In Bill Gates’ 2015 TED Talk “The next outbreak? We’re not ready,” he delivers a sobering message about the world’s lack of preparedness for a global health crisis.

Speech outline

Theme: The importance of pandemic preparedness to prevent global health crises
Opening: Gates tells a vivid story of a global health crisis that killed millions and warns that another epidemic is inevitable but that we are not ready for it.
Key Idea 1: The likelihood of a highly infectious virus emerging is high.
Key Idea 2: The world’s healthcare systems lack preparedness for an epidemic, and there is a critical need for investment in research and infrastructure.
Key Idea 3: We must take the threat of the next epidemic seriously.
Closing: Gates emphasizes the importance of preventing a future global health crisis, calling on governments, the private sector, and individuals to work together to improve disease surveillance, develop new vaccines and treatments, and invest in research.

Public speaking techniques

Visual aids: Gates enters the stage while wheeling in a large army-green barrel reminiscent of wartime. This piques curiosity and poses a single question in the minds of the audience members: “What is in there?”
Storytelling: Gates takes the audience back to 2013 when the world was hit by the Ebola outbreak. The story vividly paints the picture of “global failure.”
Humor: Gates shares Hollywood’s depiction of global health crises and contrasts it with reality to emphasize that the world does not take these threats seriously enough.

“If anything kills over ten million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than a war. Not missiles, but microbes.”

Why is this TED Talk important and relevant?

It’s pretty remarkable, isn’t it? Watching a video from March 2015 and realizing just how prophetic it was—especially amid this pandemic that has taken so many lives and exposed weaknesses in our global response.

For context, Bill Gates is the technology pioneer who co-founded Microsoft and has now dedicated his life to using technology to advance philanthropy and education.

It’s almost like Bill Gates had a crystal ball. Some folks even suggest that he’s behind the virus itself, furthering the interests of his foundation.

The truth is, if we had paid closer attention to Gates’ global health strategies back in 2015, we might have been much better prepared for this pandemic. Lives could have been saved, and the toll on our communities and economies could have been minimized.

So, what can we learn from all of this? We can learn that predictions can be effective tools for understanding the world around us. We can also learn that when someone like Gates speaks, we should listen. The question now is, what will we do with that knowledge?

👉 Check out the full list of the most popular TED Talks all time.

Bonus talk

Gates returns to the stage to reflect on what we’ve learned since his talk in 2015. He hopes the COVID-19 pandemic will spur the world to pay closer attention to his advice about preventing another pandemic from wreaking similar havoc on society.

Bill Gates, “We Can Make COVID-19 the Last Pandemic” (TED 2022)

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