Crafting a TEDx Talk That Showcases Your Big Idea with Anna Goldsmith | Ep. 70 - Author's Edge

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Anna (00:00):
TED Talk is a story in the service of action.

(00:03):
What do you want your audienceto do as a result of listening
to your story?

Allison (00:34):
Welcome back to the Author's Edge.
I am your host and your literarychaperone, Allison Lane.
And I am here to say and remindyou, I know you have a message
whether you already have a bookout and you're thinking, what am
I going to write next?
Or my agent says, I need tobuild my platform more, which no
one knows what a platform is.

(00:55):
So, we gag on that word.
Or that to stand out and getattention from an agent or a
publisher, you need to be in thespotlight a little bit more.
And a lot of people are giventhat advice of like, why don't
you do a TED Talk as if thatchecks the box?

(01:15):
But people don't know where tostart.
And this episode is yourshortcut to that stage because
too many brilliant people justlike you, assume that a TED or a
TEDx talk is out of reach.
And then they get stuck tryingto force a big idea into that

(01:37):
tight format.
But we're going to talk aboutthis today.
Ted organizers are looking forvoices just like yours, people
with bold and clear ideas andstories not just the 10 steps
that your method lays out.

(01:58):
But ideas that challengethinking or shift the
conversation.
And I can't tell you exactlywhat that is.
But today's guest, AnnaGoldsmith, certainly can.
She is the founding partner ofan award-winning agency, the
Hired Penns and executiveproducer of TEDx Portsmouth,

(02:21):
which is one of the largest andmost successful TEDx events in
the country.
She is a big deal, for sure.
And people never think they're abig deal, but I'm telling you.
She is a big effing deal.
And she's helped hundreds ofpeople find their story and the
stage that they need to be on.

(02:45):
I'm so happy, Anna, that you'rehere and you're going to help
clear things up for us because Ithink people need to know what
the process is and what a TEDxor a TED Talk can do for you
because it's not automatic.
So can you talk us through howTED works?

(03:06):
Just let's get started withthat.

Anna (03:08):
Yes, I would love to.
Let me just begin by talkingabout the difference between Ted
and Ted X, because I thinkthere's a lot of confusion
there.
Ted was started first about 40years ago in California, and it
became so popular that peopleall over the world were said.
Can I bring Ted to my community?
So, they started licensing theTED brand out to organizers and

(03:32):
they put an X after the ted.
So, think of the X as X marksthe spot.
There's 3,500 TEDx events allover the world.
And I explain it, it's likecolleges.
So, you have the Harvards ofTEDx events and you have the
community colleges of TEDxevents.
But they follow the same rules.

(03:52):
But what I love about TEDx andbeing a TEDx organizer is that
the cream really rises to thetop.
You think about somebody likeBrene Brown.
She really got on people's radarafter she gave her first TEDx
talk at a fairly small event inTexas.
And the talk was so great thatit really catapulted her to the
national stage.

(04:13):
The same thing happened forSimon Sinek, who is a global
thought leader.
Highly paid speaker.
He gave his TEDx to an audienceof fewer than 100 people, but it
was so good that Ted noticedthat.
And so, what happens is withinthe TED community, TEDx acts
like a content feeder for Ted.

(04:33):
So, there's an entire team atTed and their only job, and it's
a big one is to watch everysingle TEDx that gets produced.
And then decide, is this goodenough that we want to promote
it on the TEDx YouTube channelor even better?
Is it so good that we want tobring it over to ted.com.

(04:53):
So, if you go to ted.com now,you'll see that there's TEDx
talks that are featured on thatsite.
There's about 40 or 50 tEDxtalks a year that are considered
so good that they getimmediately pulled over to Ted.
And I've had several speakersget pulled to Ted because for my
event, we invest a lot oftraining into the speakers that

(05:15):
we put on stage.
And I'm a writer, so that's justsomething I care deeply about.
But it's, i'll tell you Allison,anyone who's written a book can
give a TED Talk and it can feelintimidating, but don't let it
be because it's an incredibleplatform for authors.
And can I share a story aboutone of my speakers who is an
author?

Allison (05:32):
Absolutely.

