Late one Friday evening after a few beers I came home and decided to have a browse around the internet, somehow I ended up at the webpage for an upcoming TEDx event at Russell Square. Now it is definitely a life goal of mine to deliver a TED/TEDx talk but seeing as my public speaking experience was limited to university projects and the odd business presentation I was in my eyes, by no means ready for the opportunity.
This lack of preparation was overcome by the tempting simplicity of the speaker application form, with the only onerous field to be completed being:
“Please provide details of your great idea”.
I jotted down an idea that came out of a recent conversation with friends, it went something along the lines of:
“Ideas are actually not that great, and there is something more important…”
Two weeks and a few clarification emails later I was staring at a note stating that I would be speaking for 7 minutes at the event in Russell Square on February 12th.
Great.
But I guess you can react in two different ways to address opportunities such as this:
- Put it off and out of your mind and hope it goes ok on the day
- Focus on the problem/task in hand and work as hard as you can to achieve it
Thankfully, I took the second route, practicing and filming myself delivering the talk pretty much every day for the 40 days leading up to the event, requested help and support from more experienced speakers (thanks Ed!) and immersing myself in literature focussed on public speaking.
And so, the big day arrives… I walk into the “back stage” area and am introduced to my fellow speakers: established academics with their own books, psychologists with 20 years experience and a blind physiotherapist (an amazing man!). The day progresses and one of the more established speakers includes an idea which directly contradicts one of my main points, but hey, I guess contrasting arguments can be thought provoking.
I walk onto the stage in front of the 90 or so crowd that have paid £20 to attend the event, took a deep breath and then start with:
“5 years ago I was sat in a bar in Manila…”
To be honest, the rest is a bit of a blur, I do remember people laughing at my jokes/looking slightly confused, and then suddenly it was over and the feeling I got from explaining an idea I had generated and articulated myself to a room of intelligent people was absolutely amazing. Not only that, but a number of these intelligent people came to speak to me during the following breaks and expressed an gratitude and interest in my idea.
In summary, though stressful I am extremely happy that I made that snap decision to apply late that Friday night as I thoroughly enjoyed both the challenging preparation and the nerve wracking delivery of the talk. Furthermore, I would most definitely recommend attending/speaking at a TED/TEDx event mainly due to the amazing cross section of people who will attend/speak with you. I made connections with people that I would have never have met in normal life.
Head to www.tedxrussellsquare.com to check out the various speakers and witness my talk below …
Tom Hunt
