0:00:09.948,0:00:11.998
Hello, my name is Vanessa,

0:00:11.998,0:00:14.964
and I am a recovering awkward person.

0:00:15.540,0:00:16.921
(Laughter)

0:00:17.060,0:00:21.480
This is me at the peak of[br]what I like to call my plaid vest phase.

0:00:21.480,0:00:23.202
(Laughter)

0:00:23.202,0:00:25.852
Luckily, my years of social awkwardness

0:00:25.852,0:00:30.713
led me to a fascinating career[br]trying to figure out how people work.

0:00:31.625,0:00:34.067
So, what I didn't realize[br]is that many years ago,

0:00:34.067,0:00:35.296
I would do an experiment

0:00:35.296,0:00:38.576
that led me right on this stage[br]in front of you here today.

0:00:38.765,0:00:43.005
My lab researchers and I[br]were curious about TED Talks.

0:00:43.395,0:00:44.664
We wanted to know,

0:00:44.664,0:00:47.805
Why do some TED Talks go viral [br]and others don't?

0:00:48.297,0:00:50.285
So we embarked on a huge experiment.

0:00:50.285,0:00:54.425
We analyzed thousands of hours [br]of TED Talks, looking for patterns.

0:00:54.591,0:00:56.512
I wasn't sure if we would find anything,

0:00:56.515,0:01:00.699
so we were analyzing body language,[br]hand gestures, vocal variety -

0:01:00.971,0:01:03.140
we even looked at outfit choices,

0:01:03.140,0:01:05.700
which made today [br]particularly pressure-filled.

0:01:06.729,0:01:11.698
And very quickly, there was a pattern[br]in the data that made me curious.

0:01:11.898,0:01:14.498
And after we coded [br]more and more TED Talks,

0:01:14.511,0:01:16.450
we realized there was a pattern.

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Now, before I tell you what that is,[br]I have a personal question for you,

0:01:19.837,0:01:22.478
which is, When you see someone,

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what part of the body[br]do you look at first?

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You can just call it out.

0:01:26.557,0:01:28.812
What do you look at first [br]when you see someone?

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Face, eyes - so most people -

0:01:31.912,0:01:32.916
shoes.

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(Laughter)

0:01:37.095,0:01:39.037
They are very high.

0:01:39.267,0:01:43.977
So most people[br]say eyes, face or mouth.

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But actually, when we first see someone,

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the first place we look is the hands.

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And this is left over [br]from our caveman days.

0:01:51.984,0:01:54.443
Because if we were approached[br]by a stranger caveman,

0:01:54.443,0:01:56.301
the first place we looked was the hands

0:01:56.301,0:01:58.490
to see if they were[br]carrying a rock or a spear.

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We wanted to know if we were safe,[br]if they were friend or foe.

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Now, this actually still remains[br]from caveman days,

0:02:05.292,0:02:07.645
and when we can't see someone's hands,

0:02:07.645,0:02:09.378
something interesting happens.

0:02:09.378,0:02:11.858
So I just did something [br]a little mean to your brain.

0:02:11.858,0:02:15.301
You should start to feel [br]just a little bit uncomfortable.

0:02:16.009,0:02:18.469
The reason for that is [br]when you can't see my hands,

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you wonder, What is she doing back there?

0:02:21.709,0:02:22.925
(Laughter)

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And then, the longer I leave[br]my hands behind my back,

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you get more and more distracted[br]because you can't see them.

0:02:28.790,0:02:30.960
And eventually,[br]your brain is just screaming,

0:02:30.960,0:02:33.721
Can't she just bring her hands off[br]from behind her back?

0:02:34.131,0:02:36.003
And the moment I bring them back out,

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it feels so much better.

0:02:38.522,0:02:41.573
And this because our brain knows[br]that if we can't see hands,

0:02:41.573,0:02:43.073
we can't see intention.

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And we found as we compared[br]the most viewed TED Talks

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side by side with[br]the least viewed TED Talks,

0:02:50.424,0:02:52.702
we found a pattern with hand gestures.

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Specifically, on average,

0:02:54.480,0:03:00.302
the most popular TED talkers[br]use an average of 465 hand gestures

0:03:00.302,0:03:01.712
in 18 minutes.

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Yes, we painstakingly counted[br]every single one.

