FAQ #2: What Was It Like to Give a TED Talk?

You know that warm and fuzzy feeling that you get when walking on a lovely beach at sunset? 
Giving a TED Talk was NOT like that.
Giving a TED Talk was more like riding a roller coaster, when you are not a roller-coaster- type-of-person.  It was the longest 6:54 minutes of my life.  I felt every emotion: fear, excitement, despair, focus, distraction, nausea... then, just like riding a roller coaster, as soon as it was over, I wanted to do it all again.  
To answer your second most frequently asked question (FAQ), here are some of the salient points of this experience:

• It was not a competition: Everyone in the TED Residency wanted each other to do their best.  Especially since everyone was speaking about vastly different topics, we all shared our best tips and genuinely cheered each other on.  It was more like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood than Survivor.  The lesson from this: When other people do well, it doesn't take away from your own Talk.  Everyone can do well without there being a ranking of who's the best.
• Intense bonding experience: Like getting stuck in an elevator with 4 strangers for hours, going through a hard experience with other people creates an intense bond within the group. I can honestly say that I consider many of the people in the group friends-for-life, even though our experiences may be so different outside of TED.  I have seen this happen with many people in the group.  Some have hired TED classmates to work at their startups.  Others have hosted them at their homes.  Although everyone is really busy, we are meeting once a month as a group.  I am excited to hear about everyone's successes every time we get together.
• More storytelling, less elevator pitch: I never thought of the story of my research as compelling or interesting but only to my closest friends, if to anyone.  My Talks have always been about the facts and the data.  Through this experience I came to understand that my story IS part of the research.  Talking about it is part of the reporting, but it was hard not to feel indulgent for telling this story.  I had to get over this feeling if I was going to be an effective storyteller for this Talk.  That was probably one of the hardest things to do.
• Clarity was key: I have many topics that I could have talked about for TED. After all, I have been a scientist for many years, but I am also a Mom, an underrepresented minority, a writer, etc.  The hardest part was to become clear about what my intention was with this Talk.  My intention was not to sell an idea for a start-up or a book.  My intention was to get you to know me in my most authentic self.  My TED Talk is a calling card.  Once I decided that intention, everything fell into place.
• Once it's done, it's done: I could easily spend sleepless nights second-guessing my choices in the Talk.  I cringe about my hand movements, my messy hair, and even whether I could have looked better, sounded better, been more X... There are a million things that I can see I could have done differently.  But unless I see this as a learning experience, those thoughts could drive me mad.  This TED Talk is done.  It's out there for you to see.  I learned a lot, now I will move on to the next thing.
• Everyone wants you to do well, really: I felt that everyone; my fellow TED Talkers, the Residency directors, people in the audience, everyone wanted us to do well.  While I was giving the Talk, I felt like dying at minute 3:42.  What helped me get through it was to "know" that people didn't want me to fail.  It helped me to focus on that one person who was looking straight at me, hanging on my every word. Or at least, I imagined that is what they were doing.  It helped.  

So, to answer your question, I can tell you that at some times, doing the TED Talk felt like torture.  I asked myself more than once "why did I need to put myself through this?!"  And then, like a roller coaster, with hands shaking, I wanted to do it all again.