My Experience as a TEDx Speaker and Lessons I Learned

Three of My Experiences

Reality

Arriving at the venue we picked up our name tags, walked through the interactive exhibits, and found the spot where you take pictures. After taking formal pictures, I asked my son if we could shake it up a bit and get real. (See above) The event started at 1pm. My speaking slot... 6:24pm. How on earth am I going to manage my energy so that after a long day of waiting I'm at my best???

Incredibly Grateful for Stage Time

As a violinist, I've been on stage well over 1000 times. I've performed outside in the wind, rain and snow. I've performed in the produce section of a grocery store. And, I was the concertmaster of the Central Oregon Symphony for 15 years. The show must always go on!

I can't even begin to imagine doing a TED/TEDx talk without any stage experience...

6:24 pm

I walked out on stage, played some music, and then…

This is what it looks like when the mic is hooked onto your bra, and the tech forgot to turn it on! This is the kind of thing that would unnerve anybody and derail them at the talk of their life. In my case, it relaxed me and I had fun with it. You won't see any of this on the video which is edited for perfection. But it makes you wonder... wouldn't it be all the more real and authentic if they had kept it in?

This could have been a disaster. So grateful for my stage time experience.

All In

If I was going to stand on stage and tell people how to feel their best and perform their best, then I had better do the same! It was time to go "All In".

I cleared my calendar for 10 weeks and I went into the cave. Here's what happened. I went to hot yoga 3 times a week and on the other days I walked. I stuck to my diet of no flour no sugar (except a few days when I turned to chocolate to stay awake and be comforted). I worked with a physical therapist who got rid of my chronic back pain. Actually found wide width shoes for my stocky feet. I wrote my own music and rehearsed it. While creating my talk I would sleep just enough to process feedback and spent a number of nights writing from 3am - 7am. I rehearsed in a way that only a violinist knows how. I did well over 100 repetitions in different ways including audio, video, and live audiences.

Bottom line, I did absolutely everything possible to prepare and left no stone unturned. As I delivered my talk I did not pace across the red circle like a caged cat, speak too fast, nor was I a deer in the headlights... I was grounded and present. It felt like a "slam dunk". Seeing my video afterwards... it was even better than I thought.

For my TEDxNaperville talk... All In. The very nature of my talk meant that I had to feel my best and perform my best. I fully embraced a "do or die" mentality.

Three of My Lessons

The Application Process

Over the last five years, whenever I felt inspired, I would do a Google search and find TEDx events that were actively looking for speakers. While the applications were similar, no two were the same. The questions had me looking at my topic from different points of view. As a result I became better and better at articulating my idea.

Spring 2019 I came up with the phrase "get into your life like a musician gets into the music". Something shifted. The differences in the questions didn't change my perspective anymore. From then on, I included the exact same phrase on each application. And, I was asked to interview for each and every one of them. That's a 100% conversion rate. BINGO! By July 2019, I was on board as a speaker for TEDxNaperville.

Whether or not I had the opportunity to speak on a TEDx stage, the practice of filling out the applications and looking at my idea from different angles was invaluable.

Hire An Expert

I wasted an entire month going it alone in writing my talk. I thought "I'm smart. I can figure it out along the way. Just start writing." At a networking event somebody asked "You've hired a coach, right?" She gave me a talkin' to. Then, gave me a referral. Hayley Foster

The minute I started working with Hayley, I could easily see I was at a middle school level and she had what seemed like 2 PHD's and decades of experience. She has coached over 500 talks after all. Working by myself would have been like the blind leading the blind. Working with Hayley was more of a Karate Kid "wax on wax off" experience. She was the master with the vision leading me, the blind. We spent about a month collecting information. I had to use patience that I didn't even know I could muster up. And just like the Karate Kid, when it was time to put that preparation to good use, the payoff was beyond anything I could have expected.

Hiring an expert was a game changer. Worth every penny.

Impostor Syndrome

About a week and a half before my 6:24 spot on the TEDxNaperville stage, I was on the phone with Hayley. She mentioned the word "success". Because we were on the phone, I hid my tears. The word "success" has always been a word that triggers me. I've worked hard my whole life and feel like the majority of that work has been unrewarded. The conversation kept going, but gosh darn it, she said the word "success" again! This time, I couldn't swallow my tears.

Hayley said "Diane! You've been successful your whole life! You just may not be successful in the areas that people publicly acknowledge! Like raising a son, being a caregiver for your mom, teaching hundreds of kiddos to play the violin, and even though it was a volunteer orchestra, you were still paid to be their concertmaster..."

I don't really remember what I did that day. But it was something like curling up on the floor in a fetal position and reviewing my entire life.

For the first time, I let myself fully acknowledge all of my achievements.

The next day I started with rehearsing my talk. As I was speaking, I heard something completely different. My vocal tone was naturally confident and all filler words were gone!

Without this lesson learned, I could have stood on the red circle, said all of the right things but with squeamish energy of an unsuccessful person. Instead, I could stand in my successes because I finally let myself own them.

I used to think that studying the violin in New York City was the hardest thing I've ever done. Not anymore. The preparation it took to craft my talk was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. And then I had to complicate it by not only playing the violin, but using a looper pedal and then having to juggle with the clicker to advance my slides. What was I thinking?

Like everything in life, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it. I shifted my opinion of myself from unsuccessful to successful. I had tremendous growth working with an expert. I learned tons about communication through the process of the coaching and filling out applications. As you know, I went "All In"! During the mic fail my stage time served me quite well. The impact this experience has had within me is now my new reality. But my talk video was only released 11 days ago. Is there more to come?

Watch Diane's Talk

Diane Allen

Speaker & Violinist

Cultivate talent and maximize potential, by harnessing the power of your flow state.