TEDx Talking: Christine Errico On What You Need To Know To Secure, Prepare, and Deliver a Highly Effective TEDx Talk
Time and Effort — Giving a TEDx talk will be one of the biggest endeavors of your life. It was an 8-month journey for me of writing, editing, practicing, meetings with my coach, speaker director, dress rehearsals, more practicing, and more rewriting. All unpaid, but all worth every minute.
In a world that is more connected than ever, the power of a well-crafted message to inspire, educate, and evoke change cannot be understated. TEDx Talks have emerged as a prestigious platform for sharing ideas worth spreading, reaching a global audience and creating impact on a grand scale. In this series, we are discussing the process of delivering a TEDx Talk that resonates and leaves a lasting impression. We are talking with experts who have successfully navigated the TEDx journey, including TEDx speakers, speaking coaches with a focus on TEDx preparations, and organizers involved in the selection and coaching of speakers. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Christine Errico.
Christine Errico is a confidence coach, TEDx speaker, and advocate for the cleft lip and palate community. Born with a cleft lip and palate, Christine had more than 20 surgeries from when she was two months old until her late twenties. Because of her cleft lip, Christine was bullied and told she would never amount to anything. She faced workplace discrimination and struggled with self-confidence, self-acceptance and survived a suicide attempt. As part of her journey, Christine developed resilience, overcome adversity, and learned to accept herself to become the confident, empowered woman she is today.
Before becoming a confidence coach and cleft lip and palate advocate, Christine earned her PhD in accounting, and worked as a college professor for more than 12 years. Today, Christine volunteers with Smile Train to advocate for the cleft lip and palate community and shares her experiences growing up with a cleft lip and palate in her TEDx Talk, through motivational speaking, and other media engagements. Through her advocacy and coaching, she spreads a message of hope and empowerment, proving that true beauty lies in the strength and courage of the human spirit. www.christineerrico.com
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us your “Origin Story”? Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
I was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, a congenital birth difference where my top lip and palate did not properly form before birth. Being born with a facial difference such as a cleft lip and palate meant I looked different than other children who did not have a facial difference. Because of the scars on my lip and my speech, I was bullied by my classmates and my teachers told me I would never be successful. After graduating college I worked as an accountant before earning my doctorate in accounting and making the career change to becoming a college professor. Most of my origin story and my childhood is in my TEDx talk, so I’ll leave that part for the video.
Can you tell us a bit about what you do professionally, and what brought you to this specific career path?
I am a confidence coach and advocate for the cleft lip and palate community. Growing up with a facial difference, I felt alone and lost, and could not find any role models, or anyone who had a cleft lip, like I did. I struggled with self-confidence, shame, and self-acceptance. After my mother passed away, I found the cleft lip and palate community through social media. That’s when I realized there still weren’t many resources for adults who struggled with self-confidence, self-acceptance, overcoming feelings of shame, and worthlessness. I wanted to change the lack of resources by sharing what I learned about building my own self confidence to help others reach their goals and feel better about themselves.
As a confidence coach, I help individuals with facial differences improve their self-confidence. I do this by teaching them to learn to ask for what they want, set boundaries, manage their emotions, and develop interpersonal skills. As a result, my clients can socialize with confidence and without feeling that their facial difference is holding them back in life.
Through my advocacy efforts with Smile Train and my own efforts, I continuously raise awareness and educate about cleft lip and palate so that one day society accepts individuals with a facial difference and realizes that despite having a facial difference, we can accomplish great things and be successful.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussions. Can you tell us a bit about your particular experience with TEDx talks?
Ever since I saw my first TEDx talk, I thought it would be an amazing experience to do one and always thought my talk would be about teaching, or business. I never suspected I would give a TEDx talk about my life and something as vulnerable and personal as my childhood, overcoming shame and my work for the cleft lip and palate community. Yet here I am! My experience with giving a TEDx talk has been overwhelmingly positive and a memorable event that I will never forget.
From the moment I was accepted as a speaker, to the time my video was posted on YouTube and TED.com, I was supported, encouraged, mentored, and coached. Even though I had moments of self-doubt during the process, and at one point was ready to quit, the speaker director and my speaker coach believed in me and gave me the strength I needed to keep going.
The entire team of TEDx UF, which was comprised of college students, was so professional, caring, understanding, and hard working. They were well organized and the entire TEDx experience was so enjoyable and exciting. One of the best parts was when the TEDxUF team had all the speakers meet and get to know each other. We truly felt like family for the 8 months I worked with the team.
Giving a TEDx talk has taught me so much about public speaking than I would have ever imagined. It is a lot of work to give a TEDx talk, but the feeling of delivering the talk on stage and standing on the red dot is unlike anything I experienced before and worth all of the emotion, hard work, time and effort that goes into the 15 minute talk.
