A TEDxcellent Adventure
Hi Roshan,
I’m reaching out on behalf of TEDxSFU, to see if someone from your team would be interested in applying for one of our speaker positions this year.
The TEDxSFU 2018 conference is an all-day event held on November 3rd at the Granville Island Stage. This year’s conference will feature 10 TEDx talks from 10 speakers, each presenting around this year’s theme of “Uncharted”. Our annual conference has 8 years of history, regularly hosting 400+ attendees, with millions of YouTube views on our TEDx talks.
I admire your work and feel you could make an excellent candidate for speaking this year.
-Cori
Like so many of you, my first thought was “what took so long”? My second was “can I commit the time”? Fortunately, I was able to rearrange my schedule.
Although I had an invite, I wasn’t a speaker yet. My first task was to pitch a topic related to the theme “Uncharted” to the TEDxSFU committee.
I knew that my talk was going to focus on my work with EnTomorrow. EnTomorrow is a research lab I run where my team and I use insects to address issues like climate change, waste food, deforestation, and more!
Our team was able to show that mealworms could consume waste food without any problems. Even more exciting was the fact that we could use them to safely break down styrofoam and create biodegradable plastic!
With a topic like “Uncharted”, I didn’t want to focus solely on using insects to address environmental problems. “Ideas Worth Spreading” is the TED slogan after all, and I wanted my talk to incorporate other global ideas. As such, my pitch focused on the idea of applying the global potential of insects using three key concepts.
- Social
- Economic
- Environment
A week after my pitch, I received this………..
Congratulations Roshan!
We hope this email finds you well. We’re excited to invite you to join the speaker lineup for TEDxSFU 2018!
As you may already know, TEDxSFU will be held at the Granville Island Stage, November 3rd, 2018 and the theme of our TEDx event is “Uncharted”.
To respect TEDx rules, the duration of your presentation should not exceed 18 minutes. Additionally, we would like to emphasize that TEDx speaker rules also prohibit any form of promotion or “selling” from the stage. Should you decide to accept our invitation, we will be working closely with you to ensure that your talk clearly articulates your message, as well as adheres to TEDx rules.
As a TEDx speaker, your presentation will be recorded and made available online following the conference at www.TEDxSFU.com website, and possibly on TED.com. This is a great opportunity for you to gain global exposure, as some talks have attracted audiences in the hundreds of thousands, or even millions.
TED has never paid speakers to appear, but has always committed to creating an experience that’s tremendously fulfilling and beneficial for everyone– as a TEDx event, we hope to do the same.
We would love to have you speak at our event in November and ask you to confirm your participation no later than July 20th, 4pm PST. Should you accept this invitation, we will follow up with further details and resources regarding next steps.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Cheers,
Cori Baldwin Paquette | Director of Content Development
While exciting, I knew that this was going to be a challenge. Could I tell the story in the best way possible? How should I convey the impact of this research so that it was meaningful? Would the audience be distracted by my rugged handsomeness and not pay attention? As a scientist, I’m not a fan of leaving questions unanswered so I sent off my confirmation.
I was a speaker.
Over the next couple of weeks, I got to know Alexandra, Anita, Greg, Cicely, Jackie, Mike, Milena, Nikki, and Aiden — my co-speakers. Everyone had amazing stories that were shaped in part by their colorful experiences. Despite these differences, the common thread between all of us was our drive to authentically share those experiences on a larger stage.
Guided by Bernard and Rose — our incredible speaker coaches — we all started to come up with the key idea/ideas that would drive our talks. While the overall goal of my talk was to highlight the global potential of insects, I was unsure how to do this effectively. What really helped was creating a list of questions for each topic.
Social
What did insects mean to cultures and communities around the world?
How were insects used to support families, men, women, and children? Were there any success stories?
Number of people that could be helped?
How would this affect me? My family? My community?
Economic
Can a business be sustainable and profitable?
Could insects be used here in BC to improve our economy? What might that look like?
What industries could incorporate insects and still maintain or increase their success?
What would the end result of this integration look like? Here in BC? Globally?
How would this affect me? My family? My community?
Environment
Do we need to eat insects to make a difference? Are there alternative approaches?