Anna (05:33):
Okay.
So, this is a woman and myfavorite speakers always say, I
could never give a TED Talk.
And I'm just going to use Tedand TEDx interchangeably because
it's really the same brand.
I love it when a speaker saysthat to me because it tells me
that, number one, they'rehumble.
And I love working with humblespeakers because it probably a
bit like working with Allison inthe book processes.
It really is a collaborativeexperience.

(05:55):
And when a speaker comes in andsays to me, I have a talk that's
perfect for the TED stage, istotally done and ready to go.
I know that speaker's going tobe probably really hard to work
with and they probably don'thave a great TED talk because
Ted is really its own beast.
There's a formula, they're veryshort format talks.
I've been going to conferencesspecifically for organizers for

(06:17):
several years now.
And when I started going.
About 10 years ago they said thetalks, it says the limit is 18
minutes.
We really want talks under 15minutes.
Now, they're telling us under 10minutes.
So, that's where you really haveto have a succinct, big idea.
And somebody who knows the TEDformat can help you find that.

(06:37):
And I'll give you some tips onthat later on.
I actually have a worksheet thatI'm going to give to Allison
after, for anyone who'sinterested.
It's a Find your big ideaworksheet, and it's going to
take you through 10 questionsthat you can answer to see where
your big idea is.
And I really believe everyonehas one.

Allison (06:52):
Don't make us wait for the URL because people are busy
and they'll want to go now.
And we'll put this in the shownotes, but tell me the URL.

Anna (07:00):
It's not A URL right now.
It's a PDF.

Allison (07:02):
Okay.

Anna (07:03):
So, I will just get it to you and then you can put it in
the show notes.
It's actually something Icreated yesterday.
So, I'm in the process ofredoing my entire site.
So it's going to be living on mysite soon, but it's not there
yet.
So, one of my speakers wasreally reluctant about being a
TED speaker, but I knew she hada great story.
She agreed to audition.
She was amazing.
She's a professor at Berkeley.

(07:24):
Her name's Scarlet Keys, and shetalked about why we like our
favorite songs.
And it was just a fantastictalk.
It was so good that Ted tooknotice, pulled it up to their
ted.com site.
She's got about a million viewsnow.
But what's really exciting thathappened is that they decided to
interview her on the TED Radiohour.

(07:45):
And somebody from the WallStreet Journal was listening to
Scarlet's Talk, heard her talk,heard she had a book, which by
the way was completely unrelatedto her talk.
Read her book and posted it asone of his top 10 books of the
year.
And this is just a little bookthat wasn't a big name
publisher.
Good book but just your averagebook, not a bestseller.

(08:08):
It's certainly selling now, andthat was all because she took
the risk and gave a TED Talk.
So, it really is a greatplatform for writers.

Allison (08:16):
That first of all, she's in Boston.
I'm in Boston.
You said Berkeley and I wasthinking California, but she's
at Berkeley College of Music.
That's correct.
As soon as you said that Ithought, oh my gosh, there are
certain songs that you couldlisten to again and again that
for some reason just feel likehappiness in a melody.

(08:42):
How does this capture us somuch?
And then, alternatively, why dosome songs just feel like a
knife through the heart?
A fork in the eye?
Even my daughter, who is so intorap music now, she's 14 and we
do love it some old school wraparound here.
Some of the rap, the new rap,awesome.

(09:03):
Some of it horrendous.
And I just want to drive the cardirectly into a tree stump when
I hear it.
So, I cannot wait to watch herTED talk, I will put it in the
show notes.

Anna (09:16):
I'll give your users, your listeners a quick tip that she
loved, that I use a lot.
So, if you have a family andyou're all going in different
directions, particularly this isgreat during a morning when you
have to get things done, butmaybe you're yelling at each
other, mornings can bestressful.
One of my favorite tips that shegives is put on a song that
everyone in your family likesand the song immediately sinks
everybody up and things justbecome a lot easier.

(09:38):
And she said, one more tip.
She said, if there's somethingyou nag somebody about on a
regular basis, like honey, pickup your socks, say, sing it to
them, pick up your socks.
And they'll start listening toyou just by singing it and it's
silly and maybe they'll make funof you, but it's a good way to
get somebody to pick up theirsocks.

Allison (09:54):
Yes.
Dr.
Christine Carter in RaisingHappiness, her book Raising
Happiness talked about how toget kids to do chores, is you
put on a, like a dance partyclean party 15 minutes.

Anna (10:07):
That's so funny.
Yeah.