Before we talk about the details, let’s consider the big picture. Preparing for a TEDx talk and securing it obviously requires a lot of mindshare, bandwidth, resources, and energy. From your personal experience, why is it worth it to invest all that to do a TEDx talk?
Because it’s TEDx — the biggest public speaking stage in the world!
My desire to give a TEDx talk was to share my message and raise awareness about cleft lip and palate, and to accomplish a “bucket list item” and I am so glad I did it!
Investing the bandwith, mindshare, resources and energy to give a TEDx talk is worthwhile because it is unlike anything you will ever do in your life. Almost everyone in the world knows TED and TEDx, and what it means to give a talk from the “Red Dot”. Once you give your TEDx talk, it is immortalized on YouTube for the rest of time and TEDx is known as “the” pinnacle of public speaking. Giving a talk on the TEDx stage is a great way to get your message out to the world, especially since viewers of TEDx and TED talks are ready and actively looking to listen and learn new ideas.
Now, let’s talk about the how. Can you describe the application process for becoming a TEDx speaker? What are some common challenges faced in the application process that our readers should be forewarned about?
The application process to become a TEDx speaker is pretty straightforward. The first step is to find local venues holding TEDx talks in your area, and find their application for speakers. The application will be fairly similar among all the different sites, even though TEDx venues are independently operated under a license from TED. Some applications may require a video, some will not.
I saw a post on social media from the University of Florida looking for speakers for TEDxUF. I decided to apply and submitted my application. TEDxUF did not require a video, just a written application with my abstract of my idea, and additional information about myself and how my idea would help and relate to the community. After completing that application, I was motivated to look for other TEDx call for speakers in my local area. That year, I applied to three other TEDx locations. Some of those applications required short videos of my idea, as well as a written abstract of my idea.
Sadly, I was rejected by all three sites I applied to that year. One site provided detailed constructive written feedback about my application, which was very kind of them, since most sites will not take the time to do that. One site called me to tell me I made it to the top 15, when they were only taking 10 speakers, and said the reason I wasn’t selected is they felt my idea wasn’t a good fit for their community.
When applications opened for TEDxUF in 2021, I applied again, this time with a refined application that included the feedback I received. I received an email inviting me for an interview with the speaker director and curator to share more about my idea and experience on the topic.
About a week after the interview, I received an email that I was accepted as a speaker for TEDxUF 2022!
One of the common challenges I recommend applicants to pay attention to is the strength of your idea and your call to action. Make sure your idea is unique, but not too unique that it’s not relatable. Make sure you clearly articulate your idea so it can be easily understood, but that’s not too common. Also, have a strong call to action that anyone can implement.
Another suggestion I recommend is to make sure your talk is applicable to your local community. Even though your TEDx talk will eventually be on YouTube, TEDx conferences are primarily for the local community and TEDx organizers will look for talks that are helpful and relatable to the community.
Is there a website where you can apply for a TEDx talk? How do you apply and submit? How can you find out about all of the TEDx’s that are available?
Each TEDx is independently operated under a license by TED and typically has a website, social media page or both. I recommend searching on TED.com for local TEDx conferences in your area or googling TEDx talks in your area. Once you find that, you can find their social media or web pages where they will have applications posted for speakers for their next talks.
From there, come up with your “Idea Worth Spreading” and start working on your application.
What strategies did you use or would you recommend to ensure that a talk is engaging and impactful?
After I was rejected from the first three sites, I took the written and verbal feedback into my application the second time around. I made my call to action stronger and I incorporated a lot more of my own experiences. In my application, I was vulnerable and shared my story and myself to make the connection of why my idea was so important and worth spreading. I also ensured my call to action was generalizable, so that everyone could apply it and understand what my message was.
While writing my talk and even leading up to the day of, I made sure I was sharing myself, telling a story, and taking the audience on a journey with ups and downs. I wanted them to feel, and experience. I made them laugh, and bring a tear to their eye, and inspired them, and brought them together with my call to action. I made sure my talk was interesting and engaging to keep their interest, and left them wanting more.
There’s a saying from Mark Twain about how it takes more time to prepare for a five-minute talk than for a two-hour talk. The point is that crystallizing an idea and using the exact words is much more difficult than a freeform talk. So, how does a person do that? How does a person boil down an idea into five minutes?
Oh isn’t this the truth!!!
When I found out I was accepted and told to start writing my talk, I thought “this will be easy! I’ll have it done in no time”. Thirteen drafts later, and literally pouring my blood sweat and tears into the talk, I ended up with the talk I gave.
