I've always dreamed of being on stage to deliver a TED-like talk. I've watched TED and TEDMED talks for a long time and dreamed of an opportunity to take the stage at one of those venues. TEDX is marketed as the "minor league" for events like TED and TEDMED. I'm happy to announce that I have been selected to speak at a TEDX event in our local community of Youngstown, Ohio.
TEDxYoungstown will take place on Friday, January 23, 2015 on the campus of Youngstown State University. Take a look at the fabulous speakers list at this link. I'm honored to be included on this list of excellent speakers! The first meeting of the TedXYoungstown speakers will be next week, and I'm looking forward to meeting them and the organizing team!
According to the TedxYo site, my topic will be "Medical Professionals and Social Media." For about 2 years now, I have been giving talks talking about Medicine & Social Media, Family Medicine & Social Media, and similarly titled talks.
To be honest, I'm totally intimidated with the process of putting together a TEDX talk. I've seen the videos. I've talked with people who have seen them in person. I mean, these are really good talks. Can I do that? How do I have to prepare to give a great TedX talk?
One of the things that I'm doing to prepare is attending to this weekend's Stanford Medicine X conference in which there are great speakers and great topics. As I have written in a previous post, I'm looking for inspiration in general, but I'm also looking for inspiration for the construction of my January TedXYoungstown talk.
I'm a self-admitted perfectionist, and there is no one that puts more pressure on me - than me. But, I enjoy setting a high bar for myself to deliver an oration that will be unique, that will be inspirational, that will have people talking for a long time.
The reality is that I really haven't figured out anything yet for this speech. I have a million ideas, but I need a way to focus this nervous energy and just get to work to assemble my message. I'm telling you right now, this will be the most difficult, yet (I hope) the most gratifying speech that I have ever written. Have I raised the bar too much? I hope so. If you don't expect the best out of yourself, then no one will...