Yesterday I gave a TEDx talk. It went well.
The day before, I rehearsed my TEDx talk and froze on stage. I drew a blank in the middle of my talk. It’s the worst possible feeling. You forget what to say, everyone is staring at you and you look dumb for not knowing what’s next.
But surprisingly, everything was okay. People still understood the message. The idea still made sense. Despite the long pause and apparent awkwardness, the talk still worked.
The worst thing happened, and everything was fine. So yesterday when I delivered the actual talk, the one that was recorded and will hopefully live online for years to come, I didn’t have as much fear. Because I’d already experienced the most embarrassing feeling and it wasn’t THAT bad.
I think there are two big lessons here: 1. it’s always a good idea to practice and 2. even the worst case scenario isn’t the end of the world.
So live in possibility, and not in fear. It isn’t perfection that makes a talk memorable, it’s the emotion, the ideas and your passion.