To narrow down an idea into five minutes is incredibly difficult, and requires you to be very, very, clear on what you want to say. I started by writing down the goal of my talk, the call to action, and my main idea. For my talk, the main goal was educating society about cleft lip and palate, the main idea was raising awareness that no matter where we were born or live, we all have the same challenges and the call to action was to educate someone else about cleft lip and palate based on what you learned from my talk.
I made sure that every sentence tied back those three points while writing and editing. I used mind maps and outlining to help me structure my talk. I pretended that each word cost me money and I only had a certain amount of money to spend. Each word had to earn it’s keep to stay in my talk, otherwise it was edited out. I kept editing, rewriting, reading out loud, and editing more to ensure my talk was on point, and concise.
Once I got all the words on paper that I wanted to say, then I had to go through and swap out longer words for shorter words, and find ways to say the same thing using less words so I could fit everything within the 15 minute time limit of a TEDx talk. It’s a challenge process, but one that taught me how to write concisely and to the point.
Most of us can think of maybe half a dozen different topics that they could speak about. How does a person choose, and say “Okay, this is the one for a TED talk”? How do they choose which of all their ideas should be the one?
Coming up with your idea for your TEDx talk is difficult, but when you find it you will know it’s the one because it feels right and it speaks from your heart. Start by reflecting back on your life or your career, or something you’re incredibly passionate about and think you can teach and speak about with experience and documented facts.
TEDx talks are either new ideas, or old ideas presented in a new and different way, AND are usually given from experience and someone who is an expert. Make sure you are an expert on the idea you are presenting. You don’t have to have a PhD in your field but you DO have to have lived experience. For me, even though my PhD is in accounting, my talk was on my lived experience of cleft lip and palate, and raising awareness. As the speaker director told me when I was having a moment of imposter syndrome the day before my talk, she said “Christine, you are an expert on living with a cleft lip and palate, you can do this”.
To help you come up with “the” idea, I recommend keep writing out your ideas. Keep jotting down a call to action, and keep watching TEDx talks to see if the idea you have has been done before. If it has, see if there is a different way you can present your idea and incorporate your own lived experiences, or your own expertise.
Feedback is crucial in shaping a compelling TEDx talk. Can you describe how to seek out and incorporate feedback during the talk’s preparation? Who do you turn to for honest critiques, and how do you iterate on your presentation based on the feedback received?
I was fortunate that TEDxUF assigned a speaker coach to me after I was accepted as a speaker. We worked together to create an outline, then preliminary draft, final draft, then final version. Throughout all thirteen (yes 13!) versions, my coach helped me refine my talk, ensuring my talk was on point with my idea, helping me share vulnerable parts that connected with the audience, and bring out the strength necessary for my talk to be the best it could be.
After every revision, I would send my draft to my coach who then read and critiqued it with detailed feedback. Along the way, I also sent a few drafts to close friends and colleagues for their opinions and feedback. Once I had the final written draft, I began reading my talk out loud and videotaping it for my coach. I continued to make changes to the wording, flow of the sentences, and rearranging some of the paragraphs based on how it sounded. It’s amazing how different things sound when you speak them out loud versus reading them to yourself.
When the words were finalized and the time came to start memorizing my talk, I continued to video myself and watch it back with my coach. They would give me feedback on my body language and tone of voice. One of my biggest issues was I used my hands and I moved around too much while talking. My speaker coach helped me break those habits. My coach also helped me know when to emphasize certain parts of my talk by incorporating emotion, getting louder or softer, slowing down and speeding up, and what to do with my hands.
Let’s talk about the actual delivery of an excellent TEDx Talk. Most people are scared of speaking in public. How do you manage the stage fright before the talk?
I was terrified right before getting on stage, and I was the first speaker of the day!! The irony was not lost on me that I, as a confidence coach was terrified of public speaking! I kept thinking to myself that I did not belong on that stage, I did NOT want to go first, and who was I to be a TEDx speaker?!
One of the things that helped me was the stage manager. She calmed me down and reminded me that I belonged on that stage and I was going to be fine. She had me do the “superman pose” (hands on hips, chest puffed out). As funny as it sounds, that pose really helped me feel more confident and empowered! She also asked me to imagine what’s the worst that can happen and helped me come up with a plan if it did happen. We planned that IF I forgot all my lines, I would just start talking about what I did remember from my talk and wing it. Fortunately, that did not happen.
Once I got on the stage, I focused on the lights at the back of the audience, and not at the audience themselves. I knew I had to do that because my father was in the front row of the audience and if I saw him, I would have started crying or forgot every word! Looking over the heads of the audience made it appear that I was making eye contact with them without actually looking at them. That reduced my nerves and helped me believe I was just doing another practice run.