Allison (10:08):
And everybody's essentially like at the car
wash, but like everybody's doingthat.
I love that.
And it's just 15 minutes andthen suddenly the living room
looks like a regular living roomand not like a bomb of clothes
went off.

Anna (10:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
You can use that for writerstoo.
And this is, I'm a professionalwriter, so this is a trick I
use.
Sometimes the hardest part aboutwriting is just getting started,
just like going to the gym.
The hardest thing is justputting on your sneakers and
walking out the door.
You can say, I'm just going towrite for the length of this
song.
And I like to write to songswithout words, because otherwise
I start listening to the words,I'm just going to write for the

(10:44):
lengths of this song.
Five minutes.
I guarantee, at least for me, Ijust keep going after that.
And that's a great way to do itis to give yourself this time
limit through a song.

Allison (10:53):
I love that.

Anna (10:54):
We can get back to Ted.
I feel like I got us off trackthere with.

Allison (10:56):
No, no, no.
This is all absolutely fabulous.
I just needed to know a littlebit more about Scarlet Keys.
And the fact that her last nameis Key.

Anna (11:04):
You couldn't make that up.
Right?
Everyone's seriously real nameThat is her real name.
And she's actually a really wellknown songwriter.
She's written for big stars.

Allison (11:14):
Okay, so a TED Talk is not a keynote.
It's not a workshop and it's nota moth style story.
So, what makes this formatunique and so different from The
Moth?

Anna (11:30):
I love that question.
The Moth is a great parallelexample because The Moth tagline
is true stories told live.
TED Talks are true stories also,and they can often be very
entertaining, just like a mothtalk.
But the primary differencebetween a Moth talk and a TED
Talk is that a moth talk is astory for entertainment.
A TED Talk is a story in theservice of action.

(11:53):
What do you want your audienceto do as a result of listening
to your story?
And Ted Talks are inherentlyoptimistic.
I do this work because it's myway to help make the world a
better place using the limitedskills I have which is helping
people find their stories andshape them.
And if you wrote a book, youhave something that you care

(12:14):
about, you have a way that youwant to make the world a better
place and how it's differentfrom a keynote is number one,
it's a short format.
Like I said, it shouldn't belonger than 10 minutes.
That's about 1500 words.
The average person speaks about150 words a minute.
So think about a 1500 wordessay.
It's different from a keynotebecause it's a general audience,

(12:34):
right?
You are speaking to 75-year-oldretired dentists and 15-year-old
high school freshmen.
So, your talk has to appeal tothat general audience who can't
assume any particular, aparticular base of knowledge.
So I'll give you an example, andthis was a couple years ago, and
the term has become much morefamiliar.
I run groups for people thatwant to give TED Talks.

(12:56):
So these were a couple peoplethat were in my group.
And this woman was pitching heridea and she wanted to talk
about DEI.
Another woman in the group said,I just really like you.
You're so charismatic and youhave such an interesting story.
But what's DEI?
And I think everyone knows thatDEI is now, but this is a couple
years ago.
And for this woman who'simmersed in this world, everyone
knows what DEI is.

(13:17):
But for this other person who isa massage therapist in New
Hampshire.
She'd never heard the termbefore.
So you can't assume any base ofknowledge.
The only thing you can assume isthat the audience is curious and
interested to learn.
But other than that that's maynot be as much of a problem with
certain people, but it's often achallenge for scientists and

(13:38):
engineers, people really steepedin tech worlds because they
don't understand what somebodyelse doesn't understand so.

Allison (13:45):
Right.
What's obvious to you isabsolutely new to someone else.

Anna (13:49):
Correct.
Yes, absolutely.

Allison (13:51):
Sometimes you haven't written a book, but it's
suggested to you, maybe youshould do a TED talk and that'll
help you stand out.
So, do you have a recommendationof what comes first?
The book or the TED talk?

Anna (14:06):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So, the best TEDx events haveabout a six to 12 month lead
time.
So my event happens in May andI'm finding speakers in October,
and that's pretty typical.
Sometimes you can speak at asmaller event and they're
looking about a month ahead oftime, but oftentimes those
events aren't worth your time.
I think that they can happen intandem.

(14:26):
I think that a great TED Talkcan be an excellent launching
pad.
For working with somebody likeAllison who can get you a deal.
And if you have a book, a TEDtalk can be a great way to
promote your book.
Now you can now I will say, youcan't promote your book directly
from the stage.
You would never do that.
Ted stages are not promotionalplaces.

