JobsWorth: OVERTIME- How to Become A TEDx Speaker

Ever wonder what it takes to grace the prestigious TEDx stage? We've invited HCO Coach Danielle Howell back on to take us behind the TEDx curtain and reveal the inspiration that kindled her speaker ambitions, the nerve-racking application process, and the importance of networking when it comes to landing yourself one of the most prestigious speaker spots going. 

 Danielle shares her personal experiences, including the months of intense preparation and the pivotal role of mentors and fellow speakers in crafting a captivating presentation.

This is a must-listen for anyone looking to improve their presentation or public speaking skills, say YES to a nerve racking challenge or indeed harbouring dreams of delivering their own TEDx talk.

You can find the link to Danielle's TEDx Talk on Youtube right here- https://youtu.be/Xfg5SMSWd_k?si=arB48_dmbvBHD8yQ

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Chapters

• 0:00 Becoming a TEDx Speaker
• 9:03 Preparing for a TEDx Talk
• 23:18 Challenges and Advice for TEDx Speakers

Transcript

John Hawker: 0:00

JobsW orth Overtime. How to become a TEDx speaker.

Danielle Howell: 0:05

Hormonal cycle alignment A solution to burnout? I suspect you're all familiar with the term burnout, but are you as familiar with the term hormonal cycle alignment? Possibly not. And why is that? Because it's about periods and that's not something we're very good at talking about. And now I've just said that. I guarantee there's at least one person here who's just thought oh great, talk about periods, something I don't even have. Maybe not, but maybe you do know someone who does have periods and is struggling with some of these challenges.

John Hawker: 0:47

Welcome to Jobs Worth overtime, what may or may not become a series of shorter podcast episodes where one of my guest shares tips, insights and advice on a specific topic. On this edition, I invited Danielle Howell, hormonal cycle optimization coach, back on to tell us more about her experience of getting up on the TEDx stage. I pick her brains about the process, the preparation and what really happens when the cameras aren't rolling. Whether you've got designs on delivering a TED Talk yourself, or are inherently curious about what happens behind the scenes at these events, or you're looking to improve your presentation skills, this is worth a listen, Danielle, thank you so much for coming back on and agreeing to do this special episode that will be going out. The first question I'm going to ask you is what actually inspired you to become a TEDx speaker?

Danielle Howell: 1:39

It's a good question.

Danielle Howell: 1:39

Being inspired to be a TEDx speaker is something I always imagined would never happen to me, if I'm honest, and I wouldn't even say I went out there seeking it.

Danielle Howell: 1:50

It was one of those things that came to me a little bit and this is definitely the power of networking, which I very much underestimated in the first probably six months of having a business. It actually kind of came to me through a connection that I had. It was actually my brand photographer who headed me in this direction and said hey, there's something going on at the University of Essex which is obviously local to me, and she said I think it would be perfect for you. So they actually have different themes, and the theme for this event was Mind the Gap, which was perfect for the kind of work that I do, trying to look at gender equality and just looking at bringing the knowledge that people have together as well. We're often starting from nothing in this area, trying to bridge that gap of taking people through to actually understanding really how hormones can impact you. So, yeah, I wasn't so unnecessarily aspired to be a TEDx speaker, it just happened to me in a way.

John Hawker: 2:50

Yeah, I mean, my introduction to TEDx was YouTube. I think it is for a lot of people and listening to some of their podcasts that they put out as well. I think Adam Grant, who I reference on so many of these podcast recordings as being like an inspiration for me, but I think it was one of his TED talks that I started listening to first off. So the fact that through networking which is a question I'll go on to ask in a second as well actually you've had this opportunity is great, because I think there'll be a lot of people listening to this that want to try and reach out to TEDx or go through that application process. Now, I'm assuming, even though someone reached out to you, there's still a process to have to go through to apply to be a speaker, so can you tell us a bit more about that?

Danielle Howell: 3:33

Absolutely and again, it's something. Unless you're going out there seeking it, you just may not even be aware of this. So happy to share that for people to know where they can start. So there are TEDx events, and maybe it's worth just mentioning TEDx and what that X really means, because you have TED talks. X is effectively it's like a franchise in a way, and they may tell me that this is probably not the right way to describe it, but it's probably my way of describing it. Hopefully it helps. It is basically different organization.

