Behind the Scenes of Speaking at TEDxCherryCreekWomen!

As I sit here typing, I’m 24 hours away from giving a TEDx talk!

A year ago, I never could have imagined I would be here. I only could have dreamed of giving a TEDx talk. And now, tomorrow doesn’t even feel scary (ok, a little). A combo of nervous and excited – Nervicited!

It’s been quite the road to reaching this point. And what a journey this has been. When I look back on it, this wasn’t so hard. If you have a desire to give a TEDx talk, you can give one! If I can do it, you absolutely can too.

It all started with a deep burning to desire to share a message with the world. To contribute to my mission to make medicine better for current and future women physicians. I never could have guessed this process would be as personally meaningful, too.

I’d heard of Tabby Biddle, from my wonderful design team Sophia Mavrides and Jennifer Kimpe, whose mission of elevating women’s voices resonates so deeply with me. I took her Women on Stage course in the late winter/early spring. There were 11 other women, all changes makers, all with a message to share. And by the end of the course, I had my 18-minute TEDx talk written.

I learned how to find and apply to TEDx events, which are often not posted online. I reached out to numerous TEDx curators in areas of the country where I had a strong personal connection – places I’d lived and gone to school and completed training – repeatedly! This required persistence and not taking a lack of response personally – almost all TEDx curators do this as their side passion. The vast majority have full time jobs and busy lives. Often their email addresses were not listed, so I had to do some work to find them. Yes, I even had a spreadsheet I kept with who I had reached out to, and when 2 weeks went by without an answer, I would send another email. Again.

My persistence paid off. I had several conversations with TEDx curators, to see if me and my message, and their event, could be a good fit.

I started the process of finding a TEDx event in early March, and it wasn’t until late June that the first TEDxWomen event call for applications was announced – TEDxCherryCreekWomen. In Denver, CO, which has a special place in my heart, after my years of volunteering at Roundup River Ranch near Eagle, CO as a childhood cancer camp doc.

I had been waiting for this! As deep in my heart, I knew I wanted to be part of a women’s event.

As I researched the event and the husband-and-wife team running it, Michael and Dafna Michaelson Jenet, who had been curating this and other TEDx events in Cherry Creek for over a decade, I had such a strong gut feeling about this one. Our missions were aligned – amplifying and empowering women and underrepresented voices – and taking action. I sent in my application and waited.

I was sitting outside on our friend’s patio by the water in early August, with dear family friends, when I got the email. Congratulations you’ve been selected to speak at TEDxCherryCreekWomen on November 13!! Oh, what a moment that was!!

Two weeks later, we had our first kickoff session. And then our first training session I will never forget. We had two minutes to bullet point write out our intro story, 2 minutes to write out the data/the meat, and then 2 minutes to write out our call to action. Then we had 5 minutes to prepare – and we each had to give a 5-minute live talk without notes to the group right then! Well all I can say is that it was awful! Even though I’d written an entire 18-minute talk, and had read it aloud to many people, speaking with zero preparation and no notes did not go so well. I got distracted and blanked out in the middle. I think I did some mumbling. I did some staring!

After that, wow, did I start practicing every night! Unique to TEDxCherryCreek and Dafna’s genius, we were not allowed to write out a script. Instead, we hand wrote the key points and ideas by section, then practiced out loud. We met with our small groups over Zoom once a week to run our talks and share feedback. After the first month, I started practicing my talk with friends and people outside of our TEDxCherryCreek group. Our event had a monthly live practice session, and I flew to Denver for the remaining practices. Our WhatsApp chat group has been non-stop since August.

My talk has evolved so much over this past year. While the 18-minute talk I wrote back in March is still in there, it’s so much tighter, and it flows out of me with much more passion and punch. My talk is 10 minutes and 30 seconds. And there’s no script. It’s all a part of me now.

Last night, we had our pre-event dinner (check out our photo!). And even though I’d only met half of the women in person, and the other half virtually, what a special bond we have! It’s like we’ve been friends our whole lives. I can’t imagine this TEDx experience not being in an all-women’s event. There is something special, magical, and powerful when women come together to support each other. I am so inspired by these incredible women around me. Tomorrow is going to be a BLAST!!

Here we GO!!!!

https://tedxcherrycreek.com/women/2022-women/