I’ve been preparing to give a TEDx Talk since early March! The big day, June 7th is almost here!
Because of the licensing, you must have a .mil or .gov email address to watch the talk live or the replay. If you do, you can register to watch the talk here.
There are 9 talks and mine is around 9:50 AM Eastern. It’s on the topic of Mental Fitness – entitled “How to Conquer the Foreign Object Debris (FOD) In Your Brain”.
Have you ever given a TEDx Talk? If you have congratulations! Please send me the link so I can watch it.
When you watch a TEDx Talk that flows and comes together seamlessly, know that a TON of work went into the talk. For example:
- Determining the topic
- Writing the talk
- Refining the talk
- Getting the point across in 13:30 minutes ( my time limit)
- Grabbing and holding the audience’s attention
- Memorizing the talk
There are no monitors to help the speaker. I must memorize the talk. The monitor shows the slides and a clock to let me know when I am getting close to 13:30. (I will not look at the clock!).
We all know the importance of sleep. I’ve been sleep challenged for the past several months. My Garmin shows a sleep score of 35-48 most nights and 60 and below is poor.
I’ve tried all of the tips you find online. What’s keeping me up is my hip pain (hip replacement on 27 June.)
My point is, I’ve experienced the impact of lack of sleep firsthand. Even though I know my talk is cold, my brain doesn’t always pull up the words.
One thing that helps me is getting to my happy place – the mountains. Pearl and I went to see the last of the mountain laurel blooms recently.
Also, my mom and many friends listened to my talk repeatedly and helped me remember it. My mom suggested I record it and listen to it as I walk or drive and that helped too.
I even wrote out the key points and used watercolors to paint over the points to help me remember the transitions and flow.
Strengthening my Mental Fitness has helped me too. I’ve been kind to myself by taking breaks and asking for help.
I’m grateful to the event host, the Defense Acquisition University, or providing me a coach and a master coach and helping me with my slides.
If you have the opportunity to give a TEDx Talk – go for it. It’s a rewarding experience, one you’ll never forget.