial                                                  fence before, now have no reason to

show everyone else how                                             to follow

calling                                                                         to his friends

an under-                                                                   estimated form of leadership

transforms a lone                                                        point

three is a                                                                   nut into a leader

now you’ve got                                                           out and be ridiculed

This is the tipping                                                       crowd, and a crowd is news

as more people join                                        in, it’s less risky

those that were sitting on the                           role

they will be part of the in-                                             alone

let’s re-                                                           glorified

remember the importance                                            of nurturing…

guy that is standing                                                     credit

the biggest                                                                 lesson, if you noticed, …is that…

leadership is over-                                                      effective

he’ll get all the                                                crowd if they hurry

transformed the lone nut                                              into a leader

that would be really in-                                     guts to stand up and join in

have the                                                                    cap some lessons from this

Look above, read the transcript and/ or watch the DVD again to check.

Which words and phrases above can be used to start and end a presentation? What other phrases can you use to start and end a presentation?

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PDF for easy saving and printing:

Related pages

Starting and ending presentations page

Keynote Intermediate page

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