Danielle Howell: 4:02

So the University of Essex are, I guess they have to go through a process to become eligible to run an event under the TED umbrella, but it's they host the event, they organise it all and then they have to abide by certain rules. I guess that TED put in place for them to produce an event in the same way that they would like it to be produced. They're able to use all their branding and everything like that. So they have a process. Yes, and it was basically an application form first of all, which was done through. It actually came through Instagram and then I did the application form on Instagram and they then contacted me and we had an interview, which was on Zoom. Now, obviously, things are more on Zoom, but I don't know whether there would be face to face interviews. As we go forward, face to face is coming a bit more back into the world isn't it, so that may change.

Danielle Howell: 4:57

But my interview was on Zoom with the organisers and they asked me a number of things and basically got an email a couple of days later to say, yes, they wanted me to participate. And one of the things that I guess is important to be aware of is they're hoping you come with a talk. They're not going to tell you what to talk about. You go to them with a pitch, basically of this is what I think would be a good thing to talk about. It can adapt, it can change through the course of your journey with them, but they need something to understand how you can add value to their event and their listeners.

John Hawker: 5:35

OK, that's interesting. And the point you made about TEDx being kind of a franchised setup as well that might be associated to a particular university I guess they're kind of affiliated with higher education organisations might be something that a lot of people don't know about, because I think we see TEDx on YouTube or listen to it on podcasts and think that they are this one big entity with this very long application process. But it kind of makes sense that they would put that out to different organisations to be running their own events. Okay, that's really interesting. Did you have to do much prep for that interview?

Danielle Howell: 6:13

I did do a bit of prep, obviously not knowing what I was going to expect. I did prepare a bit about me, my background, what was my story, because I know, having watched many TED talks, that often people do come with a little bit of a story, because it helps to put things into perspective sometimes and make it more relatable, doesn't it? So I definitely got very clear on what was my story, what was my journey to where I, how I got to where I am now, I guess, and then focused on what did I want my topic to be? And, very specifically, when I knew that their theme was Mind the Gap and I'd done a bit of reading on their site as to what that really meant and what they were looking for, I did prepare some specific, I guess, answers to questions I hoped they would ask with the intention to give them that content that would fill exactly what it was they were looking for, to match with that theme.

John Hawker: 7:09

Because I think when there's a set theme in place, you need to make sure, as you say, that you're bringing something to the table that sits in with that and maybe acts. There's synergy between what you and other speakers are going to be addressing and it comes under the Mind the Gap umbrella. So preparing in that way is really powerful. I was going to talk to you about the role that networking played in Having this opportunity in the first place, but you've already addressed it. So you were saying your brand photographer, what was their link to the university or to Ted X in general?

Danielle Howell: 7:44

She was literally just a follower of the, the university and, I guess, the Ted X group that they had set up there. I don't know how she found them, but she was just following them on Instagram and sent them my way, and then, obviously, I became a follower and Would do the same for other people, and I guess that's how, how the power of social media works now, isn't it?

John Hawker: 8:02

There you go, yeah, and I think that's again quite Insightful for people that are looking for ways. How do you even come across these events being held? Follow those social media channels, start there. Knowledge is power definitely.

Danielle Howell: 8:17

My understanding of it is that there's that there's a season for these TED talks, and the one that I did was in April or May God, I can't even remember now Certainly April or May this year and I understood that this was one of the last ones of the season and and I was totally oblivious to all of this I didn't know there was a season for this kind of thing, and I think it got a lot of attention From people applying because of that reason. They knew that they wouldn't be able to if they missed this window.

Danielle Howell: 8:47

They wouldn't, be able to have another event or go to another event until, I guess I'm going to assume September. I'm not gonna lie, I don't know exactly what this season is, but I'm going to assume September to April probably makes sense, but it might be slightly different.

