FAQ #3: What did you learn from doing a TED Talk: Here are 7 lessons

Do you have a friend who once did a frog dissection and now acts as if they were a surgeon?  Well, I don't want to be like that friend.
I have done one TED Talk.  Therefore, I am no expert.  I am still learning and exploring how I can incorporate that experience into other parts of my professional life.  But  since this is what you asked in the FAQs, then I will tell you the things I learned that helped me.  Hope that they may help you next time you have to give a scary talk:

• Prepare, then prepare some more: Nothing calms the nerves like being prepared.  Study, rehearse, record yourself.  Try it in front of friends and family.  I once recited my Talk to my poor friend Lucia while we waited to be seated at a restaurant.  I'd say, if someone is willing to sit through it, they are fair game for having to listen to my Talk.  It is important to try your Talk with different people.  I rehearsed my Talk with my group of residents several times.  Although the feedback was valuable, the reactions were no longer genuine.  You really need new people to rehearse with in order to know whether jokes, meaning, tone, will work with a new audience.  
• Think about how much time it will take you to prepare the TED Talk, then double it: The TED Residency program requires near total commitment for 4 months.  And you will need every minute of that time, if you are not experienced.  Since I continued my work at my job during that time, I ended up working 12 hours a day, seven days a week from September to December.  Other residents had a more sane schedule, but none worked less hard than me.  
• At one point, you just have to let go: One of the difficult things about giving such a short talk is that every word is important.  So every word has to earn its place on the Talk. After every sentence, I would ask my self: "Is this what I really mean?".  But there comes a point when the Talk is done.  You must give yourself a deadline and stop editing.  Accept that it is what it is.  Now it is time to memorize. 
• Memorize?:  Yes.  Memorize.  I am often asked whether there were teleprompters.  The answer is NO.  Almost every speaker memorized their Talks.  I used a modification of the Memory Palace technique,but others used repetition, or writing it long-hand.  Either way, it is a scary and for some, an impossible task.  But I tell you, it can be done, with practice.  I was lucky to have had two occasions during which I had to give 5-minute speeches in the weeks before the TED Talk.  I did not have to give memorized speeches on those occasions, but used the opportunities to practice and modify the Memory Palace technique to use in the TED Talk.  Not only did it work, but I am amazed at how long the memory has stayed.  I think I could still give the TED Talk without notes all these months later.  
• Balance memorization with improvisation: The Talk that I gave on the TED stage was 90% what I had memorized.  The other 10% came to me in reaction to the audience. As I was speaking, I realized that one section needed more explanation, so I winged it and added a couple of sentences.  I feel that I was able to do that because I was very present and in the moment, and because I had studied very hard for this.  Can you spot where I went improv in the Talk? 
• Do YOU: In preparation for the Talk, I watched dozens of Talks. Some of my favorites. Some of the most popular.  Some of the most informative.  Some about topics similar to mine...  I tried some of the classic TEDTalkish approaches: The enumeration ("Three things that I learned"), The epiphany ("And suddenly..."), the dreamer ("Imagine a world..."), and the dramatic ("If we don't do this now, the world as we know it will end").  None of these strategies worked for my first TED Talk.  I just wanted to tell my story.  Maybe next time I will do a TED Talk that is more of the classic stereotype.  But for now, I just wanted people to get to know me and my work.
• Speak slowly: It is so counter-intuitive, but when we have a very short time to give a talk, we try to cram it all in by speaking faster and watching the clock.  This is such as big mistake!  By speaking slowly, I was able to connect with the audience and think through the Talk instead of going full blast autopilot. Speaking slowly I was able to feel what I was saying and feel comfortable being more me.  So I wrote a 5 minute talk and allowed for a bit of stretch and pauses to get to the 6-7 minute mark required.  

There are books and books about how to give Talks.  Hey, Chris Anderson, TED's founder himself published a book about this, and there's numerous other copycats.  If you would have asked me "what I would have done differently about my TED Talk?", I could have filled pages.  But thank you for asking me about what I learned.  That was a much better question.