Just wrote a frothing response on LinkedIn to a post on why it isnt valuable for a speaker to deliver a talk at a TEDx event. Here was my response: As someone who spoke at a TEDx event, I couldnt disagree more with this article. It was an honor to share my Idea Worth Spreading (The Hoop Revolution) to a highly-engaged, appreciative audience of conscious thought leaders, and it was one of the highlights of my professional speaking career. The constraints of a TEDTalk made me examine what is truly important to me without any regard for personal gain, and what message can I deliver that could have a lasting, positive impact on the world. To have to craft my talk in a short period of time made me a better speaker than I ever would have been without those daunting, big red TED letters behind me onstage. Oh yeah, I also doubled my speaking business less than a year after the video came out. Whether speakers want to admit it or not, there is a cache to be had by participating in a well-done TED or TEDx event (the one at which I spoke -- TEDxSarasota on 12/12/12 -- was extremely well planned and executed). I believe it sends a message to clients, future clients, attendees and followers that one is a speaker who has a passionate purpose and has the talent to deliver the goods. Moreover, the authentic connections one makes at these types of events can open doors that could never have been opened without that collegial, altruistic vibe that permeates a TED event. Finally, the TED experience gives a speaker a killer video to add to his or her arsenal of marketing tools. I dont know about every other speaker out there, but getting to experience all of those amazing things coupled with significantly improving my business was definitely worth the effort, fee or no fee. In the end, to paraphrase Annie Dillard, we all get to decide how we are going to spend our days, and how we are going to spend our lives. If delivering a TEDTalk isnt your bag, then by all means pick up the phone and make that next call to the prospective client, hoping that they have a budget this year. For the rest of us mere mortals, maybe we can use our passion to help change the world one idea at a time while helping to grow our businesses too. Heres my TEDxTalk in case anyone would like to check out what all the fuss is about: youtu.be/OgZVRV7jqWc
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 17:24:15 +0000
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