Danielle Howell: 9:00

So I think it's worth trying to understand what that looks like. And and I would just say, if you know, for me it was University of Essex because that's local to me if you can start Googling, you know different, different events in your area. But equally, if you're willing to travel, they will accept people from from different areas, because sometimes that can add some Interesting, different, I guess, backgrounds of people even consider going abroad. We had, we had people apply and came from abroad, because it just adds a whole variety to the type of presenter, to the type of story, and so they're open to that. So don't limit yourself to your local area. But obviously it's more convenient for you to get to there and go to rehearsals and things like that. But don't limit yourself. Just look at the schedule, find dates that work for you and if you're open to just doing anything, then just apply everywhere.

John Hawker: 9:55

I would say it's very good advice. I think you need to put yourself out there and so you get the green light to say we are happy for you to come and present which I'm sure is an amazing feeling With you, whether you've sought it out or not, or whether it's come through this Kind of tenuous link, through connections. I think that's that has to be a moment where you're filled with pride and, I would assume, some trepidation how long? From being given the green light to then being on the stage. And you mentioned rehearsals, which will go into, because I didn't realize there were rehearsals. So what's the time frame you get the green light we want you to? You stood on the stage, potentially being quite nervous. How long?

Danielle Howell: 10:38

honestly I mean that. So, to go to your point, that that moment of finding out and seeing that email come in and say In the wording of the email, the subject was Congratulations, you are a TEDx speaker, which I love, and yeah, it makes my stomach go well, an accolade, I got goosebumps.

John Hawker: 10:55

I got goosebumps. Then I think it sounds amazing.

Danielle Howell: 10:57

I Couldn't believe it and it was a huge moment for me. The first thing I did was to message my brand photographer and say I owe you so much you know I probably offered a drink or something because, yeah, without her I wouldn't have even known about it and and then obviously called to mum and dad you know you're not gonna believe this, I'm gonna be a TEDx speaker and Then, yeah, I think I had a moment of oh my god, I actually have to do this now. This is really quite scary and I'm trying to think time scales. It was. It was actually quite a long time, because I remember having that feeling of this is okay. I have time to prepare myself in a number of ways and in terms of the content, how I am as a presenter, and I didn't go into immediate panic thinking this is happening next week and I need to pull my finger out. It was months. We are talking months.

John Hawker: 11:52

Okay, because I think that's important and, again, most people wouldn't have a view on that, that it takes a period of months. I would. I would like to think they put that amount of preparation Into it and give you that amount of time to prepare. All of the talks that I've ever seen on the TEDx stage seem to have been rehearsed as you say, rehearsals, building that time into it, but they seem to be really well produced and really well planned, and if you're there on stage sort of flying by the seat of your pants, that's not a place. That's not a place you want to be. It's definitely not how you end up having your TEDx talk on their YouTube channel. So talk about rehearsals then. How did they build that into it? How did you have to go to a number of rehearsals? What were they expecting you to have prepared by the time you get to rehearsals?

Danielle Howell: 12:39

So there was a bit of a process. I think we had eight speakers on the day and they split us actually into two groups. There were two organisers from the university and we were kind of allocated a mentor I guess you would call them so a contact that was there as your support throughout that process. So once I'd got the green light, it was a case of starting to put together a structure on you know, a shared Google Drive, as you do, and start to put a structure down on paper, which then we could all see each other's, which actually was quite nice to be able to see other people's progress as well and just to sort of see how they were structuring this.

Danielle Howell: 13:21

That was quite useful because if you're coming to this completely brand new, you may not have a clue how to do that, so having the peers around you that were doing the same thing was actually really beneficial. And so we had a few calls not a huge amount, but a few calls with that mentor just to make sure you were progressing. So there wasn't nothing going to happen until the week before. It was a continuous progress, which was nice. We also had a WhatsApp group set up, which was all of the presenters. So again, it was keeping that motivation between us, asking questions, trying to get extra support there from each other, which was really nice.

Danielle Howell: 13:59

So then, as we got nearer to the event I think it was a couple of weeks before, I was actually due to be on holiday and I changed it because it was all happening at the same time, typically, and I went into the university and we did. We had two rehearsals where we stood up and ran through our presentation and I remember the first time I had my notes with me and that was fine, you know, just following that through. And then the second rehearsal was two days before, I think.

