Greatest Hits: The Process for Creating and Delivering my TED Talk

In today´s episode, host Sheila Boysen-Rotelli, Master Certified Career Coach, Recruiter, and Talent Development Leader, talks about her process for creating and delivering her TED talk. 

Episode Highlights: 

• In 2019 Sheila Boysen was invited to give a TED talk. 
• When she wrapped her head around the idea, and she was about to get into the entire process of directing and memorizing her talk, it is then that the pandemic hit. 
• Sadly, due to the pandemic, the event that she was going to speak at got canceled. 
• This has been a goal for her, and when the TED talk got canceled, it really took a hit on her. She somehow managed to push through the ocean of her emotions.
• Sheila heard some good news in the summer of 2020 when she got another opportunity to get featured as a TEDx speaker. 
• She knew the recording of the event was not going to take place until March.
• As the first step of preparation, she wrote down her ideas. The next thing she thought about was, “What she wants her audience to leave with?”
• When Sheila had the idea, it is, then she started writing about the script. 
• She wrote the first draft of the script towards the end of October.
• Sheila Boysen got her confidence boost when her sister read the script.
• Finally, when she had just 2 months left for the recording, she buckled up and revisited her script. 
• She recorder herself while practicing the script. It was a robust process, which helped her. It is then she made the first modification to her script.
• During her next practice, she recorded it in-camera. This gave her a new perspective about the places that she should emphasize more. 
• At this point, she made more edits in the paragraphs. It felt like, finally, the script was falling into space. 
• In February, Sheila got the opportunity to rehearse with the planning community of the event. Aside from her sister, this was the first time anybody else heard her script.
• Post that, Sheila receives some excellent constructive feedback from the planning community of the event, which helped her. 
• She was finally able to memorize the script, and then she got to the point where it felt like now, she must sound natural. 
• Sheila recorded the video on Wednesday in an empty hall, speaking to an audience that does not exist. 
• It is impressive how she started to feel comfortable, and she ended up delivering the entire talk in one take. 
• The most important thing about “Talks” is that one should always speak on a topic they are sincerely wholeheartedly passionate about. 
• The topic for Sheila Boysen’s Ted Talk was “Change the question: What do you want to be when you grow up?”
• The question implies that we integrate a part of ourselves into our work. 
• Sheila talks about the change she made in her career script instead of thinking, “What I want to be when I grow up?” She started focusing on her values and what was most important for her, and the impact she wanted to make. 
• While doing research, she came across numerous quotes that impacted her. 
• “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” - A quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson really caught her eyes. 
• Sheila talks about the three questions that one can ask to determine their values truly.

3 Key Points:

1. Sheila Boysen shares detailed insights about what steps she took to prepare for the TED talk.
2. Write down the free flow of thoughts and start to pay attention to those common threads. From the thread, think about “What do you want to talk or share about the most?” For Sheila, it was about the idea of enjoying work. 
3. Sheila is not a nervous speaker, but the process of memorizing the script under 12 minutes did not come naturally to her.

Tweetable Quotes:

• “Start writing, don’t think about organizing or sentence structure, just write down your thoughts.” - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• “Write down the free flow or thoughts and start to pay attention to the common threads.” - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• “Speaking from memory but sounding natural; this is one of the things that she learned from the process. - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• “Many people feel unsatisfied and unfulfilled with the work that they are doing.” - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• “Fulfilment in work comes when work and life values meet together” - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli
• “Learning is a life-long process; speed of change is only accelerating.” - Sheila Boysen-Rotelli

Resources Mentioned:

• Sheila Boysen-Rotelli: Website

• Podcast Editing