0:03:04.984,0:03:07.254
I have 465 prepared for you today.

0:03:07.379,0:03:09.562
(Laughter)

0:03:09.562,0:03:15.242
And the least popular TED talkers [br]use an average of 272 hand gestures.

0:03:15.334,0:03:16.924
Almost half.

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What's happening here?

0:03:18.785,0:03:21.212
So when TED speakers take the stage,

0:03:21.217,0:03:23.735
they are showing you first[br]"Friend, friend, friend."

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You'll notice when I walked[br]onto the stage, I waved.

0:03:26.306,0:03:28.634
I was saying, "Friend,[br]friend, friend, friend."

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(Laughter)

0:03:29.658,0:03:31.663
And the other thing that TED speakers do -

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see if this looks familiar.

0:03:33.402,0:03:36.756
So they come onto the red dot,[br]and they do something like this.

0:03:38.718,0:03:42.626
"Today, I want to talk to you[br]about a big idea."

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(Laughter)

0:03:44.200,0:03:46.873
"I am going to break it down [br]into three different areas

0:03:46.873,0:03:49.511
that are going to change your life."

0:03:49.984,0:03:50.994
Right?

0:03:50.994,0:03:52.554
(Applause)

0:03:56.344,0:03:58.307
So the most viral TED talkers

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seemed to sit in the same way[br]with these hand gestures

0:04:01.012,0:04:03.516
because what they are doing is[br]they are showing you,

0:04:03.516,0:04:05.630
"I know my content so well

0:04:05.630,0:04:08.760
that I can speak to you [br]on two different tracks.

0:04:08.760,0:04:10.533
I can speak to you with my words,

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but I can also explain[br]my concepts with my hands."

0:04:14.603,0:04:17.533
And this way, they underline [br]their concepts with their words.

0:04:17.533,0:04:19.429
For example, if I were to say,

0:04:19.549,0:04:23.588
"Today, I have a really big idea."

0:04:23.593,0:04:25.724
(Laughter)

0:04:25.724,0:04:27.140
"It's huge."

0:04:27.143,0:04:28.596
(Laughter)

0:04:28.896,0:04:32.602
You laugh, and you are like, "Vanessa,[br]it's so small, it's not very big,"

0:04:33.596,0:04:39.049
and that is because your brain gives[br]12.5 times more weight to hand gestures.

0:04:39.214,0:04:44.556
So today I have a really, really big idea,

0:04:45.476,0:04:48.166
and I am going to explain it [br]to you in three different ways.

0:04:48.296,0:04:52.264
My big idea is that we are contagious.

0:04:52.324,0:04:54.016
Specifically, as humans,

0:04:54.021,0:04:58.416
we are constantly sending[br]and decoding body language signals.

0:04:58.416,0:05:01.492
We also do this emotionally[br]and chemically.

0:05:01.806,0:05:02.926
To explain this,

0:05:02.930,0:05:06.948
I have a rather disgusting[br]but very fascinating study.

0:05:07.727,0:05:11.929
So, in this study,[br]researchers collected sweat pads

0:05:12.259,0:05:14.499
from people who ran on a treadmill.

0:05:14.969,0:05:16.553
Then they collected sweat pads

0:05:16.553,0:05:20.073
from skydivers[br]on their first time skydive.

0:05:20.073,0:05:21.717
Two very different kinds of sweat.

0:05:21.717,0:05:23.054
Here is the disgusting part.

0:05:23.054,0:05:26.300
Then they had poor [br]unsuspecting participants -

0:05:26.300,0:05:27.448
(Laughter)

0:05:27.448,0:05:28.453
I know -

0:05:28.453,0:05:30.847
they had unsuspecting [br]participants in the lab

0:05:30.847,0:05:31.889
(sniffing)

0:05:31.889,0:05:35.899
smell these sweat pads[br]while they were in an fMRI machine.

0:05:36.532,0:05:38.438
Here's where it gets interesting.

0:05:38.505,0:05:42.191
Even though the participants[br]had no idea what they were smelling,

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the ones that smelled [br]the skydiving sweat pads

0:05:46.017,0:05:48.953
had their fear response [br]in their brain activated.

0:05:49.243,0:05:52.438
In other words, they caught the fear.

0:05:53.917,0:05:57.279
This means that [br]our emotions are contagious.

