Writing And Performing A TEDX Talk
Do you dream about a TEDxTalk? Go inside the process of writing and performing a TED Talk with author Polo Tate
At the time of my TEDxTALK audition, I had a birds-eye view of what I had hoped would be a majestic “idea worth spreading.” I wanted to talk about how to find true fulfilment in life—something poignant that took me an eternity to learn; something beautiful in its simplicity; a rock-solid mountain of an ideal to which I could point so that others wouldn’t have to spend the precious time that I had lost in its foothills or drowning in its runoff. I started out like a starry-eyed Magellan…
Until I left the base camp of my audition and quickly realized that conceptual cartography is not for the faint of heart. Using TED’s distinctive map to navigate the best route to the peak of my rhapsodized idea proved more than challenging. It was new to me, different, desperately uncomfortable at times, yet, ultimately, invaluable.
My greatest lesson learned in undergoing the very strict, incredibly thorough, internationally recognized process of giving a TED talk has been: Even with Alex Honnold’s detailed map of how he scaled the epic face of El Capitan tattooed on our hand, to reach each aspirational apex in life, we must do the climbing ourselves. We are each explorers, roaming the world to stimulate our senses, make connections, and have experiences.
No matter whose map, compass, framework, technology, tools, or tricks of the heavily trodden trade you might be using to reach your goal—there is no life-hack around the topography of human emotion. We must use our own body, our own heart, our own unique perspective to walk the path up to the pinnacle of profound understanding.
I showed up to my first TEDx meeting with an overly detailed, encyclopedic atlas of my life collected from each pit-stop, plateau, and avalanche that I had narrowly weathered on my journey to finding laughter, joy, and fulfillment. Nearly the entirety of which our speech coach immediately redlined as “unTEDly.” I found myself in a crevasse between the individuality of my own experience, my personality, my point of view, and the litany of rules, regs, structure and parameters for the specific type of talk that had made TED an efficient, worldwide phenomenon.
It posed a query inherent to every sport, every class in school, every job that any of us had ever had: How do we use our unique superpowers to accomplish the mission at hand, while still adhering to a given set of rules?
Reading Chris Anderson’s book, watching and rewatching the most-viewed TED Talks of all time, and trying to carve my creativity into a more “TEDly” shape, caused each draft of my speech over a six-month vetting period to lose virtually all that made it personal. In fact, I had focused so staunchly on following in someone else’s footsteps, that I had allowed the heart of my story to disappear along the trail. I felt like I was dangling, precariously, from a series of pedantic, overly distilled tweets on saccharine lessons for seeking happiness.
And, if I didn’t reincorporate my soul, I was going to lose my grip altogether, and plummet into the oblivion of lost opportunity.
I scrapped everything. I realized that rules, themselves, don’t dictate how we may choose to adhere to them.
The footprints in which I tried desperately to tread, were made by fellow outside-of-the-box thinkers, explorers, who were navigating their own ideas as they went. And though their path had given me incredible guidance thus far, it was imperative that I acknowledged these similarities, while recognizing and appreciating our differences.
If we are all human, fundamentally similar, then that which makes us unique is our most valuable currency. Our authenticity is our superpower. In a sea of TED Talks, it is our personal perspective that offers our most powerful teaching tool.
By the time I had finally charted the story I wanted to tell, I was already exhausted. But, I had only written my speech, I had yet to deliver it. They may be inextricably linked, but the processes of writing then performing a TED talk are separate and distinct.
Even with all of the preparation, memorization, and vocalization I had done on my way to this particular peak, I realized, in the fleeting moments before stepping into the red circle, that I wasn’t just standing atop the impenetrable rock of what I had learned from life. I was, rather, standing on a precipice about to jump off into the unknown winds of an audience.
I leapt. And to my utter astonishment, the bare bones of the TED structure that had crept into my consciousness, the feathers of knowledge that I had gathered from speakers before, and the threads of my own story that I had willfully woven back into my journey had all galvanized into a makeshift set of wings bringing me safely, exhilaratingly, to a place that I had never been before.
The TEDxTalk process, like life, is a true collaboration. And, when we take ultimate personal responsibility for what we say and do, we can find solid footholds within that collaboration, open ourselves up to its expansive reciprocity, and offer our total selves to the task of impacting and be impacted by those around us. Magic happens when people share their ideas worth spreading.
—
Polo Tate was born in Lansing, Michigan, where her family has deep ties to the community. Her Great Great Grandfather was Ransom Eli Olds (R.E. Olds), a pioneer and prolific inventor most notably responsible for inventing the first American internal combustion automobile—the Oldsmobile.
Growing up, Tate used her academic aptitude and athletic prowess to earn appointments to both The United States Military Academy at West Point (USMA) and the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs (USAFA). She decided to accept the challenge to attend USAFA out of high school, where she played varsity volleyball in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Tate left during her second year, and her harrowing journey at one of our nation’s most challenging institutions can now be found in her gritty, honest and dynamic debut memoir, Deep Dark Blue.
After leaving USAFA, Tate restarted her college career at the University of Notre Dame. She played Volleyball for the Irish in the Big East Conference and eventually graduated with a B.A. degree in Film, Television, and Theatre.
Tate is now an actor, author, writer, and comedian, performing all over New York City and Los Angeles. She is a passionate public speaker, with a mission for all to see, feel and understand their own self-worth, empowerment, and value.
Polo Tate is a modern-day renaissance woman. Her talent is enormous; her energy, boundless. She loves people, lives every moment to the fullest, lets no one take her joy, and avidly practices the belief that you can do anything upon which you set your mind, heart, and spirit. She lives in New York City.
https://tedxyoungstown.com/2019-speakers/
DEEP DARK BLUE
A memoir of surviving sexual abuse in the Air Force academy.
I want to be in the Air Force someday.
These are the words Polo Tate engraved on her junior dog tags at age eleven. It was an unpopular dream for most young girls, but her hard work paid off and at age eighteen, Polo started basic training at the United States Air Force Academy.
She does everything right, from academics to athletics. But no one prepared her for what came next: physical, sexual, and emotional abuse at the hands of her superiors. Harassment from peers who refused to believe her story.
Deep Dark Blue is more than a memoir about sexual assault. It’s about breaking boundaries but also setting them. It’s about learning to trust your instincts. It’s a story of survival, resilience, and finally, finding your joy.
Buy the book HERE
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
