Ludo Founder takes to the Tedx Stage

Yesterday, I did a Ted Talk.  I have always wanted to do a Ted Talk so when a Tedx opportunity presented itself I jumped at the chance.  Let me begin by saying, I totally underestimated the level of work, commitment and anxiousness it was about to bring to my life.

I have stood up and presented in my career more times than I care to mention.  I do keynotes, deliver workshops and stand up in front of hundreds of people.  And (I know this is weird) I really enjoy it.  My pattern of learning and preparing to speak, is to draft a slide deck or have an autocue and occasionally a card in my hand with prompt words.

But no… this is NOT the way it works with Ted.  You need to learn the script, send the script in advance and then stand up with no prompt, no slides and just do it.  Imagine learning a 12 min monologue.  Just imagine.

I called in help from the brilliant Ludo partner Susie Ashfield and Actor Will Ellis for top tips. Susie was brilliant in saying the script is the guide, if you miss a bit, change the words slightly or shift things around, it doesn’t matter.  This instantly took the pressure off.  Will said, there is no magic wand.  Repeat repeat repeat.  And said ‘think of it as a stream of thoughts’ which was game changing, and helped me be in the talk rather than seeing the words as something external to me.

So what did I learn?

1. Preparation matters
2. The fact that more people are scared of public speaking than dying, helped me acknowledge my anxiety was entirely normal
3. When you stand up and talk about a subject close to your heart, you can feel it and it really matters
4. The fact it matters is a good thing and a bad thing in equal measure
5. Connecting with my fellow speakers was wonderful, and their talks were inspiring
6. There are lots of ways to memorise things and I tried a few until I found what worked for me
7. Asking for help was a good move
8. It is ok to be vulnerable

When the talk is online, we will share it with you.

For now, here is the link to the Tedx page for others:  TEDx Talks | Watch | TED

If you are thinking about it…. do it.  Push yourself out of your comfort zone.