0:05:57.279,0:06:00.489
Our fear is contagious.[br]Our confidence is contagious.

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And this begs the big question:

0:06:03.493,0:06:05.553
If our emotions are contagious,

0:06:05.703,0:06:09.503
how do we make sure that we are[br]infecting people with the right ones?

0:06:10.030,0:06:13.415
So, I believe that we can be[br]contagious in three different ways.

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The first one is non-verbally.

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Now, to test this idea,

0:06:16.624,0:06:19.814
I did a very simple experiment [br]in the streets of Portland, Oregon.

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What I did is I stood in the street,

0:06:22.339,0:06:24.409
and I looked up at nothing.

0:06:25.059,0:06:26.527
And I wanted to see

0:06:26.617,0:06:29.656
if people would catch[br]or mirror my non-verbal.

0:06:30.006,0:06:32.277
So you can see in this video,

0:06:32.277,0:06:35.356
I stand in the streets looking at nothing,

0:06:36.226,0:06:37.885
and slowly one by one ...

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(Laughter)

0:06:39.546,0:06:41.176
I infect people walking by.

0:06:41.176,0:06:42.618
(Laughter)

0:06:43.773,0:06:46.080
(Laughter)

0:06:46.080,0:06:48.070
we begin to gather a crowd.

0:06:48.070,0:06:50.940
(Laughter)

0:06:50.940,0:06:53.607
(Applause)

0:06:42.618,0:06:43.773
And slowly ...

0:06:54.485,0:06:57.454
This poor woman, you know -[br]she was standing there with me,

0:06:57.732,0:07:00.922
and we are standing there,[br]and remember, we're looking at nothing.

0:07:01.347,0:07:05.707
And we are standing, and I am going,[br]How long are we going to stand here?

0:07:06.006,0:07:07.332
Who's going to break first?

0:07:07.332,0:07:09.175
And after about 40 seconds,

0:07:09.637,0:07:12.353
we are looking,[br]and she leans over and says,

0:07:13.032,0:07:14.218
"Is he going to jump?"

0:07:14.323,0:07:17.924
(Laughter)

0:07:18.858,0:07:23.505
And this experience taught me [br]that we catch emotions,

0:07:23.727,0:07:28.558
and then we create rationales[br]for why we've caught that emotion.

0:07:28.711,0:07:30.478
Now, this is actually a good thing.

0:07:30.490,0:07:32.387
As humans, this keeps us safe.

0:07:32.674,0:07:35.864
Dr. Paul Ekman has studied something[br]called the microexpression.

0:07:35.865,0:07:37.646
It's a universal facial expression,

0:07:37.652,0:07:39.739
and he's discovered[br]there are seven of them.

0:07:39.739,0:07:41.368
Across genders and races,

0:07:41.369,0:07:44.907
we all make the same expression[br]when we feel an intense emotion.

0:07:45.200,0:07:47.547
This is the fear microexpression.

0:07:48.286,0:07:50.228
So, fear is a really important emotion

0:07:50.228,0:07:52.591
because we want to catch it[br]from someone else

0:07:52.591,0:07:54.941
to warn us if something[br]is about to go wrong.

0:07:55.222,0:07:58.386
And this facial expression [br]also keeps us safe.

0:07:58.718,0:08:02.077
So imagine for a second[br]that you're walking and you see a snake.

0:08:02.636,0:08:05.518
Your eyelids and your eyebrows[br]jump out of the way

0:08:05.518,0:08:08.281
so you can take in as much [br]of the environment as possible.

0:08:08.281,0:08:10.657
"Is there another snake? [br]What is my escape route?"

0:08:10.657,0:08:13.261
Then your mouth - "huh" - opens

0:08:13.261,0:08:17.287
so you can take in oxygen in case [br]you have to fight, yell for help, or flee.

0:08:17.928,0:08:22.280
We make this face before [br]we consciously realize we've seen a snake.

0:08:23.013,0:08:25.304
Now, what's interesting about it

0:08:25.304,0:08:28.044
is you should be starting[br]to feel a little bit anxious.

0:08:28.044,0:08:30.469
That's because when we[br]see other people have fear -

0:08:30.469,0:08:32.106
If we saw this face in the subway,

0:08:32.109,0:08:34.428
we would be like,[br]What's wrong? What's going on?

