How to Write a TED Talk: My Experience

[The Official TEDx Speaker Guide]

I write blogs every day for a living, I thought.

I can totally write a TEDx talk in two-ish weeks and be ready to present, I thought.

I enjoy public speaking, I thought.

This will be easy, I thought.

Oh goodness.

How do you choose a topic?

Before you write your TEDx talk, you have to pick your topic. What will you talk about? What stories will you tell? Are you an expert on the topic?

I can’t speak for those who know they’re experts in their field, but for someone who might experience imposter syndrome, it’s important to know the worth of your knowledge. You’re rich in it.

So first, choose a topic that means something to you. Something you find yourself talking about at dinner parties, to people in passing- the topics you come home enraged about fight for change over.

Second, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. It’s okay that pretty much every topic has been talked about before. You have a story to share if it means something to you and your life.

Third, how do you know that your story is worth sharing? Well, I can’t answer this for you. But I can say that for myself, it came down to observing others’ reactions when I told them the story. They were intrigued, present, and entertained- all things that confirmed what I felt in my gut… it was right.

Writing the outline of your TEDx talk

In 89 words…

• Stream of consciousness write the idea onto a word document- it doesn’t have to make complete sense.
• Read what you just wrote. Do you see specific talking points?
• Begin to make a bulleted list of those talking points
• Look at the chronological order of your story. Does it have a beginning, middle, and end? 
• Fill in the gaps with ideas, stories, and statistics that come to mind- use your knowledge to your advantage and avoid deep research during this stage. It’ll just stress you out and cause extra work!

Filling in the bones

Once you’ve gone over the outline of your talk, it’s time to fill in the bones and write the content. One of the best tips I got was to use my bulleted outline as empty boxes for a paragraph. Each “box” would have 3-4 sentences. Shorter, divided paragraphs = easier to remember.

Here’s my first draft. Although I’m slightly embarrassing myself, it’s for the sake of learning, right?

Polishing up your TED Talk

After getting helpful revisions on my first draft, I realized a few things:

• I didn’t need to introduce myself; they would (lol)
• Apparently, everyone says, “thanks for listening to my TED talk,” so that was a nice hit to my personal brand (I’m half kidding).
• I was subconsciously copying my talk based on an example TED talk I was given. But why? I needed to make it my own. After all, I was telling a story through my lens.
• It lacked the personal or relatable stories necessary to support my point(s).
• I was so afraid to talk too much about myself and lose sight of my point that I avoided storytelling almost altogether.
• The story about the professor seemed to be more of an introduction rather than an entire story… so what else could I add?
• It was too general
• It was too short
• The list probably goes on

• A lot,
• and I mean it,
• a lot
• of edits were made.

Final Draft

My language of love- storytelling.

A humble reminder that your TED talk will likely not come out of your mouth verbatim, and that’s okay! You’ll see my video soon enough 😉

My TEDx Scranton Slides, “Language as a Vehicle for Change”

Create slides that support your paragraphs, help the viewers, and assist you in remembering what to say next.

Conclusion: How to write a TED talk? Just go for it.

Tell your story, tell it with purpose, and start the conversation.