My TEDx Experience & How You Can Do It

Featured photo supplied by TEDx OaklandUniversity.

I gave a TEDx talk at University of Kent in May this year. The theme of the event was ‘Beneath the Surface’ and the title of my talk was ‘Your Inner Knowing’.

‘TED is a non profit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.’

Anyone who feels they have an ‘idea worth spreading’ can apply to speak at a TEDx event, for me it happened almost accidentally…

I knew there was a TEDx event in Canterbury in 2015 so I did some digging around to find out if there was going to be another in 2016, thinking it would be fun and interesting to coach the speakers – at that time I thought the event held at the University of Kent was only for students. I connected to a great guy who was a student at University of Kent and central in the organising team for 2016 – I offered to coach the speakers and he accepted. Great I thought! I then learnt that applications were open to all, not just university students….

Now there is the phenomena that we so often get very close to what we are ‘here to do’ – we often help others to do something we should be doing ourselves… and I wondered if this applied to me on this occasion – I realised it did, so I applied to give a talk myself.

I was asked to explain what my talk would be about (in no more than 500 words), and how it related to the theme ‘Beneath the Surface.’ From this application the organisers chose who they would like to interview. I was asked to come for an interview and later offered a place to speak – and this was when I got really excited!

My inspiration – I work with ambitious, sensitive people who know they have something great to contribute to the world, but they can’t quite put their finger on what. We work together and uncover what their unique contribution is meant to be, they feel relief from all the circling thoughts like ‘I’m meant to be doing something more than this’ and feel real excitement about their future as they know what they are going to do with their life. I also work with people who know what they are ‘here to do’ but feel they are ‘playing small’ and want to embody their purpose in life more fully… Frustrated they are not having the impact they long for, we work together looking at their Vision, strategy, mind set, skill set, and environment.   When we get through procrastination and distraction the outcome is what we do becomes a visible expression of who we are by acting on our unique ‘inner knowing.’ For me, the fascinating part is our unique ‘inner knowing’ is always there in us all and it is this that inspired my talk:

If you have a ‘message worth spreading’ and would like to apply to give a TEDx talk, or would like to be involved in the organising of a TEDx event, there are two current opportunities that I am aware of coming up in Kent: Folkestone autumn 2016 – contact Liu Batchelor and Canterbury in October 2017 – contact Sophia Ppali by emailing 

Or, of course you could organise your own independent TEDx event!