0:08:34.428,0:08:36.281
Because it keeps us safe.

0:08:36.281,0:08:37.981
So I want you to try it with me.

0:08:37.981,0:08:39.802
Open your eyes as wide as possible.

0:08:39.802,0:08:41.624
Raise your eyebrows up. Very good.

0:08:41.624,0:08:43.091
Now, take in a short breath.

0:08:43.091,0:08:44.180
(Gasp)

0:08:44.180,0:08:45.204
Perfect.

0:08:45.204,0:08:47.384
Do you feel anxious?

0:08:48.056,0:08:50.277
What's interesting [br]about facial expressions

0:08:50.277,0:08:52.877
is they cause our emotions.

0:08:52.987,0:08:55.354
So not only do our emotions[br]cause our face,

0:08:55.354,0:08:57.714
but our face also causes our emotions.

0:08:57.714,0:08:59.751
It's called the facial[br]feedback hypothesis.

0:08:59.751,0:09:03.328
So when we see someone with this face,[br]we catch their emotion,

0:09:03.448,0:09:06.858
and then we are ready to fight, [br]flee, or yell for help.

0:09:07.378,0:09:10.328
Luckily, this also works[br]with positive emotions.

0:09:10.799,0:09:14.369
So one of the faces behind me[br]is a real happiness microexpression,

0:09:14.369,0:09:15.898
and one of them is fake.

0:09:17.347,0:09:19.654
(Laughter)

0:09:20.735,0:09:25.339
So the real happiness microexpression[br]is when the smile reaches all the way up

0:09:25.339,0:09:28.849
into these upper crow's feet muscles,[br]those upper cheek muscles.

0:09:29.139,0:09:30.470
And this is really important

0:09:30.470,0:09:33.510
because, you know,[br]when you tell a frenemy good news,

0:09:33.510,0:09:34.762
(Laughter)

0:09:34.762,0:09:38.041
and they say they are happy for you,[br]but you know they are not really.

0:09:38.319,0:09:42.154
It looks like this -[br]"Oh yeah, I am so happy for you."

0:09:42.154,0:09:44.311
(Laughter)

0:09:44.311,0:09:46.642
So try the fake expression for me first.

0:09:46.642,0:09:49.762
Just try this fake smile, [br]only on the bottom half of the face.

0:09:49.762,0:09:52.273
You can even go, "Uh, uh."

0:09:52.411,0:09:53.951
It doesn't feel so good, right?

0:09:53.951,0:09:55.041
It feels inauthentic.

0:09:55.041,0:09:56.851
Now, go all the way up into your eyes.[br]

0:09:56.851,0:09:59.431
So smile all the way up [br]to the upper cheek muscles.

0:09:59.581,0:10:01.736
Ah, that one should feel[br]so much better.

0:10:01.884,0:10:04.474
What is interesting[br]about this facial expression

0:10:04.474,0:10:06.734
is it causes our own happiness.

0:10:07.154,0:10:09.873
And we also catch it when we see it.

0:10:09.893,0:10:13.655
Researchers of the University of Finland[br]looked at these two facial expressions.

0:10:13.655,0:10:15.935
They had participants look at photos

0:10:15.935,0:10:18.725
of people with the real happiness [br]and fake happiness.

0:10:18.744,0:10:20.921
They found that[br]when they showed participants

0:10:20.921,0:10:23.311
pictures of the real happiness smile,

0:10:23.631,0:10:25.311
those emotions caught -

0:10:25.311,0:10:27.137
they caught the positive emotions,

0:10:27.137,0:10:29.657
and they themselves[br]had a positive mood change.

0:10:29.983,0:10:33.285
But when they looked at the face [br]with the fake happiness smile,

0:10:33.288,0:10:35.202
they caught nothing.

0:10:35.562,0:10:38.917
In other words, if we show up to events[br]that we are ambivalent about,

0:10:39.339,0:10:41.629
interact with people [br]that we don't really like,

0:10:41.940,0:10:44.212
we become less memorable.

0:10:45.061,0:10:48.521
This doesn't just happen in person,[br]it also happens on the phone.

0:10:48.665,0:10:50.708
So I worked with[br]a lot of different clients,

0:10:50.708,0:10:53.131
corporate clients who are[br]on the phone all the time.