John Hawker: 14:30

Right.

Danielle Howell: 14:31

Now, that was an interesting one. I remember going and I was really struggling actually with remembering what I was saying. I was really struggling and I could do it on my own, but as soon as anyone was in front of me I was hitting a mental blank space. Even my other half If my daughter was in the room as a distraction, anything like that was just stopping me from remembering what I was meant to be saying and I went on that day to that second rehearsal and I just went blank halfway through.

Danielle Howell: 15:06

But I have to say the other speakers were so lovely and the organizers were so lovely. They made me feel very reassured that this is what a rehearsal is about. You know, this is the time to make these kind of mistakes and learn from them and move forward. But I certainly took something away from that. I changed my mind. I was, I changed my slides a little bit, put some more prompts in there to help me keep on track on the day, which worked, thank goodness. But it was definitely important to have got that out the way before I went on to the stage and actually did it on the day.

John Hawker: 15:42

I think being present in the space you're actually going to be I was about to say performing in but you understand what I mean by that Actually being there and doing your TEDx talk is super important. Not that I've ever done anything like that. I can only. I can only empathize with your situation from presentations that I've done. Not, you know, I've done a lot of online stuff to big audiences but in in person events maybe 50 people max and it is nerve wracking and I've never gone through a rehearsal beforehand. But those times when you do go blank, they are scary and it's completely understandable and complete human, I think. People that can go up on stage and and do something non scripted as well what, what a talent to have you mentioned going blank. I'm always, I've always been really interested. Do you have a teleprompter or is it all from memory that you're giving this talk?

Danielle Howell: 16:41

It's all from memory.

John Hawker: 16:42

Yeah, and you're not allowed any notes.

Danielle Howell: 16:44

You're not allowed anything at all. That's why the slides are so important, because I was able to use that as prompts for me, okay so what preparation do you go through then?

John Hawker: 16:56

Because I'm assuming that to memorize that amount of information I know this is a topic that very clearly you are top of your game in knowing about and being educated on but to memorize all of that and the flow and the structure, what did you do in terms of preparation to give yourself the best chance of nailing it on the day as you did?

Danielle Howell: 17:19

What's really interesting and this is a massive learning for me is that I can get up and talk about the work that I do very confidently, without a script, because I think that's what I do day in, day out and I'm so passionate about it that I could just do that off the cuff. What I really struggled with was talking about me. Now, that should be the easiest thing, right, because that's just me and there's nothing I can't say. That won't be right. So it was quite interesting. I think it came down to the fact that I'm not really that comfortable talking about me necessarily, and I would much rather get up and just talk about people's hormones and their cycles than actually me and some of my challenges that I've experienced. But I felt it was really important to bring that because it was the part that people could resonate with and could understand where they may be able to make some changes in their lives when looking at hormones and looking at how they can benefit them and move that forward. So, yeah, that was interesting. Quite an interesting observation In terms of the preparation for that.

Danielle Howell: 18:27

As I said, I definitely changed my slides to incorporate some more prompts. I rehearsed a number of times. I don't think I slept that week because it was. You know when you're lying there and it's going through your head again and again, and again.

John Hawker: 18:41

I can only imagine.

Danielle Howell: 18:42

Which is not ideal either. But I think that's all you can do really, and I did try as much as I can to stay calm and made sure that I was, you know, looking after myself, eating. Well, make sure I was doing exercise to try and get some of that excess cortisol out of my body, that stress hormone. Let's get rid of that. And I just had to show up on the day and do my, do the best that I could do, and that was all I could do.

John Hawker: 19:06

Okay, in terms of stage fright, would you have described what you went through, that on that rehearsal a couple of days before, as stage fright?

Danielle Howell: 19:15

I'm not sure. I mean I've either have been on stages a number of times. I've done so much talking in my corporate world. I don't have a fear of getting up in front of people and talking, and I can't even blame my hormone cycle, because actually I was at the best time of my own cycle, so I think it was just the enormity of the event for me.

