In this episode of the Engaging Marketeer, I’m going to be talking about something that you may have already heard about. That’s because when I get excited for something I just go on about it forever, and I’ll make no apologies for that because you’re going to be hearing a lot about it on this podcast over the coming episodes, particularly when it happens.
Of course, what I’m talking about is I’m very excited to reveal I’m going to be doing a TEDx talk. It’s going to be in Chester on April 4th and just this last week I went to the University of Chester for a TEDx exploratory day and coaching session where, for the first time, I found the other some of the other speakers who are going to be doing the talk on the day. Before I went there, I was already having feelings of apprehension, shall we say. I was already having feelings that I didn’t really belong, that I wasn’t good enough to be doing a TEDx talk. Because it’s a big deal, it’s a really big deal and when I got there and I heard what some of the other speakers were doing and what their talks were about and the impact they were going to have, it really didn’t help, I felt even worse because realistically I don’t actually belong there.
I’m not just saying that to get sympathy, I mean I really don’t belong there because TEDx University of Chester is meant to be for students, professors and alumni of Chester, it’s not meant to be for outsiders getting in. Everybody is in some capacity connected to the university, and I’m not. I’ve just managed to kind of wangle my way in because I heard they were doing it, I was doing stuff with the university and I thought I’ve got to get in on this I’ve. So I’ve kind of slid in through the through the back door, if you like.
I was sat next to one of the guys on the day and he is from Chester Zoo, but he’s also an associate professor or visiting professor of Chester University as well, so he goes in and talks about stuff that he does with animals and conservation. He’s doing a talk on how a million species have gone extinct. That’s huge. I thought that’s not really helping me, you know, that’s not helping me feel like I belong there any more. I realize that my talk is on is on cyber bullying and that is an impactful subject and there are people that have had real meaningful impacts on their lives as a result of cyber bullying, so I’m not dismissing what I’m talking about in the slightest, it’s just my experience with it hasn’t been anywhere near as bad as a lot of people’s have. I’m also worried about my own value of giving this talk – do I belong there? Am I capable of doing this? Is there somebody who could be better suited to be doing this, somebody who is better qualified to be doing this than me? Because all I’ve really done is help out my son who was bullied and find the person behind it in in under an hour, which I realise is pretty impressive, but it’s not a huge, world-changing impactful thing.
The good thing is, as we were going through all the different things that you need to be doing on a TEDx talk, the different ways of presenting, the different ways of telling a story, I kind of found the meaning that I was looking for in the story. I found my big idea, my takeaway, what I want people to go away with, the power I want to be giving them. Essentially, it’s how if you are somebody who is a victim of bullying, that you’re not at fault, you are not in any way helpless and that you can actually take that experience no matter how harrowing no matter how bad it has been, you can take that and reclaim that power and turn it into a positive and use it for good, which is exactly what I did.
So I am feeling a lot more positive now about the talk I’m going to be doing, what I’m going to be sharing and the story I’m going to be telling from the stage. I’ve kind of got it all down now, I’m 90% there. If somebody said to me Hey Darren, we’ve moved it forward, we need you to do the TEDx talk tomorrow’ I’d be down with that, I could do it.
I’m still a bit nervous about the whole concept of this. I’m not concerned about doing the performance, I’m not concerned about getting on the stage and talking in front of people and being on that TEDx red spot with the big TEDx logo behind me, I know I can perform in front of people (I’ve done stand-up comedy, after all). But I am worried that I need to make an impact on people. I need people to listen to this and be encouraged to change something in their lives. Time will tell how that happens, time will tell.
So I’m doing the talk on April 4th. It’s at the University of Chester. I don’t know what time of day it’s going to be, or what the running order is going to be yet. It’s going to be filmed and it’s going to be shared on the TEDx website and it’s going to go into the TED app as well, apparently. So this is a huge thing for me and I’m really, really excited.
So anyone listening to this who gets a chance, please after April 4th once it goes live (apparently it can take about 12 weeks to go live on the website), please have a have a watch of the video, let me know what you think, I’d really, really appreciate it. Share the video as well when it goes live, I would really, really appreciate that. I am very excited about this and it’s going to be huge.
Thank you very much for checking out this episode. Please leave me a 5-star review if you feel so inclined, and remember to subscribe to the Engaging Marketeer. I will catch you on the next solo podcast I do after I’ve done the TEDx. That’s going to be frightening to think about, wish me luck…
