Do I Have What it Takes to Give a TED Talk?

I have signed up for an extremely cool course on TED training through Transforming Speakers. We will meet in person six times and be given assignments and coaching on how to discern our key "TED" idea, and prepare a powerful message. The course is based on the book "How to Rock a TED Talk" by Cathey Armillas. As a speaker and a coach, I am not only excited to be exploring how to craft and study TED talks for personal reasons, but also so that I can be of more use to my clients.
 
The first meeting was quite intimidating.

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I sat around a table with a group of similarly intrepid speakers of various experience levels and we were given our first assignments. Our biggest undertaking (other than crafting the talk itself) will be evaluating 100 Ted talks in 30 days. (!) That works out to just over three talks per day. We have been given a thorough evaluation sheet from the book to help us hone our critical eye, with a view to later turning that same eye on our own speeches. Consistency is key I am told. I guess it's time to implement that daily routine I keep promising myself I'll try.
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After the first meeting I am excited to hear the topics my group will come up with over the next few weeks. There were some great ideas in the room and I got jazzed listening to people talk about the things they were passionate about. There's a high level of commitment and openness in the group, we may knock this out of the park after all.
 
All stirred up, with no idea of what my topic will be, I ran home to start watching videos. The very first talk on the list was one that I am familiar with, Amy Cuddy's "Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are". In my own workshops, I reference this talk as an example for good public speaking habits, but to be honest I don't think I have ever watched the whole thing through. It was great to give myself permission to indulge.

I spent the evening browsing on the TED website, flipping between my assigned videos and whatever caught my fancy. A good story is like a drug for me and I eagerly hang on the words of my favourite speakers. After bingeing on about 12 videos in one evening, I noticed that my patience and speed to judge had both become short. It was time to give it a rest.

It has been the most energizing first day! I hope this project will inspire something meaningful in me, as I am inspired by what others have created.
 
Another of our assignments from Armillas's book is to answer 100 questions about ourselves to aid with idea generation, but I'm not going to tackle that tonight. The talks I experienced this evening have stirred up all sorts of emotions inside of me and I am off to journal about some more internal musings before I go to bed.

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