Danielle Howell: 19:36

I think, and it's the stigma of knowing it's a TED talk. It added this pressure that was on me for it to be right, for it to be perfect and perfect doesn't exist, I know but to be as close to perfect as possible.

John Hawker: 19:51

I think, for all of the feeling that you got when that email landed, which is congratulations, you are a TEDx speaker, for all of the positives that come from that, there is that increased pressure that comes with it as well, and I think that's completely natural to feel that. But, as anyone that is listening to this and hopefully goes on to watch your TEDx talk as well which is which made TED's YouTube channel and they will see that on the day itself, which is when it matters, this is all stuff, this is all additional insight that people would have no clue about when they watch the video. On the day when you're there to deliver, it all comes off, and that's why you put the work in behind the scenes.

Danielle Howell: 20:33

It did. I'm going to let you into a little secret here.

John Hawker: 20:35

Go on.

Danielle Howell: 20:36

It wasn't completely perfect.

John Hawker: 20:38

Okay, why?

Danielle Howell: 20:39

It wasn't. So the organizer was actually moving the slides along for me and I wasn't in control of that. I can be a bit of a control freak with things like that sometimes and also that's a sort of comfort blanket. Whenever you do a talk, if you're in control of moving those slides forward, I think you feel just that bit more in control of everything actually. So somebody else was doing that and we got a bit out of alignment with each other, let's just say, and so it wasn't quite perfect and there was a moment where I thought no, this isn't right. So I just stopped and went down, spoke to her quickly, we got back on track and then I came back to the stage.

Danielle Howell: 21:18

Now you don't see any of that because it is edited, and this is something I think is important. When you look at TED Talks and you have this, I guess you put people on a pedestal and think they're amazing because they've just done this 15 minute talk, no issues. It's just a breeze. Now, for some people and probably most people, that is the case, but anything you're watching on the YouTube channel, it is edited. So it's not to say things did go wrong and you just haven't seen it. You haven't been privy to that, so it didn't go perfectly on the day, but it wasn't an issue.

Danielle Howell: 21:55

I stopped and we got back on track and we came back to it and it just got edited out for the visual purpose on the YouTube, but for those that were in the audience it wasn't an issue either. Actually, I think I made some joke as I came back up I can't remember now and just to break the ice and it was fine. But yeah, I just thought I'd share that with you because I think it's important to know that not everybody who's done a TED Talk is a perfect speaker. There may be things that you're just not aware of that have happened.

John Hawker: 22:22

It's an important lesson for most of the things we see online, to be honest with you, that what you see isn't necessarily the whole process that's gone into it. So true, but I'm going to put an argument in your defense here, danielle. It was completely out of your control. If someone's doing the slides, maybe, and it's off kilter, but well done for taking their ownership of that and going do you know what? Rather than just try and bodge this, I'm going to own it, come off the stage and say, yeah, I'm really sorry, but this isn't where we're supposed to be.

John Hawker: 22:53

So many people I mean probably me, if I was up there I would have just got flustered and tried to make the best of that situation and it would have been an absolute mess. So well done, thank you. No, no, well, look, I think it's. I think, obviously, from what we can all see on YouTube, you've absolutely smashed it as well and then dealing with that behind the scenes. Thank you for sharing that additional insight. What would you say is the one biggest challenge that you had to either face or overcome in the lead up and then actually delivering it? I guess what you've highlighted there would be classified as one of them actually on the day and that misalignment with the slides, but any more that you can pinpoint.

Danielle Howell: 23:36

I think the biggest challenge I had 15 minutes sounds like a long time, but actually to get your point across and you share your ideas, as the objective, in 15 minutes is really quite challenging.

Danielle Howell: 23:51

And when I started, I think my initial draft was something like 30 minutes. When I you know, you get into that flow of writing and you write this script and then you read it back how you would read it, with the pauses and making it normal tone and pace, and actually it was double what I needed it to be. So to be able to still get that message across but within a shorter space of time was quite hard. You had to really focus on what were the critical pieces that you needed to get across. I mean, I could talk for hours on my topic, you know, and I have to think about the audience. I'm talking to assuming they know nothing how can I get the right information over to them to allow them to understand what I do better, without going into too much depth, but to be able to get that concept across in the clear way.

