The 5 Stages of my TedX Journey - Speaker to Speaker Coach

Stage 1 – Opportunity: Rory of the TedX Club

Long runs.

My least favorite workout, but the workout that gave me an amazing opportunity.

I was running beside another cross country member, Rory, who happened to lead the school TedX club.  Long runs take a lot out of you, but like most long distance workouts and races 3/4 of it was mental, 1/4 was physical; So keeping a conversation going was quite useful.  

Eventually, the topic of TedX came up, Rory explained how he was looking for members for a TedX event in about 6 months.  I offered to speak, and surprisingly he agreed.

 “As long as you have an interesting topic”, he said, quickly catching his breath

“Just let me know in a couple months.” 

“Sure,” I gasped

Even though I hated long runs, 3/4 of this run was already taken care of: I had more than enough on my mind to ignore the stabbing pain in my abs.  

Stage 2 – Brainstorm: Finding my “Interesting Topic”

When I began brainstorming possible topics I realized my lack of life-changing experiences.  When it came to it, I could only think of one or two really interesting topics;  my life was filled with mistakes and lessons, but nothing seemed like an “interesting topic”.  I thought about speaking about failure for a bit, the idea that success isn’t defined by a lack of failure but rather the way in which failure is handled.  I built on the idea for a bit, but ended up scraping it.

There were already many talks, quotes, and books about failure, most people already knew that using failure as motivation would lead to better outcomes.  As months turned to weeks, I needed to find my topic, fast.  I wanted to make a speech that would create an impact.  As I explained this to my parents, they helped me find my topic.

“If you want to make change then speak about something that made change in your life”, they offered  

So to make an impact, I decided to reach back to my roots and talk about how to make an impact, about how to make a legacy.

Stage 3 – Practice and Rehearse: Henry the Speaker Coach

My talk would center around my grandfather’s story, and how his legacy inspired others.  I won’t get too much into it because, if you are reading this, you should watch the talk without “spoilers”.  

To help refine the talk I had 2 speaker coaches, Abdi and Henry.  Henry was my main coach, he gave me a different perspective on my talk.  Having had many meetings and adjusted my outline, Henry helped me get ready for my first rehearsal. 

I was no stranger to public speaking: I led clubs and participated in public speaking competitions.  But Henry and the other speaker coaches (Ashita, Rory, Abdi) still found substantial mistakes that made huge changes in the speech as a whole.  Without them my speech would not be on nearly the same level.  If you guys are reading this, thank you so much.

A couple more rehearsals and months flew by, it was time for my Ted talk.

Stage 4 – Giving our Speeches: Ty, Dr. Femi, Kelly, Alice, Preston, Tony, and me

The day of the event was here.  I couldn’t decide whether to be nervous or excited, so I chose both.  I went to the event early for a couple rehearsals.  All of the people working at the event were students, which made sense now that I think about it, this was a TedX club event.  

Soon the event began.  As we each waited for our turn we learned more about each other, and why we chose to speak.  Whether inspired by tragic events or life philosophies we each spoke to help others, we were in this together.  I am lucky to get the opportunity to meet so many cool people.

The first speaker, Tony, came down from the stage to the waiting room after his talk, swapping places with Ty.  His exciting buzz was hard to miss, soon many others joined in this excitement as they finished their talks.  Eventually it was my turn, Henry led me upstairs to the final stage of my TedX journey.  It was time.

I walked up to the center stage and began to speak.  Hours of practice and years of public speaking allowed my words to flow, I was nervous, but more importantly I was prepared and confident.  Halfway through my speech, despite drinking bottles of water just seconds ago, my mouth was dry: I couldn’t swallow.  I continued, my rehearsals and practice helping me finish my speech.  Soon I joined the other speakers in the overjoyed feeling of finishing a Ted Talk.

I did it. We did it.

Stage 5 – Goodbye fellow speakers; see you tomorrow Henry

Afterwards, we met the crowd.  We took many pictures and shook hands with the audience.  I exchanged numbers with some of the speakers, knowing I may not see them again, and took one last photo with them.  To this day, I remain in contact with them, using their opinions and expertise on my ideas and projects; they have been truly helpful, whether giving me advice directly or connecting me with other people. The goodbyes with my school friends (the speaker coaches) were much shorter; I would see them again on Monday :).  

I intend to give another Ted Talk over the summer and recently filled out the application for the yearly TED Conference; this is by far my best experience this year (so far). Right now, I coach other speakers as a speaker coach for TEDx.

If you are thinking about giving a Ted Talk, I would stop thinking about it and start doing it.

I definitely recommend listening to everyone’s talks! You can find their names and bios here and their speech on YouTube.