What really made me feel confident and appear relaxed (even though I my hands were shaking) was the fact I practiced and memorized my talk so well, I could still repeat parts of it today, two years later! Once I had my talk written and finalized, I rehearsed delivery of it by memorizing it and practicing it every chance I got. I downloaded an app to help me memorize my talk and started with one paragraph at a time. I practiced in the car, while walking my dog, in the shower, while floating in my pool, while making dinner, EVERYWHERE. I knew my talk so well it became muscle memory and on the day of the talk, I didn’t have to think what the lines were. All I had to do was remember the very first line and the rest flowed without much effort. The amount of practice and work I put into my talk helped me have a positive experience so I could enjoy the actual part of being on stage, engaging with the audience, and enjoying the results of my efforts.
What can a person do to ensure that people will remember the talk and that it won’t just go in one ear and out the other? Can you share how you gauge and adapt to audience reactions in real time during your talk to ensure maximum engagement?
Writing a powerful, engaging, interesting talk that tells a story and takes the audience on a journey with peaks and valleys is key to keeping your audience engaged and interested. When I wrote my talk, I balanced the ups and downs of the points I was making so the audience was on an emotional roller coaster. I also reminded myself to stay present in the moment and slow down while taking in the experience because when it’s over, it’s over. I listened to the audience’s applause, and for me, they started clapping during two different points of my talk. That almost derailed me and made me forget my lines, but fortunately due to my work memorizing my talk, I was able to pause, take in their applause, and pick up after their clapping subsided.
When you have your talk fully memorized, you don’t have to use as much brainpower thinking about your talk and you can be receptive to the audience’s reaction by pausing, acknowledging, smiling, and thanking them.
Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience or research, what are the “Five Things You Need To Deliver a Highly Effective TEDx Talk ”? If you can, please share a story or an example for each.
Here is a video of my 5 tips for a highly effective TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psfkWmuhftY
1 . Time and Effort — Giving a TEDx talk will be one of the biggest endeavors of your life. It was an 8-month journey for me of writing, editing, practicing, meetings with my coach, speaker director, dress rehearsals, more practicing, and more rewriting. All unpaid, but all worth every minute.
2 . Universal Message — Come up with an idea that anyone can relate to and understand to ensure your message is impactful and relevant. When a message is relatable to the audience, they are more likely to pay attention and remain engaged. Even if your idea is about quantum physics, simplify and make it relatable to a life experience that people can relate to.
3 . Vulnerability — The most successful TEDx talks speak from the heart. Share yourself with your audience in your message and bring them into your experience. Tie your experience to your idea and share the lessons you learned. Being vulnerable makes you real and relatable, and keeps the audience engaged.
4 . Clarity — When writing your talk, make sure your language is simple and easy to understand. Use short sentences with common vocabulary. Read each sentence out loud because how it sounds when read aloud is different than how it reads. Simplify complex terminology and industry jargon that could be confusing to the audience or make them lose interest. One challenge I had was to ensure my talk didn’t stray too much into the medical side, while explaining what a cleft lip and palate was in common terms.
5 . Call to Action — Part of having an idea worth spreading is implementing that idea with a call to action. My first application was rejected because even though my idea was solid and acceptable, I didn’t have a call to action. You have an opportunity to get your message out to a large audience. Now is the time to ask everyone watching to do something with your message. Make sure your call to action is relatable, easy to understand, doable, and, most importantly, related to your message.
After delivering a TEDx talk, what strategies do you use to maximize its impact and reach? Could you share how to engage with your audience through social media, follow-up events, or other means to encourage action or further discussion on the topic?
The first thing to do is the day of your talk and immediately after your talk, share pictures and talk about your experience. I made a brief video I posted on social media sharing the emotional relief I felt having given the talk. That generates excitement and gets people interested in your talk when it is released on YouTube.
Once it is on YouTube, and possibly TED.com, share the link EVERYWHERE. I have my picture with the TEDx logo as my header on my Facebook page, and I have the video on the home page of my website so visitors can see it. Respond to comments to your TEDx talk on YouTube to keep the discussion going, even if your response is a simple “Thank you for watching”.
Use parts of your talk for further content and to create new talks!! I reference my TEDx talk in podcasts I’ve been on, and share it with new people I meet. I also proudly wear the TEDxUF T-Shirt I got from the team for being a speaker.
How can our readers watch your TEDx talk and follow your work?
They can go to my website at www.christineerrico.com and watch my TEDx talk posted on the home page.
Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/coachchristineerrico/
Cleft Lip and Palate Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cleftlipcommunity
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christine_errico/
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
TEDx Talking: Christine Errico On What You Need To Know To Secure, Prepare, and Deliver a Highly… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.