Lessons from TEDx, part 1

Oct 08, 2025 1:27 pm

Good morning, ,


My rehearsal time for last week's TEDx was 3:30 on Friday afternoon. But I was there early. My plane landed at 8. I got to the auditorium at 10.


By 2:00, they were ready for me. I didn't feel ready yet. I got a microphone on and stood on the red dot.


And I froze.


I couldn't remember how my talk started!


I stumbled through a few minutes, remembering some, forgetting more. Mercifully, I was cut off. I wouldn't be giving my WHOLE talk, like I thought. I was just helping the audio team get sound levels figured out.


Something had to shift, if I was going to pull this off 24 hours later.


The shift: The audience is friendly. They want to hear from me. They're just friends I haven't met, and I'm just talking to them.


I shifted from feeling like I had to "perform" to getting ready to have a conversation with some friends.


It made a huge difference.


Changing how you approach a challenging task will change EVERYTHING.


You've got this!


Ken


PS. Want to have a deeper conversation? Let's chat. I keep my open availability updated here: or follow this link: https://zcal.co/kenwilliams/breakthrough

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