TEDx Canberra 2013 – Speaker Prep

What do:

• a Slam Poet
• a Social Researcher
• a Friend of SmartPhones
• a De-miner
• a Bat Guy
• Story Gatherers
• an Energy Nerd
• an Interplanetary Explorer
• a Science Technologist
• a Leader Differentiator

have in common?  Not a lot really, except that they were just some of the awesome speakers from TEDx Canberra on September 7th.

When I first heard about “Ted Talks” I thought “Who’s Ted and what does he / she talk about?”  I soon found that it was more than just one person – and had it’s basis in “Ideas Worth Spreading”. You can find out more about Ted Talks on their website. TEDx has been created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading,” and is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis. TEDx Canberra is our very own contribution to “ideas worth spreading”.

This year, I was a TEDx Newbie – this is my very first TEDx so I had really had no idea what to expect. I had heard glowing reviews from other TED and TEDx talk attendee’s but when I looked at this year’s line up, I found it a little difficult to connect with the topics and focus of the speakers. All I can say is, “never judge a book by it’s cover”! Attending was awesome!

I really wasn’t that inspired by the line up to begin with – that’s more of a reflection on my mindset at the time I read the line up then anything else, and I’m really glad that I overcame it (or ignored it) and went along.  After all, a day out with the hubbie being inspired sounded pretty good to me!

I’ll be sharing more about my takeaway points later… I’m still digesting a lot of them.  What I will share today is the challenge in finding Women Speakers and the amount of energy and effort the TEDx Canberra team put into helping their presenters get ready.

The Number of Women Speakers Seemed Low?

I noted a few comments about the number of Women speakers at TEDx Canberra and why there weren’t more. I was really impressed by the number of female speakers. Yes, it’s a sad reflection of the current standards that Women don’t receive an equal level of representation and the TEDx Canberra team address this on their website.

I had the privelege of speaking with Emma Davidson, on the TEDx Canberra Organisers about this, and this is the distilled summary of our discussion:

1. When approached to speak, many women suggest that it’s not really them that are wanted but their male colleagues! After all, they were ‘just part of the team!’…
2. Women seem to have more calls on their time and feel uncomfortable about committing the amount of time required (see the video interview below for more about the time committment). This is an interesting phenonemon, that women seem to be perpetually busy and balance things like home, work, pleasure …. and yet the same “issues” don’t SEEM to exist for men, or they are handled differently.
3. From a personal perspective, I’m not really sure if my “idea worth sharing” is really worth sharing and whether I would “good enough” to present at the conferences (something that Emma dispelled in the interview below)

Emma shared with me that TEDx Canberra are seriously considering a TEDx Canberra Women event later in the year – an event designed to help women step out of their comfort zone, I guess, and get the experience of presenting at one of these conferences. If you want to keep up to date with this, head over the to the TEDx Canberra website and join their newsletter; connect with them on Facebook; or Follow them on Twitter.

Speaker Preparation

I remember doing my communications training as part of my Associate Diploma in Electronic Engineering and later for MBA and some train the trainer courses I attended. The basic premise was, the shorter the speech; the longer you had to prepare and practice. I have also heard the following saying (and it’s been attributed to many sources, so I’m not sure who to credit with this):

“If you want me to speak for two minutes, it will take me three weeks of preparation. If you want me to speak for thirty minutes, it will take me a week to prepare. If you want me to speak for an hour, I am ready now.”

TEDx talks are short, 18 minutes or less! This means an incredible amount of preparation has to go into your talk, to keep it short, engaging and sweet. Having prepared any number of presentations, I’m in AWE! What I didn’t realise was how much support the TEDx Canberra team provides their speakers. It’s not just a matter of pitching your idea and turning up on the day. In addition to other support, all speakers are required to attend a full day rehearsal and be present all day so they can mentor the other speakers on their presentation. WOW! That is a lot of committment, not just from the Speakers but from the Presenter Team as well.

I did the following interview with Emma as she shared just what goes into helping the presenters get ready. (Sorry about the sound quality, a decent mic jig for my Android phone is now on my list of Christmas presents!)

[jwplayer mediaid=”7886″]

This is just a snapshot of my take away points from the event, you can see a mashup of the shares below on Storify:

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