John Hawker: 24:40

Yeah, well, I think, having watched it myself and as someone that is completely ignorant, far our conversation that we've had on your full podcast episode to most of what you were speaking about initially, I think you do it in a really palatable way and I think that'd be really good advice for anyone that's speaking about something you're passionate about. You need to try and make it accessible, because I'm sure you could have gone into so much more detail and real granular detail on the topic, but you want people that are not even familiar with that concept to understand it.

Danielle Howell: 25:13

And this is and we talk about this on the other podcast episode about how all of the skills that you have from different jobs that you've done and different things you've done in the past come forward and are helpful when you're doing things like this. And I did some work Business Change and Communication and in the communication piece, there's something that sticks with me a lot when I'm preparing content for what I do now is what do you want your audience to know, how do you want them to feel and what do you want them to do? And those three things I kept in the forefront of my mind and I do now every day, but that was really useful in thinking about the audience and what to deliver to them on the day.

John Hawker: 25:53

Yeah, brilliant. How big a part did storytelling? You mentioned it before that you had to talk and share detail about yourself. Again, having listened to the talk, you bring up some anecdotes and some pretty powerful stories from your own life, daniel. But was storytelling a big part of the process? It sounds obvious when you listen to a lot of TEDx talks, but did you really have to think about threading your own story into the talk itself?

Danielle Howell: 26:27

It's definitely encouraged to bring a story, to deliver your point through a story, because it's all about making content relatable, isn't it?

Danielle Howell: 26:36

And I think, rather than it being a lecture and something I'm just teaching people, if you can bring a story that allows people to listen and say, oh my goodness, that's me. I think it allows them to then continue to listen or want to continue to listen, because then they get the solution that they're after. But it's not necessarily just going in with a solution without them realizing they need that. If that makes sense.

John Hawker: 27:02

Definitely, I think you need to make it resonate, and the word you use there is make it relatable and by sharing stories that everyone can pick out at least a snippet of something that they may be able to or may have some synergy with. I think that's how we make, how some of the best TEDx talks that I've seen anyway make them more impactful and powerful for sure.

Danielle Howell: 27:24

I was just going to say. I think it's important as well to know everyone has been on a journey. Nobody comes with their talk being a professional in what they do and having had done that their whole life. Everyone has come from somewhere. So to know someone's background and how they've got to where they are, I think can also be useful.

John Hawker: 27:44

For sure. Okay, daniel. Last question for you what is the number one piece of advice you could give for someone that wants to get up on that TEDx stage?

Danielle Howell: 27:56

I have to have two.

John Hawker: 27:57

Go for it.

Danielle Howell: 27:58

I think the first one is, if this is your dream and your desire, I totally believe in you that you can make this happen by firstly, going out seeking those opportunities. They are there, people are there organizing events and they want good speakers to come in. So it's really hard to keep this to one piece. But if you can just go out there and focus on that but think of yourself as a speaker already, even if you've not done it before and I had somebody this week literally asking me how do you do all these speaking events? Where do they come from Put yourself out there as a speaker and those opportunities will come to you. But I think it's also important You've got to have a very good piece of content that somebody will want to have on their agenda. So marrying up those two things. I'm sorry I broke the rule.

Danielle Howell: 28:45

That's okay, just going out there finding the opportunities. But go with something that you really think will people will want to listen to and you don't have to have the whole thing written. It's not about getting the whole content upfront, it's just having a concept, an idea and things that you want to share about that idea. Go with that and just make it happen.

John Hawker: 29:06

Brilliant. Thank you. I will never hold it against anyone if they break the rules when asked on the spot what's your one piece of advice? So thank you very much for sharing it all, danielle, and thank you so much for jumping back on and doing this very special edition of Jobs Worth. Anyone listening to this can and should watch Danielle's TEDxTalk, and I will put the link to that in the episode description. But, danielle, thank you so much for coming back on.

Danielle Howell: 29:34

Thank you.