0:10:53.131,0:10:54.223
They said "Vanessa,

0:10:54.223,0:10:56.943
I get being happy in person,[br]but how about on the phone?"

0:10:56.943,0:10:58.646
So we decided to do an experiment.

0:10:58.646,0:11:03.466
We had participants in our lab[br]record different versions of their hello,

0:11:03.746,0:11:05.465
the first impression on the phone.

0:11:05.546,0:11:06.535
We wanted to know

0:11:06.535,0:11:10.945
if people could hear[br]happiness, sadness or anger.

0:11:11.315,0:11:14.132
So we had people record[br]different versions of their hello

0:11:14.132,0:11:18.684
with happiness, sadness, anger[br]and while power posing.

0:11:18.684,0:11:20.936
We wanted to see [br]if they would sound different.

0:11:20.936,0:11:23.731
So I wanna play you[br]two different versions of hello

0:11:23.731,0:11:26.709
and see if you can guess[br]which one is the happy hello.

0:11:26.709,0:11:27.913
Are you ready? Alright.

0:11:27.913,0:11:29.483
Same person. Here is a).

0:11:30.395,0:11:31.775
(Sound recording) Hello.

0:11:32.232,0:11:33.212
Here is b).

0:11:33.707,0:11:34.927
(Sound recording) Hello.

0:11:35.543,0:11:37.662
How many people[br]think a) is the happy hello?

0:11:37.662,0:11:39.545
How many think b) is the happy hello?

0:11:39.646,0:11:40.672
Very good.

0:11:40.765,0:11:43.277
We can hear this difference. [br]

0:11:43.281,0:11:45.333
We can hear this microexpression.

0:11:45.333,0:11:48.942
Now, I thought this was interesting,[br]but I wanted to take it a step further.

0:11:48.955,0:11:51.087
So we devised a second part[br]of our experiment

0:11:51.091,0:11:55.283
where we had participants in our lab[br]listen to these recordings

0:11:55.283,0:11:57.947
and rate that person on likeability.

0:11:58.896,0:12:00.010
We wanted to see

0:12:00.010,0:12:02.870
if the happiness microexpressions[br]or the anger microexpressions

0:12:02.870,0:12:05.065
or the power posing expression did better.

0:12:05.346,0:12:06.372
Here's what happened.

0:12:06.393,0:12:08.023
After we asked people,

0:12:08.637,0:12:10.639
"I do like this person a lot,"

0:12:10.902,0:12:14.007
"I like this person a little,"[br]or "I do not like this person,"

0:12:14.176,0:12:16.229
we found that the[br]happiness microexpressions

0:12:16.229,0:12:18.699
across all trials for both men and women,

0:12:18.869,0:12:20.959
they became more likeable.

0:12:21.327,0:12:25.639
Whereas the same persons who baited[br]the anger or sadness microexpression

0:12:25.639,0:12:27.119
were less likeable.

0:12:27.779,0:12:32.302
This is the happy side effect [br]of having your confidence be contagious.

0:12:32.531,0:12:35.542
Not only do you infect someone else[br]with that happiness,

0:12:35.542,0:12:37.992
you also become more likeable.

0:12:38.456,0:12:39.791
We talked about non verbal,

0:12:39.792,0:12:42.578
and I have to talk about[br]what comes after the hello.

0:12:42.671,0:12:45.731
How do we infect confidence verbally?

0:12:46.394,0:12:48.727
So in this study[br]we did in Portland, Oregon,

0:12:48.727,0:12:51.437
we took 500 Speed-Networkers,

0:12:51.774,0:12:53.817
and we asked each[br]of these Speed-Networkers

0:12:53.817,0:12:56.297
to go through a[br]conversation starter round -

0:12:56.297,0:12:57.597
eight of these rounds.

0:12:57.751,0:12:59.983
So we assigned each participant [br]

0:12:59.983,0:13:02.213
a conversation starter[br]to have with a stranger.

0:13:02.483,0:13:05.629
Then we set up cameras[br]in all corners of the room,

0:13:05.629,0:13:09.299
and we analyzed each[br]of these speed rounds for patterns.

0:13:09.461,0:13:11.801
We were looking[br]for body language patterns:

0:13:11.931,0:13:14.971
leans, nods, laughs, [br]smiles, confidence.