(14:49):
However, two years ago, Tedchanged their rules and they let
speakers sell their books atevents.
So, our event we have about athousand people at our event.
So, it's one of the biggerevents in the country.
We started having a popupbookstore in our lobby.
We sell a ton of books at ourevent and people love the popup
bookstore.
We always ask our speakers ifyou have a book, let's sell your

(15:11):
book and then choose two otherbooks that are relevant to your
topic and sell those too.
But I think if you want to writea book, as Allison knows better
than anyone, you're going tohave to pitch your book.
And you're not going to pitchyour book in 60 pages.
Tell me what's your big idea,right?
You're still coming up with yourbig idea.
And Ted is so great at helpingyou clearly articulate that one
big idea and then turn it into abook or turn it into a TED talk,

(15:33):
but you're still starting withyour unique idea based on your
experience, your expertise, whatdo you want to get out into the
world?

Allison (15:41):
I love the way you explain things because it makes
them so achievable and all theexamples that you have, it's so
meaningful.
Before I get to my nextquestion, I just want to give an
example.
So this book Behind me,breathtaking, which is a memoir
of family dreams and brokengenes by Jessica Fein.

(16:04):
So this is a book that it'sabout family and grief and how
happiness lives in the shadows,but it's still there every day.
When Jessica did her TEDx, shewasn't talking about the book.
It wasn't a summary of the book,and she ended up talking about

(16:28):
grief literacy because peopledon't know how to talk about
their own grief.
They certainly don't know whatto say to someone who's suffered
a loss.
Other than, I don't know how youdo it, which is the name of
Jessica's podcast.
But grief literacy is such animportant thread.

(16:52):
But it's not that she talksabout that in her book.
Similarly, when an author doesinterviews, the interviewer does
not want you to lay outeverything that's in your book.
You talk about the themes ofyour book and the need for a
message like the one that's inyour book.

(17:14):
Even when you're writingfiction, your novel has themes
that represent maybe what'shappening in the world or what's
needed in the world, and that'swhat you talk about the sales
technique of, let me lay out,like whenever someone says in
chapter four I go into, this isa complete buzzkill.

(17:36):
It turns people off.
Please don't; now you're tellingme that.
I need to get your book.
Can you just talk to me andthen.
Stop with the sales pitch.
Because when someone does that,it just feels like someone's
standing too close to you andbreathing directly into your
mouth.
I love that.
And it's just feels gross.

(17:57):
So, when Jessica did her talk ongrief literacy, first of all,
brilliant and also necessary inthe world.

Anna (18:07):
Did she get that talk at TEDx Walden Pond?

Allison (18:10):
Yes.

Anna (18:11):
I love that event.
I know Nick Morgan, theorganizer really well.
That's an example of a reallysmall event that's super high
quality.
Nick is a rock star in my world,in the public speaking world.
A lot of people know him.
He's written books.
Fascinating guy.
So, if you are listening to thisin the Boston area, I would
really encourage you to checkout TEDx Walden Pond.
It's an exceptional event andthe best way to get to know,

(18:34):
what it takes to be a Tedspeaker is to go to your local
events and you'll see a range.
What are the events that are onehour radius around, where you
live.
So that's one of my favoriteevents.

Allison (18:46):
Oh, I'm going to, I didn't get to know Jessica.
I was totally about Yeah.

Anna (18:49):
I heard about Jessica through Nick.

Allison (18:50):
Oh yeah.
She's so brilliant.
Yeah, she's so brilliant.
Okay.
Rapid fire questions.
Yes.
Because I'm sure you see a lotof pitches, right?
Yes.
And I think it used to be thatTED organizers would go and seek
people out because they wantedto curate.
But now you can submit your ideaor you could submit.

(19:15):
So what makes someone stand outfrom the proposal pile?
Is it credentials or theirpresence or what are producers
really looking for?

