Behind the Scenes of My Journey onto a TEDx Stage: Part One
The day I got the email that my TEDx application had been approved will always be a life-changing day! Not only was it validation that my talk was valuable and wanted in the world, but it was also the culmination of a year’s worth of work on a dream I put out into the universe back in the summer of 2023.
I am excited to share that journey with you to not only give you a glimpse into the process of getting onto a TEDx stage but also to get inspired by the power of manifestation and taking inspired action, one step at a time, toward a goal!
So, let’s start with the day I put it out into the universe that I wanted to get onto a TEDx stage! I was meeting with Michael Kaplan, the Publisher of Bedford New Canaan Magazine, at a local restaurant for an interview over lunch. I was going to be featured in the October issue of their magazine to showcase my newly published book. We spent 2 hours talking about life, the book, his career journey, and both of our aspirations for the future. I happened to mention that I had a bucket list goal of becoming a TED speaker. To me, that would be the pinnacle of a career in speaking.
Fast forward to October and the article came out. In the first paragraph, Michael mentions my goal to become an inspirational speaker and author. He also notes, “….and it is safe to bet she’ll be giving a TED Talk before you can say Tony Robbins!” I remember reading that and thinking, wow, if he thinks I can do it, then maybe I really can!
I spent the next nine months speaking about my book wherever I had the opportunity. Part of what I spoke about was sharing my career journey from corporate America to starting my interior design firm. I loved getting to connect with people through my story and seeing the inspiration I was putting out into the world. That narrative would become the foundation for my TEDx talk!
In the summer of 2024, I was listening to a podcast, and the guest was speaking about running an agency that specializes in helping people perfect their TEDx talks. I was intrigued. I have learned that if something piques my interest, I mean really speaks to me, that I need to listen! That is the universe talking to me, and potential doors are opening.
Fast forward a month, and I had hired the agency to help me write my TEDx talk! Given that I was not an expert in how to write in that style, I decided that I needed an expert in the process if I was going to succeed at my goal. I knew getting selected for an event was not easy, and having a talk that goes viral….also not easy!
The goal was to get the talk written by the end of the year so it could be pitched early in 2025 during the peak of the pitching season. That meant 4 months of dedicated time to write, re-write and write some more!
For me, the biggest challenge with a TEDx talk is that it needs to be under 18 minutes and still contain all of the key elements of a good keynote, which is closer to an hour. It needs to have a gripping beginning, heart-felt stories, action steps, key take-way lessons, and a killer close to bring it all together. Not to mention, it needs to be a subject that could potentially go viral on YouTube since that is part of the “getting found” part of it all! All of this must be done in under 18 minutes. AND it is all 100% scripted, which is a speaking format that I have never done before. That means you write and memorize every word. Nothing is “off the cuff”. SO yes, the infamous Brene Brown TEDx on vulnerability is fully scripted! Every word is carefully chosen to help succinctly communicate the story that is worth sharing!
The 99% finished version of the talk was completed in early December. I then started on the journey of pitching and learning the talk. Pitching it means filling out lots of applications about why my talk would be ideal for a specific TEDx event. Every event has a unique theme, so many of them would not be applicable to the subject of my talk. That pitching process could mean submitting it to 60+ events, hoping it resonates with one of the event planners!
Now is a good time to back up a little bit and explain TEDx vs TED. TED is the original event platform. TED speakers are sought out and invited to speak, think Bill Gates. That is not something you can apply for. TEDx, however, is an application process. TEDx events are locally organized events that have licensed the rights to use the TED name and event format. They happen all over the world and reach thousands of people! In 2024, there were approximately 3000 TEDx events globally, and each event hosted between 6-12 speakers depending on the event format.
If you are chosen to be a speaker, doing so is done on your own dime! You travel, stay, and speak for free. This is done by people who want to become speakers, want to become better known, or just want to share their stories. The goal is typically not just raising awareness at the event but about the viral component that YouTube can provide once your talk is posted.
For me, not only was being a TEDx speaker a bucket list item because it was a challenge for me as a speaker, but it was also the chance to hopefully get discovered on a larger stage with the goal of advancing my speaking career. Being able to add “TEDx speaker” to your resume is like being a bestselling author. It gives you immediate creditability!
After my talk was almost finalized late last year, I had to start learning it. That meant memorizing every word of a 4+ page document. It is 2115 words to be exact! I did that one page at a time, repeating it again and again while on my elliptical machine or my trampoline. While learning it, I also had to design the presentation for it. There are people I could have hired to help with this, but I felt with my sales background, I could handle the presentation part on my own. By early January, I had memorized the talk and the phase of needing to practice began.
I was fortunate that I was able to connect with multiple local organizations that were open to hosting me to present and practice! I presented it 8 times to several hundred women in my town. Some of the groups were very small and some were larger. Group size didn’t matter to me. Any practice, was good practice! I even had the chance to present to the residents of a local senior center, and they were engaged and a lovely audience! I found from that part of the journey that not only did I get practice, I got to share the journey to TEDx which was something most people didn’t know plus I had the opportunity to meet many like-minded women in the process! Given that the talk is about finding lfie balance, the audiences were mostly comprised of women who were interested in that topic. I met some really amazing women during my practice sessions, and I am so grateful for that part of this journey!
During my practice presentations, I was practicing so many things! My memory of the exact words, the timing with the slides, moving around while presenting but not moving too much as often the stages are small (as small as 8×8) and the big one….presenting with my hands! I naturally talk with my hands, which helps, but a friend sent me a study that found that in the most viral TED talks, the speakers used an average of 465 hand gestures in 18 minutes. That is A LOT of hand movements!
All of the practice presenting paid off because when I got the notice that my application was accepted, the event was a month away! But I was ready! I could present tomorrow and felt great about it!
After getting accepted by TEDxUTD in Dallas, there was less than a week allotted to submit all the final assets: the talk, the presentation, rights to any images, a bio, a headshot, and several release forms. Plus, the first rehearsal was 3 weeks away! This was not the time to learn the talk and thankfully, that is not what I had to do.
As of this writing, I have submitted all the assets and am waiting for approval for my talk. If changes need to be made, hopefully, they are minimal since I know it as it is! I am working on booking multiple flights and trips to Dallas for the rehearsal the week before and the big event on April 18th.
The committee running the event is much larger than I anticipated but in typical kind Texan style, they have been extremely helpful and welcoming! I am excited to meet the other speakers when we are together on April 9th for our first of 2 rehearsals.
It still is a “pinch me” experience to know I will get the opportunity to be on a TEDx stage. But I put it out into the universe that this was a goal, and I took inspired action steps to make it a reality. I hope that message resonates with you, along with the fun of learning about the journey to get here!
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~Jeanne xo