0:13:15.033,0:13:17.623
We were also looking [br]for volume differences.

0:13:17.730,0:13:20.870
In a really good conversation, [br]usually the volume goes up.

0:13:20.874,0:13:22.688
In a really awkward bad conversation,

0:13:22.688,0:13:24.988
there are lots of silences,[br]the volume goes down.

0:13:25.186,0:13:29.846
And we also asked each of the participants[br]to rate the conversation starters.

0:13:30.107,0:13:34.406
We wanted to know which ones produced[br]the highest quality of conversation.

0:13:35.382,0:13:39.069
What we found was that[br]the conversation starters that worked

0:13:39.455,0:13:42.255
centered on this little chemical[br]called dopamine.

0:13:42.613,0:13:46.641
So dopamine is the neurotransmitter [br]that we produce when we feel pleasure

0:13:46.642,0:13:48.542
or when we get a reward.

0:13:48.706,0:13:50.991
And I noticed that most of our chit-chat[br]

0:13:50.991,0:13:53.821
that we have at parties[br]or networking events is the same.

0:13:53.857,0:13:55.087
It sounds like this.

0:13:55.920,0:13:57.890
"So, what do you do?"[br]

0:13:59.197,0:14:00.747
"Where are you from?"

0:14:01.195,0:14:02.905
"Live around here? Huh?"

0:14:03.101,0:14:05.116
"Well, I am going to go get[br]some more wine.

0:14:05.116,0:14:06.631
It was great talking to you."

0:14:07.528,0:14:10.578
Those conversations happened[br]over and over again.

0:14:10.662,0:14:13.362
It was almost as if [br]they were socially scripted.

0:14:13.826,0:14:15.666
My brain was on autopilot.

0:14:15.742,0:14:16.747
What we found was

0:14:16.747,0:14:18.972
is that the worst ranked[br]conversation starters,

0:14:18.979,0:14:20.939
the ones that got the lowest ratings,

0:14:20.949,0:14:23.019
the ones that produced the lowest volume,[br]

0:14:23.036,0:14:27.786
the ones that got the most leans away, [br]worst head nods, worst microexpressions,

0:14:28.074,0:14:30.514
those were the ones that we use the most.

0:14:30.993,0:14:32.795
"What do you do?"[br]"How are you?"

0:14:32.795,0:14:34.095
"Where are you from?"

0:14:34.095,0:14:37.345
from a physiological perspective, [br]have no effect.

0:14:37.636,0:14:38.766
No pleasure.

0:14:39.358,0:14:42.117
So what we tried was to find[br]conversation starters

0:14:42.117,0:14:45.711
that could spark or create[br]some kind of excitement.

0:14:45.918,0:14:48.618
Can you verbally trigger dopamine?

0:14:48.990,0:14:51.296
We found that the brain[br]is really interesting.

0:14:51.614,0:14:55.503
If you ask somebody a question,[br]it tends to look for hits and not misses.

0:14:55.693,0:14:57.749
What I mean by this[br]is if you ask someone

0:14:58.110,0:14:59.404
"Been busy lately?"

0:15:00.071,0:15:03.027
their brain immediately looks [br]for all the hits of "been busy."

0:15:03.027,0:15:05.503
They think about negative things[br]that have happened -

0:15:05.503,0:15:08.607
the stress, the busyness, [br]all the bad things in their life.

0:15:08.767,0:15:12.051
Whereas if you ask someone,[br]"Working on any exciting recently?"

0:15:12.727,0:15:16.517
their brain immediately begins to look[br]for all the hits of "excitement."

0:15:16.965,0:15:19.464
It starts to think about [br]the good and happy things,

0:15:19.464,0:15:21.974
all the excitement[br]that's going on in their own life.

0:15:21.974,0:15:23.466
And that does two things.

0:15:23.466,0:15:26.041
One, it creates pleasure for them.

0:15:26.436,0:15:27.863
You are literally asking them

0:15:27.863,0:15:30.684
to borrow excitement [br]from other places in their life

0:15:30.684,0:15:32.824
and bring it to the situation[br]that you're in.

0:15:33.202,0:15:36.332
And the other thing that it does[br]is it makes you more memorable.