Anna (19:27):
Producers are looking for something that they haven't
heard before.
Tell me something I don'talready know.
And one of the best ways to findthat is think about whatever
your topic is.
Like say you talk about breastcancer, Google, TED plus breast
cancer, what are the other talksthat are happening about breast
cancer done by TED speakers?
And what can you add to theconversation based on your

(19:47):
unique experiences, perspective,education.
I think if you can do that notonly are you learning what TED
Talks are getting watched, Tedtalks about breast cancer
getting a lot of views.
But what are you uniquelypositioned to talk about?
TED Talks are expert talks,right?
So, let me give you an exampleof that.
There was a woman who applied acouple years ago who wanted to

(20:07):
talk about how mushrooms shouldbe classified as an animal, not
as a plant.
Really interesting talk topic.
Everyone's thinking aboutmushrooms now.
I don't know if any of yourlisteners are watching the Last
of us.
But mushrooms are big right now,right?
So big idea was awesome.
The next question though why areyou the right person to give
this talk?
And that's a question that'll beon every single application.

(20:27):
And Allison, I'm also going todrop a sample application for
your listeners so they can seewhat questions they're going to
get on most applications.
I was looking for her to be abiologist, a mushroom farmer,
somehow connected to mushroomsbut she just thought mushrooms
were interesting and had read alot about mushrooms.
That doesn't make you an expertfor the Ted State.

(20:49):
You have to have a personalconnection to the topic you want
to discuss.
And I'll tell you that'sparticularly true for anything
in the medicine or sciences.
So it's always.
What's your expertise, but Iwant to encourage your listeners
to think broadly with expertise.
If you are left-handed, you arean expert in being left-handed.
If you're a child of divorce,you are an expert in being a

(21:09):
child of divorce, but you can'ttell somebody else's story.
You can only tell your story.
So what you an expert in, andanyone who's written a book is
an expert in something.
Or wants to write a book.
And this is an importantdistinction.
Because I can feel people sayingI wouldn't call myself an
expert, which is.
Honestly, strike it from your,all of the word combos in your

(21:34):
head.
I wouldn't call myself an expertis not your job.
If someone else calls you anexpert, you are.
And who are you to tell themthey're wrong?
That would be rude, right?
So keep it to yourself andaccept that other people see you
as an expert.
But also, yes, if you're goingto talk about the latest

(21:56):
advances in neuroscience,chances are you're a Yeah.
And you know what?
Neurologist, that's a greatexample.
Let me just, sorry, Allison.
I didn't, I just want to saythat because a lot of speakers
want to bring in neuroscience.
You can't do that unless you'rea neuroscientist, right?
You could say studies show butyou can't give a talk about

(22:16):
neuroscience unless you're aneuroscientist.
So sorry.
I just wanted, that's that.
It was funny that you said that,because I can't tell you how
many applications I get aboutneuroscience.
Another big one I get about, I'mso sick of applications where
people want to talk aboutauthenticity.
I'm so sick of that word.
So finding, I've

Allison (22:32):
never been sure what that

Anna (22:34):
means.

Allison (22:35):
Maybe it's because I let it all hang out there.
Is that what authenticity islike?
I have no filter.
What I was thinking is I workwith a lot of.
Healthcare practitioners.
And they think that becausethey're a leader in their field,
that equals a book deal.
And what it equals is that yes,you are highly credentialed, but

(22:57):
it doesn't equal a book dealuntil you're a storyteller.
And yes, that you've shown thatthat there's interest in you
sharing your knowledge andinsights beyond your.
Your, the silo of medicine thatyou live in.
But also the other person that'san expert is through your

(23:17):
experience.
If you are the parent of a childwho had pediatric leukemia, then
childhood leukemia, then you.
Through your experience can talkabout and advise people on what
to expect.
Yes.
What what you should pack to thehospital, what your doctor

(23:39):
doesn't have time to tell you,which is, actually, let me find
it.
It was here a second ago.
This is, oh, wow.
The Cancer Parents Handbook.
What Your oncologist doesn'thave time to tell you.
Yeah.
This is a book by my client,Laura Dera Lang Re, whose
daughter at age two.
Didn't feel good.

(24:01):
They went, she was tired.
They went to the doctor.
They went from the doctor'soffice to the hospital and
stayed there for two years.
Yeah, that is not something thatanyone is prepared for.
And her message was the doctorsand nurses are treating.

(24:21):
Your child's disease.
No one else is telling you howto make sure your child doesn't
turn into a Jack aoo and how tomanage all the people who are
texting you, saying, let me knowif I can do anything.
Yeah, bitch.
Yes, you can do all the things.
Yeah.
Take over please.

