The day ended with a beautiful reception appropriately featuring poutine and Canadian wines, and the relief that I would never have to rehearse that talk again! The expertise was mind-blowing, and celebrating Canada in the heart of Manhattan felt bizarre yet appropriate. My fellow speakers talked about a huge variety of topics including Indigenous storytelling, coastal clean-ups, Artificial Intelligence, perverse choices, game theory, youth activism, happy climate science, architecture, Arctic flora, and more. I spoke first, which was a bonus as I could then relax and enjoy everyone else’s talks. I felt a part of something bigger and got excited to “give my talk away,” as the TED team would say.Īfter a couple days of warm ups and rehearsing, the big day came and … was over in a flash. But imposter syndrome was not entertained by anyone, and we were all reminded that we were chosen, trained, and ready, and that our ideas mattered. Upon seeing the company I was in, I was humbled and intimidated. Until I landed in New York and met my fellow speakers. I rehearsed constantly in the shower, the kitchen, my car, on walks, at the park, and anywhere in between, aiming for at least 3x a day. They presented us with several tested options depending on how we learn best I chose to color-code my script and print it out for visual help and occasionally (and embarrassedly) practiced in public places for the real-life adrenaline rush. My fellow speakers and I took part in a “Precision Learning Bootcamp” to teach us how to memorize our scripts. ![]() It was daunting, but the TED team had our backs the whole way. At last, after two practice runs in front of TED staff and on lucky draft number 13, I was ready to start rehearsing the final product. These involved me repeatedly falling down information rabbit holes, going off on writing tangents, and then having to circle back to painstakingly cut out large swaths of text (all while talking to myself way too much!). Over the next few months I had many late night writing sessions. ![]() ![]() All told it was a great exercise in “less is more”. She also reminded me I would be able to post supplemental information when the talk was released, a huge relief. Briar skillfully helped me pare it back down while keeping my key points, all of which related to my “throughline”-the crux of my talk. She encouraged me to stick to about 1200 words, but by my third draft, my talk had ballooned to >4400 words in my desperation to squeeze everything I wanted to say into the scant 11 minutes I was allotted. I started by working with my fabulous TED coach, Briar, to develop my first draft.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |