My Journey Onto a TEDx Stage: Part Three

June 4, 2025

Behind the Scenes of My Journey onto a TEDx Stage: Part Three

The Big Event in Dallas

Almost 7 weeks ago, I fulfilled my bucket list wish of presenting on a TEDx stage. It was an experience unlike anything I could have ever imagined. The hundreds of hours spent practicing, memorizing, and preparing for an event that meant so much yet took place in under 18 minutes. Since the video is not live yet on YouTube, I have no idea if this event will be as life-changing for my speaking career as I hope it will be, but the event was life-changing in so many other ways.

If you haven’t yet read my blog posts #1 and #2 about my journey to the TEDx stage, definitely go back and check those out. They will lay the foundation for what I am about to share here.

On April 16th, I left New York City headed for Dallas with a large checked suitcase and a carry-on roller suitcase containing my precious TEDx outfit from Anne Fontaine and my Manolo Blahnik shoes. I had never traveled with two roller suitcases before, but it was necessary! There was NO WAY I was checking my very carefully crafted outfit. The belt alone needed space, so it didn’t get crushed! That roller bag also included any essentials I would have needed had my checked bag gotten lost. I usually don’t travel with such caution, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and I wasn’t taking any chances.

I had treated myself to flying first class for this leg of the trip and enjoyed every minute of the special check-in area at LGA for Delta First Class customers. I don’t get to fly First Class very often, but every time I do, I am reminded that I could get used to this form of travel! Private jets are even better, and yes, I have experienced that once too. That’s an over-the-top means of traveling that I could also easily adapt to!

I landed in Dallas, and all of my luggage arrived with me. I was staying at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown this time. A boutique hotel steeped in history that is part of the Autograph Collection Marriott Hotels. Below are some images of the lobby and my room. The interior designer in me loved this hotel!

I grabbed dinner and drinks at the bar and was in bed by 9:00! The 17th was Thursday, the day of the second rehearsal. I knew the other speakers would be there for the event, so I was excited to meet everyone. We had been given better directions for Uber and for locating the event venue, so I was confident I could find it and would recognize it.

I wasn’t feeling stressed at all, as I had visited the campus before and felt I had worked out all the nerves the week prior. That morning, I went for a nice walk downtown, enjoyed some time reading by the rooftop pool, and returned to the bar for a late lunch before calling an Uber to head to the University. That Uber ride was about 55 minutes, so not a short ride.

When I arrived at the University, I was a few minutes late for the rehearsal, but it was scheduled for 3 hours, so I was not concerned. When I arrived, there were only a few people there. It was not like any rehearsal I was used to. It was not a full run through of the event with microphones, lights, video, and the presentations. Nothing was ready. It was time for us to practice on the stage, but that was all. When I arrived, one of the speakers was practicing, and he finished shortly thereafter. I then went next, and 25 minutes after I arrived, I was heading back to find an Uber to return me to my hotel! My return trip took 75 minutes due to rush hour traffic. Bottom line: 2:10 min in an Uber, $200, one practice run of 17 minutes for my talk, and that was it for the rehearsal.

My boyfriend was flying in that night so when he arrived we enjoyed a nice dinner out and went to bed early so I could be ready for the big day!

Friday morning, April 18th, arrived, and I decided to enjoy a big breakfast at the hotel. I love breakfast, yet I typically don’t eat breakfast, so it was a treat. Before breakfast, I followed my typical morning routine, which included enjoying a green tea, journaling, and meditating. Sticking to my routines, even when I travel, helps me feel grounded.

Around 11:30, I caught an Uber to the BAM Beauty Bar for hair and makeup! In hindsight, I made this appointment too early, but I was unsure about when I would eat, and given my struggles finding gluten-free food, I wanted plenty of time to figure out a meal. The TEDx event was from 5-9, and with the drive back to the hotel being almost 45 minutes, that meant dinner at 10. It made planning meals a little challenging!

The BAM beauty bar was everything I had hoped and more! My hair looked amazing, and my makeup artist was the funniest guy from Austin. He was a true artist, and my makeup has never looked better! If only he lived closer! The salon’s location was in an adorable part of Dallas, filled with high-end stores and restaurants. The universe was looking out for me, as right next door to the salon was a fantastic take-out salad place offering a variety of gluten-free options. I bought enough food for three people, as I wanted to have choices! I called an Uber back to the hotel with my bright red lipstick, beautiful curls, and a bag full of food!