(24:42):
What to do with your otherchild.
Because the, her daughter had ayounger sibling and her daughter
survived.
This was 20 years ago, but allthe advice is applicable today,
which is why Stanford is havingher come and speak to their
medical students.
Because no one talks about this.

(25:02):
So yes, she's an expert throughher experience.

Anna (25:05):
Yeah.
Think of it if expertise is atricky word, think of it, maybe
think of it like your domain ofauthority, right?
Think of it like that.
What do you know what can you betaken serious?
What are your credentials?
Yes, if you want to talk aboutmedicine, you have to have that
kind of personal connection thatyou just talked about versus it
happened to a friend or I read abook about it.
It has to have happened to you.

Allison (25:25):
Yeah.
Yeah.
I love that.
Okay the thing is that yes, aTEDx or a TED Talk can help
authors land a book deal, but.
It's not.
So you now have a TEDx.
Now doors open because that'snot the end.
It's it's almost like fuel,right?
So how can a TEDx talk helpsomeone grow their visibility

(25:51):
and increase theirdiscoverability, which is a
better way of saying platform,which makes everyone gag.

Anna (25:58):
I think what's great about saying you did a TED Talk is one
of the most respected brands inthe world.
So what you're doing when you'regiving a TED Talk is you're just
aligning yourself with arespected brand and you're
sending the message, I know whatI'm talking about, right?
And whether or not you get a lotof views, there are a lot of
great talks out there that don'thave a lot of views, and that's

(26:19):
for a number of reasons.
And I'd be happy to talk to anyof your listeners.
Outside of this who want toknow, but sometimes it's really
simple things like how's yourtitle?
And you know about titles,Allison?
A title matters so much.
And I used, when I was firststarting to do this work, I
thought of titles as I didn'tpay much attention to them.
because I thought it's reallythe meat of the talk.
But if you can't get somebody toclick on that title.

(26:40):
Nobody's going to watch yourtalk.
One of my biggest successstories was a woman whose talk
was titled why I gave my TeenageDaughter a Vibrator.
It was about how we'd spend alot of time in our culture
talking about women's pain,period, pain, childbirth.
We don't spend a lot of timetalking about pleasure and if
you want to empower girls toknow their bodies, you have to
teach'em about pleasure whenthey're younger.

(27:01):
Fantastic talk.
She was a doctor.
She had grown up daughters whoagreed to let her share the
story.
She worked with teenagers.
Total authority on the subject.
But I will tell you she has overa million views and it is that
the talk's great, but the titlegot her those views.

Allison (27:16):
Yes.
There's even the very well-knownmemoir called Wild

Anna (27:21):
Oh yeah.

Allison (27:22):
If it had been named my long haul hiking.
Experience how I found myselfwhile hiking alone.
Yeah.
Big snore.
Big snore.
Nobody would've picked that up.
Yeah.
We have to elevate and surprisepeople.

(27:44):
Wild opens the door to whateveryone wants to be, so it's
almost aspirational.

Anna (27:49):
Allison, I think one of your books, one of your authors,
has one of the best titles I'veever heard.
It's the Widow's Guide to DeadBastards, and I can tell you,
I'm a big reader.
I read about a book a week.
And I was in the bookstore and Isaw that title and I was like,
oh my gotta read this book.
And it was so funny because thefirst time we met, I saw the
book right behind you and I seeit there now.
Yes.
Here it is.
Wait, that title.
That title is Gold.

(28:11):
It's gold, yes.
It's also a, yeah.

Allison (28:13):
Jessica Wait's book.
The Widow's Guide to DeadBastards is a memoir.
And from page one, it is arollercoaster.
It reads like a thriller.
Like it's full of suspense andtwists and turns and you're
like, this is actually someone'slife.

Anna (28:32):
Yeah.

Allison (28:32):
Yes it is.

Anna (28:33):
Yeah.
I love, I'm a big fan of memoirsand it one favorite.
Incredible.
Absolutely.
So Let me give your listenersone more tip that I think is
really important.
Most TEDx applications have avideo component and people don't
really know how to handle that.
So I want to tell you how tohandle it.
What producers are reallylooking for when we're watching
the application videos, we'rereally looking for can this
person tell a story?

