all right so a lot of people ask me what it is like to actually give a TED talk and I think a
lot of my friends wanted to know because they thought it's gotta be the most terrifying thing
in the world right you're on a big stage is a huge audience but maybe more importantly than
that you're being video recorded in high definition and this is actually being live
streamed to people that subscribe to Ted and then ultimately there's a chance that your talk
will end up on ted.com or it will be viewed by potentially thousands if not millions of people
so certainly on the surface it seems like it could be a terrifying thing and if that got in
your head that could really mess up your ability to speak and perform and all that good stuff so
I have to say that I do speak publicly frequently something I like to do so I kind of went into it
armed with that sort of ability but I definitely was nervous this was the largest scale talk I'd
ever given and you know obviously there's a huge production behind it so that was also intimidating
but I will say my reaction to actually giving the talk was completely different than what I thought
it would be so I expected to be very nervous as anyone I think would expect to be and that you
know it'll be one of those situations where you know like on old school you will Ferrell blacks
out can't remember giving the speech that's kind of what I thought might happen which
you know happened to me when I first started giving talks and I think most academics that
give talks maybe that happens to them in the beginning but what actually happened was that I
was completely calm I was extremely excited but I was not anxious I didn't have anxiety and it
was the most present I think I've ever been for any public speaking engagement and the reason
I think that that happened is because it was such a big production that it ended up feeling
a little less like all the pressure was on me and more like I was a cog in a wheel that you
know the TED conference and that I just needed to do my part and I had a whole team behind me
supporting me and that's totally true not only was there on an extensive audio-visual team I
just you know leading industry professionals in that in that space that backed up the talks and
we're recording the talks making sure everything looks really good and was very professional but
I also had a whole crew of fellow speakers that I became very friendly you know very close friends
with and there was a lot of camaraderie there so I've never performed really not certainly not in
plays or anything like that but I suspect it's similar to what you might feel if you perform
on Broadway you know or any kind of big purpose stage production it's beyond you it's this sort
of you're just one part of a bigger production and so that made it really less stressful for
me and it was amazing I mean it was amazing it was one of the coolest things I've ever done
in my life having that kind of an audience this internet this was in Arusha Tanzania by the way
I was where tEDGlobal 2017 was this past August you know an incredibly impressive international
audience lots of really powerful people and also philanthropic people that just care about what you
have to say so having that kind of audiences rare in life may be a once-in-a-lifetime kind
of opportunity and it was just exhilarating it was extremely exciting giving that talk and I'm
incredibly thankful for having the opportunity and I would recommend other scientists if you have the
opportunity to be involved in any kind of Ted events for example TEDx they're independently
organized Ted events they happen all over the world take that opportunity because it's such
a unique speaking platform it will challenge you in ways that you would not otherwise be
challenged and I think you'll inevitably be grateful that you had the opportunity