In December 2019, I organised the TEDxAinleyTopWomen event in Huddersfield. The day was a huge success and 19 amazing speakers gave their first-ever TEDx talk. The audience were wowed, the speakers were phenomenal, and the organiser went home exhausted but very happy.
So, who were they – the intrepid bunch of speakers? And why did they put themselves through the process? I interviewed all of them, to give you a behind the scenes look at the whole process. Perhaps you might want to get involved in a TEDx in the future. These interviews will shed light on what it takes, why you might want to do it, and who you need to be, to be a TEDx speaker.
In this interview I spoke to Lisa Zevi, Operational Business Coach working with Entrepreneurs and Founders, putting structure in place so they can grow their businesses while avoiding burn out! If you prefer – you can watch the video of the interview or read the blog below.
“Lisa, what led to your being in the line – up for the TEDx in December 2019?”
Well, I was looking for speaker training and saw your one-day course, so I came along. I decided on the day that I needed to go further with this and so signed up for your coaching. A TEDx must be on everyone’s bucket list – so the opportunity to do a TEDx as a result of meeting you was just serendipity. I also knew you were going to pick me – it was so strange. It felt like it was meant to be.
So, what was the prep like – you had to send a video in and then work on the feedback. How was all that?
Well I wrote the whole speech out as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to say. Your feedback to the group was very helpful and so I created a video. Your feedback on that was great, you gave me suggestions for how to structure it, how to open it etc. The video part wasn’t too challenging for me, I am comfortable doing video, but your feedback was very helpful. I knew what I wanted to say, and my content, but I had no idea what was expected of me and what the other speakers were talking about.
My biggest fear was that you would come back and say – No talk about something else!
Fast forward to December 13th. Tell me about the day.
I wasn’t expecting all the fear I had in the week leading up to the event. I don’t get frightened about presenting normally. I practiced a lot – again unusual for me. I arrived the night before with my Mum and when I saw the venue, the chairs etc I thought – oh my god – it’s real.
I was on 2nd last – and actually it was great as I could watch the other speakers, and have some lunch. At the last break – I went out and walked around in the rain and ran through the talk in my mind. I really didn’t want to let you down or myself down.
I was so nervous the adrenaline was pumping, I felt sick. And then you came up to me and whispered in my ear – “you got this”. And I was on.
And actually, as soon as I got up there I felt amazing. I looked at my Mum who was looking down as she was obviously nervous – so I stopped looking at her! It went really quickly. It reminded me a bit of a skydive I did. As I walked off it just felt amazing, I wanted to do it again.
Although I was gutted that I had ‘made a mistake’ and when I watched the video back you can’t tell that I ‘went wrong’.
So then we are waiting for the feedback from TED to know if the videos are going to be published – we’re waiting and everyone is in a Whatsapp group – how was that?
Well, yes – we didn’t really know when we were going to hear or if it was going to be approved. My talk was called – Are All Roads In Your Business Still Leading To You? And the day I found out it was live on the TED site, I went home, told my husband and he put it up on the TV – and I was really happy with the outcome. It looked better than I thought it would.
What have been some of the positives for you?
Well, I have had a lot of people messaging me about how they liked the talk and it resonated with them. As I mentioned – I work with very very busy entrepreneurs and I try and get them to read my book, but if they are too busy I can now direct them to the talk. IT’s out there now forever, which is an amazing thing to have – so thanks Cheryl for the opportunity.
Finally, if someone was to get the opportunity to apply to do a TEDx talk – what would you say to them?
Oh, my goodness just go for it. I was planning to do some speaking, but I didn’t imagine in August that in December I would be on a TEDx stage. There ere amazing speakers on that day, polished, experienced, less experienced. But everyone has something to say that someone else needs to hear – so just go for it!
Watch Lisa’s TEDx Talk Here