(28:54):
So what a lot of people do isthey'll just get on and be like,
hi, I am Barbara.
I've been a secretary for 50years and I want to talk about
blah, blah, blah, blah.
Uhuh talk about.
It was early one morning when Igot to my office and X, Y, and z
Start your app, your videoapplication at the most exciting
part of your talk.
Because what you're trying to dois you're trying to hook that

(29:14):
producer.
So start with a story.
Don't start with anintroduction.
Then you can back up and say whoyou are.
But if you can start with astory, you're way ahead of the
game already in the applicationprocess.

Allison (29:26):
And our minds already, we don't need an intro.
I think people think that, weneed an intro because they want
to let, before I start, let megive you folks a backstory.
Yes.
Correct.
We're smart, we get it.
Uhhuh, skip to the action.
And yes, all that explaining isjust noise and it's just noise
and it turns us off.
So don't do that.

Anna (29:47):
I read that it's, and I believe this, and this is so
true.
If you're only giving a talkthat's 10 minutes.
The most important part of yourtalk is the first seven seconds.
Somebody's going to decide ifthey're going to listen to you
in the first seven seconds.
So don't waste it with what Icall throat clearing.
Hi, my name is, jump into theaction and you'll get them
hooked.
And that's what we're lookingfor.
We're looking for speakers thatknow how to tell a good story

(30:09):
and we'll help you shape yourstories.
You don't have to be experts,but we want to know that you
have stories.

Allison (30:13):
So good.
Jump into the action.
Exactly.
Okay, let's pivot.
I want to know what books orbook, what book do you love
right now?

Anna (30:26):
I love reading memoirs.
I think.
I just read a book.
I'm so bad.
I'm like in perimenopause, soI'm forgetful of everything.
But there's a book that I lovecalled like Mother.
It read like a memoir, but itwas fiction and I love these
sweeping, multi-generationalfamily drama.
So that was one of my favorites.
Yeah.
I also, I think I got startedwith writing by reading even

(30:48):
Cowgirls, get the Blues amillion years ago.
And I loved how creative TomRobbins is with words and that
really made me want to be awriter.
Another book I actually have, Ilove this writer so much that I
have her, I, was a TED speaker acouple years ago.
I don't know if any of yourlisteners have heard of Myra
Cowman.
She combines stories and wordsand this.
This is a book called WomenHolding Things, and what I love

(31:10):
about her is she starts everyday.
Going for a walk through NewYork City and she just notices
things and she makes up storiesabout the people that she sees,
and then she draws the storiesand comes up with the most
creative little short stories togo with them.
For me, that's really inspiring.
Like the visuals and the words,because that's what a speech is.

(31:31):
It's like we're looking at you,but we're also listening to you.
So I find a lot of inspirationfrom that kind of writing.

Allison (31:37):
And we're picturing what you're telling us.

Anna (31:39):
Yes, exactly.
Yeah.
And that's another tip.
And you know this as somebodythat helps with books.
It's all about the details,right?
And, chat GBT AI that can helpyou get like a skeleton of a
talk, but really takes yourstories and your voice to put
meat on their bones to make thatsomebody you want to spend time
with, right?
And that can only come from you.

Allison (32:00):
It can only come from you.
Oh, talk about a powerstatement.
Okay.
Before we call this podcastcomplete.
If someone's applying now orjust starting to explore their
idea, what should they keep inmind?

Anna (32:15):
Ugh, this is a great question.
So all TEDx producers arevolunteers and what means a lot
to us is we want to know thatyou want to speak at our event.
Not that you just want.
Ted talk for notching your belt,right?
Even if you do.
So take the time to get to knowthe event that you're applying,
to see what past speakers havedone and compliment the

(32:39):
producer.
Say, I saw Sandy Evans talkabout neurodiversity and was
really moved blahdi blah.
I'd love to speak on your stage.
I can always tell when I'mgetting a generic application
and I don't spend much time withit.
So I want somebody to, giving aTED talk is a big investment in
time, so I want to work withpeople that have taken the time
to get to know my event versusjust wanting to speak at any

(33:01):
event.
That's my number one tip, isspend some time on that website
and find something nice to saywith your application so the
producer knows you've done that.
You also, I'm not going to havethe same talk, a similar talk in
a span of three years.
So it's really worth your timegoing back and seeing what talks
have they already done on thestage.
And if they've done a talkthat's two similar tiers in the

(33:22):
past two to three years, Iwouldn't bother applying.
Let me give one final tip.
As producers, we're alwayslooking to balance the stage.
So I'm not going to have fivescientists.
I'm going to have one scientist,an artist, an educator, a
business person, right?
So if you get rejected once froma TEDx event, oftentimes it's
just because you didn't fit inwith that lineup that year.

