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New goal in life: give a Ted Talk

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About six years ago, I went to the Royal Albert Hall, for a Teenage Cancer Trust comedy show. It was the best show I have ever seen, and the Royal Albert Hall was the best venue I have ever been in.  So impressed, was I, that I set myself a new goal in life. To one day, be on that stage, giving a talk, or performing. I don’t know. Something.  I am not much for performances, but happy to give talks. My career as an improvising actor hasn’t gone very far, and such things require practice.

Anyway, six years in and I am no closer to achieving that goal. Do I feel a bit disappointed in myself? Yes, kind of. Can I do better? Probably yes. Is there a clear pathway? No. At least not to me.

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to attend a full day of Ted Talks, organised by TedX Oxford, and boy was it inspiring. There were talks about charity, giving, looking inside us for happiness, quantifying music in numbers without making it boring, and using musical tones to see colours, hence turning into a cyborg. There was also mention of using maths to solve knots, creating Quantum computers, studying the oceans (I did talk about the mission last year), and solving problems by the sheer power of looking and observing.

Anyway, bursting with inspiration, I have set myself a new goal. A goal to be a Ted Talk speaker.

So, how to achieve this goal, when the last goal in life hasn’t gone very far?

Well first of all, I haven’t given up the Royal Albert Hall goal. Secondly, the Ted people were going around yesterday using the following board, asking people what they would give a Ted Talk on.

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I didn’t get a chance to fill it in, but it did inspire me.

So the big question.  How to achieve this goal. Here is how I think it can be done :

Watching other Ted Talks. Almost everyone who spoke mentioned on they had seen other Ted Talks for inspiration. They also talked about how it was a bad idea, as they are so good it only puts you off.
Based on that, find something within me that I am good at. Very good at.
Identifying the topic is most of the battle.
Have at least two backup topics.
Start creating content for your talk.
Write your talk for the length of 10-15 minutes.
Find great images/videos /charts for your talk.
Make it funny.
Make it applicable to everyone. It may be rocket science, but how does it affect you and me.
Verify your facts, your knowledge.
Start applying for talks.
Start giving talks.
Write to Ted?
Be someone they invite.
Be someone others would invite.
Give ‘Sceptics in the pub’ talk?
Talk to people I know who have given Ted Talks.
Don’t state the obvious, bring people something new.
Don’t miss out the obvious either. Present your message in a factual, but also emotional way.

What do you think? Will it work? Should it work? Will you be interested in a Ted talk from me? What on?

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