0:15:36.612,0:15:39.025
Dr. John Medina found that dopamine,

0:15:39.025,0:15:41.139
when it's triggered[br]in a verbal conversation,

0:15:41.139,0:15:43.199
makes a mental post-it note.

0:15:43.645,0:15:47.810
In other words, when you ask someone else[br]to think of what's exciting in their life,

0:15:47.976,0:15:51.669
the happy side effect[br]is that you become more memorable.

0:15:52.177,0:15:54.345
So here's my big challenge for today.

0:15:55.223,0:15:58.093
Instead of using the typical

0:15:58.093,0:15:59.195
"What do you do?"

0:15:59.195,0:16:01.109
"How are you?" and "Where are you from?"

0:16:01.111,0:16:04.114
let's banish those [br]conversation starters forever,

0:16:04.114,0:16:08.262
and let's try ones that ask the brain[br]to look for hits of excitement.

0:16:08.732,0:16:11.922
Try "Working on anything[br]exciting these days?"

0:16:11.922,0:16:13.718
"Have any vacations coming up?"

0:16:13.796,0:16:15.802
"Anything good happen today?"

0:16:15.909,0:16:20.612
I think this is the greatest gift[br]we can give our fellow human beings.

0:16:20.685,0:16:23.825
We are asking them to flip into optimism.

0:16:24.121,0:16:28.731
We are triggering dopamine and excitement[br]and getting them off autopilot.

0:16:29.662,0:16:32.841
The last way that we[br]are contagious is emotionally.

0:16:33.234,0:16:35.619
So, this study is one of my favorites.

0:16:35.901,0:16:39.682
In this experiment, they asked[br]students to sing the song

0:16:39.702,0:16:41.372
"Don't Stop Believing"

0:16:41.722,0:16:43.505
into an accuracy software.

0:16:43.505,0:16:45.509
Now, this a very nerve-racking experiment.

0:16:45.509,0:16:48.538
They are rated on vocal tone, words,[br]

0:16:48.538,0:16:50.288
and they are given no preparation.

0:16:50.288,0:16:52.871
But they did three different trials[br]of this experiment.

0:16:52.871,0:16:55.204
First, they had them[br]just walk into the room

0:16:55.204,0:16:57.144
and sing into an accuracy software.

0:16:57.174,0:17:00.752
The second group got into the room[br]and had to say out loud,

0:17:01.052,0:17:02.382
"I'm nervous."

0:17:02.572,0:17:05.050
And the last group had to walk[br]into the room and say,

0:17:05.070,0:17:06.740
"I'm excited."

0:17:07.260,0:17:10.341
They found with this simple reframe

0:17:10.974,0:17:13.665
the nervous group got 53% accuracy,

0:17:14.025,0:17:15.918
the control group got 69%,

0:17:15.918,0:17:20.486
but the "I'm excited" group [br]got 80% accuracy.

0:17:21.089,0:17:22.086
Why?

0:17:22.086,0:17:25.685
Anxiety and excitement [br]are very similar emotions.

0:17:25.855,0:17:28.005
The only difference is mindset.

0:17:28.966,0:17:30.701
So my challenge for you today

0:17:30.703,0:17:33.785
is to think about[br]how you want to infect people.

0:17:34.350,0:17:37.638
When you want harness incitement[br]or trigger excitement:

0:17:37.638,0:17:40.541
ask dopamine-worthy conversation starters;

0:17:40.541,0:17:42.324
use more hand gestures;

0:17:42.324,0:17:43.966
make authentic smiles;

0:17:43.966,0:17:46.476
and never pick up the phone in a bad mood.

0:17:46.476,0:17:47.903
(Laughter)

0:17:47.903,0:17:51.382
And the last thing I want to do[br]is I want to end on a note of excitement.

0:17:51.382,0:17:53.359
I want to make you really infectious.

0:17:53.359,0:17:55.367
So what we are going to do[br]to end this talk

0:17:55.367,0:17:58.279
is on the count of three,[br]with all the energy you can muster,

0:17:58.279,0:18:01.169
I want you to yell out "I'm excited."

0:18:01.261,0:18:02.321
Are you ready?

0:18:02.401,0:18:03.990
One, two, three!

0:18:04.050,0:18:06.596
"I'm excited."

0:18:06.596,0:18:07.841
You rocked it.

0:18:07.841,0:18:11.751
(Applause)