(33:43):
Don't take it personally, apply.
Again, if you get rejectedtwice, it's probably time to
step back and start thinkingwhat could I do differently with
my application?
But I've had to reject so manypeople who would be amazing if
they just applied a differentyear.
So there you go.
So that you heard it

Allison (33:59):
here, if you have a clear, bold idea that challenges
thinking or shifts theconversation, this is an
opportunity for you and.
Anna, where can people find youand the TEDx Portsmith?

Anna (34:15):
So I'm really active on LinkedIn.
So if you look me up onLinkedIn, it'll be pretty
obvious who I am because I talkabout TED all the time.
There's a tab that says, book a15 minute call with me if you
want to grab some time with me.
If there's no charge, share youridea with me and I'll give you
my honest opinion as a producer.
What I think of that idea,that's a great place to connect
with me.
Because I'm there every day.

(34:35):
I also have my website, which iscurrently getting redone, so
it's.
www.thehiredpens.com.
You can find me there too.
And yeah, I also have a YouTubechannel, so when I do videos

Allison (34:46):
we will have all of these links in the show notes.
Great.
And my thought for you listeningwhile you are, sitting there in
the target parking lot, like Itend to do while my daughter
gets the strawberry refresher,is don't wait.
Don't go into a brainstorm ofone and try and figure it out

(35:10):
yourself or put it on the backburner, or maybe when things are
less busy, spoiler alert, you'llnever be less busy.
The kids will always need you.
Things will always be moving toofast, but you get to decide
what's priority, and that is thegreat thing about being you.
You get to decide what you do.

(35:32):
And maybe just by giving up oneTV show, you can carve out 45
minutes a week and to besketching this out or talking to
yourself, into your phone whileyou're taking the dogs for a
walk.
Because when your brain isgoing, you want to capture those
ideas.
So capture them verbally.
You don't have to sit down andgive yourself an assignment, do

(35:54):
it when your brain is on automode.
Which I find when I'm foldingclothes, like that's a great
time to be.
Like, and another thing that'susually how I start my rants is
this really rubs me the wrongway.
But, so what I would say isthis, and then that's how we got
here people.
That's how the Author's Edge gotstarted.

(36:16):
It's I have some thoughts andI'm going to be sharing them.
They are different from whatyou've heard before.
Your story and your message hasa place and it hasn't been told
before, and there's always a wayto pitch or pivot the way you
look at your story and yourmessage so that it is a
continuation and adds somethingnew.

(36:39):
And so if you're thinking, oh,my, I would do something, but
it's already been done before.
No, it hasn't, because it hasn'tbeen done by you.
And there are 15 angles to everystory for sure.
So you have time and you can dothis.

Anna (36:54):
My favorite piece of advice is you want to find the
talk that only you can give.
If you can find the talk thatonly you can give, that's Ted
Gold.

Allison (37:02):
Right?
But that's a big challenge whensomeone's brainstorming.
Start small, scribble thingsdown, capture things when you're
walking.
And take a look at some of theseapplication pages.
Go and connect with Anna onLinkedIn and on her website,
whatever state it's in.

(37:23):
At least it's there.
We'll have all these links inthe show notes, and then shoot
me a note.
Let me know, Hey, this is myidea and I'm reaching out to
Anna.
I would love to know what actionyou're taking based on this, and
I will see you next week if.
You like this or you think thata friend needs to have this

(37:45):
message and these details,please forward this episode to
them.
They're never going to find itbecause they're too busy.
But you are doing them a totalsolid by sharing this and
saying, Hey, you need to hearminute 12 or whatever.
I have done this for people andthat's how podcasts get when
they get shared.

(38:06):
You are spreading the wealth.
So take that action and by allmeans, hit subscribe so that you
get all the goodies that arecoming to you.
Until next week.

All Episodes

Crafting a TEDx Talk That Showcases Your Big Idea with Anna Goldsmith | Ep. 70

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Crafting a TEDx Talk That Showcases Your Big Idea with Anna Goldsmith | Ep. 70