By Helen Hirsh Spence
Estimated read, 4:42 min
Image: Helen Hirsh Spence and Emcee Omar Dabhagi Pacheco at TEDx Kanata Talk, May 15, 2024

If you have ever prepared for a TED or TEDx talk, you’ll understand that it is an intricate process that often starts six or more months before the event. Before embarking on this journey, I had no idea what was involved, but my curiosity was piqued after taking a Thought Leadership course focused on delivering three-minute ‘pitches’. I asked myself, “How much harder can it be than writing, editing, and delivering a three-minute pitch?”

Surprise! It’s very different and complex. Writing a three-minute pitch necessitates brevity, clarity, conciseness, and memorization of about 350 words. TED talks have numerous rules, guidelines, and expectations, and are much longer.

The Process:

• TEDx talks differ in that they are TED events that are organized locally by volunteers who are licensed and follow TED guidelines.
• TEDx talks are intended to inspire, unleash new ideas, educate or inform, and spark connections among audience participants or online viewers.
• A TEDx event cannot have any commercial, religious, or political agenda. Neither I nor any of the speakers were permitted to mention our companies, businesses, courses or products.
• Many TEDx events have themes. The TEDx Kanata event in which I participated had the theme “EMERGE”.
• The Talk cannot be longer than 18 minutes. In more recent years, due to shorter attention spans, most talks last between 8 and 13 minutes.
• My process began in November 2023 when I spotted an advertisement calling for applicants. Applications had to be received by a certain date (usually about four weeks later). They would be notified of their acceptance the following month. In my case, I found out before Christmas.
• The application process was rigorous. There were specific questions to which answers must be kept to a maximum of 2 to 3 sentences. Applicants also had to submit a 2-minute video explaining their idea and why they were qualified to address the topic. The topic for this TEDx event had to conform to the theme, EMERGE.
• Six speakers were selected from approximately 140 applicants.
• The journey was a full-on, new, and exciting educational experience. Here are some lessons I learned to help you appreciate future TED or TEDx talks.

The Training:

• The TEDx Kanata event was remarkably well organized from start to finish. Speakers were provided with coaches to assist in writing, editing, and delivering their talks.
• This involved weekly Zoom sessions with at least one coach and anyone else available. Starting in early January, the organizers held monthly meetups with the coaches and speakers where we read our scripts, received feedback, and made adjustments.
• As the months passed, we began to deliver our talks to the organizers and coaches. We were extremely fortunate in that our coaches also organized dress rehearsals at pubs and at other locations to prepare us for the reality of delivering in front of live audiences and camera crews.
• Throughout the two months leading up to the event, another set of volunteers were publicizing the event, and others were seeking sponsors,  partners, venues, and so on.
• As this was a non-profit event and under the TED banner, everything from logos to publicity had to be approved and be in compliance with the TED brand.
• There is also an approved format for the actual event with guidelines that dictate a TED short film to be played at the front end of every TEDx event.
• With limited numbers of seats at each event, and depending on the license with TED, there is likely to be a variety of formats for selling tickets. In TEDx Kanata’s case, there was a lottery for tickets.

The Finale:

The magic happened on the evening of 15 May 2024! All the exemplary preparations were in place. Volunteers directed traffic to the amazing venue at the Brookstreet Hotel in Kanta North, a well-known and respected hotel and conference space in the heart of Canada’s tech industry. The room was professionally lit and set up for the best acoustics and videotaping. Sponsors and funders were on full display.

TEDx events are designed to maximize interactions among all participants: crew, volunteers, speakers, sponsors, organizers, etc. Networking with food and drink is built into events; in this case, during registration, after the first set of speakers when dinner was served and, again, after the last set of speakers.

I was the last person scheduled to speak; waiting was torture. While I love networking and usually find the experience exhilarating, I was a nervous wreck, so focused on my speech that I couldn’t appreciate anything, let alone dinner. My husband, friends, and grown-up children were in the audience. I didn’t want to embarrass them or myself. I knew my script inside out. Nevertheless, I managed to completely blank out during the dress rehearsal. I was terrified it would happen again. Then, something inside me clicked, my mind reset, and I was on.

I felt I was on top of the world when my talk ended. What a journey! My first TEDx Talk will remain one of the highlights of my future life. I set out on this adventure (and it WAS an adventure) to prove to myself that my memory was still intact and that I could do it. Thirteen minutes (consisting of 1,360 words, learned by heart) later, I achieved my goal.

My message: Embracing Age with a Longevity Mindset:

The feedback I received after my talk confirmed that I inspired many in the audience. I hope my journey will inspire you. A video of the TEDx Kanata event will be released in the next few months. I will be pleased to share it with readers of The 360.

PS. For additional insight on 2024 TEDx Kanata event watch this CLIP (toggle to 30:24 min to 37:40 min). You will meet TEDx Kanata co-chair, Veronica Farmer, and my exceptional coach, Dr. Paul Newton.