My journey preparing for a TED Talk

Sep 12

In 2016 I read the book Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo.

Who hasn’t been fascinated by TED Talks? It is the ultimate vehicle to share “ideas worth spreading.” When reading the book, I intended to learn what inspires TED speakers, but Gallo convinced me it was possible to share my work more broadly, and so do you. I was already presenting at global events, but nothing on the TED format or scale.

At that time, I was witnessing unthinkable public education outcomes in various countries because of my team’s work at Learning One to One: students were motivated to learn, breaking the poverty mindset, and giving place to a life full of potential designed by themselves. We could bring hope for a better life to millions of students if education leaders could just listen to this message.

I realized, though, that my presentation skills had to improve before I could start thinking about a TED Talk. The mission of helping students boosted my desire to learn more about making such a presentation. I read numerous books (good and bad ones), watched hundreds of TED Talks, asked for help from friends who are outstanding speakers, such as Beto Gonzalez, and continued to practice whenever I had the chance to present.

I am an introvert with a small number of friends who enjoy a private life and never wished to be exposed to larger crowds. But, as rock climber Alex Honnold said in his 2018 biographical documentary Free Solo, “Nobody achieves anything great because they are happy. It is about being a warrior. It doesn’t matter the cause—this is your path, and you will pursue it with excellence. You face your fear because your cause demands it.”

We admire heroes like Honnold for the amazing things they achieve, and we all wish we could do the same. It takes considerable strength to take the first step to make things happen, starting from having a why – discovering your purpose. I found mine back in 2010 and took a crazy step to realize it: drop a high-paying tech job to improve education worldwide. I share this story in my book, “Becoming Einstein’s Teacher: Awakening the Genius in Your Students,” published in January 2021.

With the book launched and many presentation practices behind me, I finally thought it could be the time to give a TED Talk. Not knowing the pathway to get there, I continued to speak at education events worldwide. Many of these conferences required speakers to apply, and I often got more “noes” than “yeses.” My mission requires me never to give up, so a “no” just motivated me to work harder. I imagine it is easier for people who have worked their entire professional lives in the same industry. It is a bit more challenging for a software engineer who worked her whole life in the tech industry and then decided to foster human achievement through formal education.

On Jan. 4, 2022, a caller from an unknown number left me a message, which I almost deleted before listening to it. I assumed it was one of those spam calls that you and I get all the time. The voicemail was from TEDxMiami’s Speaker Director, asking if I would be available to speak at the May 19 event. I couldn’t believe it. It was finally happening. I felt amazing that day but then thought, “Oh, crap! Now I must prepare for it!” And so, the journey started. Besides getting ready for it, one of the most challenging things was holding back from sharing the news with friends and colleagues for a while.

TEDx organizers are volunteers, and I was lucky enough to work with extraordinary professionals at TEDxMiami. They are exceptional for a reason: their bar is set very high. TEDx speakers work with coaches to improve their talk, which in my case was a five-month process. The first task was to write an initial script and discuss it with the coaches. Can you imagine how challenging it is to summarize a 52,000-word book in 10 minutes? My audiobook alone is 5 hours and 44 minutes long!

I wrote 22 scripts to get to the final talk and codenamed each version to make it fun. After all, if the talk failed for any reason, I wanted at least to have fun in the process. Some of the codenames were: “Take 3,” “The Revenge,” “Time Crunch,” “Almost There,” “It is Easier to Go to the Moon,” “Will this Ever End,” and finally “Product Shipped.” I can’t share some codenames publicly due to their explicit nature, as you can imagine.

Not all speakers in my cohort had as many scripts as I did. Some of them had their talk figured out from the beginning. I have written various articles, published a book, and given different presentations to multiple education audiences. However, this was a different challenge because I had to narrow down good talking points for a diverse TEDx audience most likely unfamiliar with the education topic. There was so much good stuff I wanted to share, but eventually, I reduced it to one message.