By incorporating insects into our culture and economy, what are the environmental benefits? What would our world look like?
How would this affect me? My family? My community?
While I wanted my talk to be global in its scope, it still had to be relatable to me, my family, and my community. Any change that happened would start in those circles and work its way out.
In the weeks that followed, I started to answer those questions. Alongside me, in the trenches, the other speakers were also arranging their key ideas. Collaboration was an important part of this process. By recording our talks and sharing them with the team, we provided support, encouragement, and advice to each other.
The part of the process I enjoyed the most were the biweekly speaker meetings where we all met up and presented to each other. Being able to deliver different versions of my talk and get live feedback was great! And the exchange of ideas made all our talks even better. In fact, one of Anita’s suggestions became the closing line of my talk!
More importantly, the feedback helped me strike a balance between the science and the story. I didn’t want to come across as someone preaching about why everyone should eat insects, feelings be damned. Rather, I focused on ways that the audience could be part of this story even if they weren’t ready to take that step. Scientist or not, I wanted everyone to leave my talk as excited as I was!
Overall, these sessions were a fantastic opportunity for all of us to solidify our key points and really dig down into what made our talks matter.
As the weeks and months passed, my talk went from concepts and ideas to being fully fleshed out. This meant that the two months leading up to TEDxSFU were a lot of practice and revision.
A LOT.
Seriously. My utility bill went through the roof since I was practicing in the shower so much. And before you ask, no, there’s no picture of that.
Before I knew it, the end of October had arrived. TEDxSFU was only weeks away and I was working overtime to refine every aspect of my talk. My goal during these last couple weeks was to focus on how I was presenting rather than what I was presenting.
Enter Mike, Jonathan, and Jessica.
The three of them were awesome and took the time to listen and provide me with their perspectives. Huge shoutout to Mike, who not only filmed me practicing, but then went through every sentence with me, line by line, to make it shine!
Practicing for two months straight may sound crazy but it was an incredibly important part of the process. Each speaker has 18 minutes to deliver an incredible talk. Perfectly. Most people, including myself, would rather fight a llama than go through that.
Practicing to the point where my talk felt fluid and organic played a huge role in ensuring I would be confident on stage. After all, the last thing you want is to freeze when the spotlight is in your face and 500 people are staring at you.
While speaking in public made me nervous, that really wasn’t what I was afraid of.
I was afraid…
… of not telling this story in a way that did justice to all the incredible people that were part of it.
… that I didn’t have a story that my audience could be a part of and contribute to.
… of not knowing if I would make a difference even after all the blood, sweat and tears.
That’s why I practiced so much. Freezing in front of 500 people was not the worst thing that could happen. Not living up to those expectations was.
November 3, 2018.
500 people.
10 speakers.
One 18 minute talk.
Was I able to give a TED talk that did justice to the story? Inspired you to make a difference? Changed your perspective? At the end of the day, I think that’s for you to decide.
I look forward to hearing your answer.
My TED journey would not have been possible without the support of some incredible people.
Our research at EnTomorrow would not have been possible without Langara College providing funding and resources. Mario Moniz de Sá, Kelly Sveinson, and Margaret Heldman played huge roles in the success of our research. In particular, I’d like to thank Mario for his advice and support throughout my undergraduate career.
I’d also like to thank Faculty Brewing and our other food donation partners for their support. We couldn’t have done it without you.
TEDxSFU:Uncharted wouldn’t have been possible without an amazing team — speakers, directors, coordinators, advisers and volunteers — working in front of and behind the scenes. It was inspiring to see your efforts and a privilege to hear your stories. Your efforts made this a TEDxcellent experience.
To the EnTomorrow team. Maggie, Prerna, Jocelyn, Brendon, Nhat, Hanbin, Alex, Mahen, Michael, Aleeze, Aamir, Michika, Mario, Mark, Marcelo, Amir, and so many more. All of you used your talents to make our world a better place and that is no small thing.
To all of you. Thank you.
Photos by: Laura Halas, Gabriel Galedo and Serena Ho
If you enjoyed this article, and want to read more, just click the link below…
… or drop by my website to check out my research or to send me a message!
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Thanks for reading :)