While writing and practicing the delivery of each draft version, I went through waves of motivation and despair. Some days I felt like, “This is it! I got it!” Then my dear coaches would make me realize the audience would be uninterested in this boring talk. Sometimes I felt like running away from this craziness. “You will expose yourself! It is a shame of no return! Might as well give up now while you can!” said the evil voice in my head. Then I remembered my former manager Chamo Annoscia saying, “Enjoy the ride, one day at a time.”

A month before the talk, we could finally share with the world about TEDxMiami, which I did with this LinkedIn post. It was great to get the support of so many friends and colleagues, but now I was indeed exposed. I had to deliver after creating such expectations. In one of the low moments, when the evil voice was louder than reason, I cried out to friends for some soothing comfort. No shame in doing so. You should do the same if you ever get to that point.

I didn’t have a final version of my talk until two weeks before the event. Because of that, I had to practice early mornings, late nights, and weekends to get ready. Oh, yes, and work during the day, no vacation time. Various friends were kind enough to let me practice with them, such as Dr. Susan Neimand, Renee Lopez-Cantera, and Dave Lawrence, who provided unlimited support. I fixed many delivery issues, such as pronouncing some words more clearly or changing slides’ sequences. In all, I practiced with about 20 friends, and if you ever have a TED Talk coming up, I highly recommend this strategy.

Our TEDxMiami curator announced the stage order a week before the D-Day. I was going first out of the ten speaking slots on the agenda. What?? That news caused my legs to shake and my heart to pound as if I were running for dear life. But after that moment of desperation, I decided it was good to speak first because I would get it done as soon as possible. After all, speaking is what we were there to do. How is that for a pep talk?

The other speakers and I were given a dress rehearsal the day before the event. I made some mistakes in the first round, and so did my fellow speakers. We were all nervous. The second and third rounds were much better. We all felt ready. The energy was building. We were all excited, ready to live this fantastic moment of our lives.

May 19, 2022, finally arrived. We were at the venue by 3 p.m. for an event that started at 7 p.m. I was ready to get set with the microphone by 6:30 p.m., but at 6:45 p.m., not even the host was in the same backstage area yet. Of course, this is Miami. You say 7 p.m., and people are in the vicinity at the scheduled time, not at the venue. Anxiety started to build up while waiting. Finally, at 7:25 p.m., it was show time, and we were ready to go. I ran to the other side of the backstage and patiently waited to be announced, feeling somewhat confident that everything would go right.

The door opened, and I walked to the red dot. “Good evening,” I said. “It is so nice to finally meet you.” I started talking and suddenly realized what I was doing. “Holy crap! These people are looking at me, expecting a novel conversation. Can I deliver?”

And so, I made a mistake. I couldn’t go back, so what should I do? In a flash, a 2010 interview with skier Lindsey Vonn came to my mind. She said after winning the Alpine Ski World Cup in women’s downhill by 0.68 of a second, despite making a mistake during her run: “I just kept fighting the whole way down. My skiing wasn’t perfect today, but it was set in the right direction.” Vonn’s win is a good reminder that performing up to potential does not necessarily mean perfect execution but knowing you can correct course and achieve the desired result.

I stopped, looked at the audience, and said, “This is what happens when you stand on the red dot.” Everyone laughed, and I resumed the talk to the end. We watch great TED Talks online, flawlessly delivered, and believe these speakers are awesome. If you believe that, you must attend a TED event in person. Speakers make mistakes all the time, which are fixed with video editing. Making mistakes on stage should never be your excuse not to become a TED speaker.

Once the talk was done, it felt so good to celebrate with my fellow speakers and coaches backstage. The joy and satisfaction are indescribable. Everyone should live a moment like that.

When you are ready to become a TED speaker, I recommend listening attentively to the coaches and reading the Carmine Gallo book I mentioned. Two other books you should read are “TED Talks” by Chris Anderson and “Pitch Anything” by Oren Klaff. And, of course, watch TED Talks, observing the speaker’s delivery. But remember: your TED Talk will always be yours, no imitation required.

I genuinely hope you are inspired to give a TED Talk, share your idea worth spreading, and contribute to transforming the world.

You can watch my TED Talk here. Make sure you give it a “like”!