I returned to the hotel by 1:45 and had some time to kill, as we weren’t leaving until almost 4:00. I didn’t want to mess up my hair or makeup, so I stayed in the hotel room, reading and working to pass the time. At 3:30, it was time to put on my amazing outfit! I almost couldn’t get the big red belt on, but luckily my boyfriend helped me! The holes for the hook to secure it were very small and made of tight leather, so they needed to be widened a bit to get it on. Luckily, we figured it out, and I was dressed and ready!

As we headed to the lobby for the Uber, multiple people approached me, saying they loved my dress! YES! I had gotten that part right! The outfit was perfect!

The drive to the University was uneventful. I honestly wasn’t nervous. I was more worried about the red lipstick smudging and not looking good. I don’t usually wear bright red lipstick, and I was very aware of why not! It can get everywhere and isn’t easy to remove!

We arrived at UT Dallas, and I knew exactly where to go since I had done this twice before. As we approached the venue, a car was parked out front, bringing in the TEDx sign. My boyfriend and I looked at each other, mouths open, and in unison we said, “That looks like something made in middle school wood class!”. The red paint didn’t match on the letters and it was dull, looking like a primer coat, not something for a big video presentation like this! This was the beginning of many “oh wow” moments for this event.

To will pause here to remind everyone, TEDx events are independent, non-profit organizations run mainly by volunteers. Every event quality is unique, and it can vary from year to year depending on the volunteer staff. I knew this, yet I was not fully prepared for the actual way the event was going to be run.

When we entered the performance hall, an hour before the event was set to start, the stage wasn’t ready, the video team wasn’t present, the presentation was still being finalized, nobody knew the microphone situation, and it felt chaotic. There was a large team working to get everything together, and everyone was incredibly nice, but it was nothing like the corporately run events I was used to.

As the start neared, the photographer I had hired arrived, and we reviewed what we all needed from him. He was AMAZING! The video guy arrived and showed us the two cameras in the wall that he had to work with. The speakers each reviewed the angles we wanted, and I walked away thinking, the fate of this video for YouTube is in this gentleman’s hands. It is a 50/50 shot that I will like it, but he, at least, isn’t a student and was older than me, so I am hoping his experience will shine in the end.

The red TED circle rug got placed on the stage along with the homemade TEDx sign with the letters all being different sizes. I couldn’t help but laugh at how this was coming together. It was adding up to multiple “oh wow” moments. They had sold about 50 tickets for the event, plus had a team of 16, plus all of us and our guests. That could have resulted in about 80 people in a performance hall that seats 190, so that wouldn’t be bad.

As we neared the start of the event, the master presentation deck was still being worked on! When they transferred in everyone’s presentations, they didn’t all come over correctly formatted. One speaker created slides the night before, even though they were due 2 weeks prior. The event team was so accommodating to everyone’s requests, which was great, but that also meant, rules were not rules and the end product was looking half ass!

It was finally time to start. Approximately 30 people attended, including all of us there to present or to support a presenter. I asked them to move everyone to the front so we had an audience, and it would look better for the video. They did make everyone move, which was great!

I was speaker #3. The first speaker started, and her audio wasn’t great with the clip-on microphone they gave her, so when the second speaker started, they stopped him a few minutes in and gave him a handheld microphone instead (the worst for any presenter). Juggling the microphone, the clicker for the slides and trying to use your hands for impact is really hard. He didn’t have any slides, so that made it easier, but still far from ideal. There was only one clip-on microphone that we all had to share, so between speakers, we had to go to the back and swap them. Also, not ideal. Normally, there are multiple microphones, so the speaker coming onto the stage is ready to go, microphone tested and working, before the speaker before them finishes.

When it was my turn, they went back to the clip-on microphone and it was announced that the first speaker would need to go again because her audio didn’t record. The second speaker announced he wanted to go again as well, without the handheld. Both would present during the scheduled break to try to get better recordings. More “oh wow” moments!

I will say the group running the event was fully on board with our desires as speakers to have a good video for YouTube. They knew this had nothing to do with the actual event for us. It was all about what happens when the video is uploaded to the TEDx channel on YouTube later. They did everything they could to ensure our videos were as good as possible with the technology they had.

Now it was my turn! I was introduced, and my presentation was displayed on the screen, as well as on a monitor on a podium on the left of the stage. This allowed me to see it from the corner of my eye without needing to look at the large screen behind me, which was great! I conducted a sound check and a practice walk-and-talk to ensure the video guy could hear me and record me. He gave a thumbs up, so it was time to start!

The hundreds of hours I had invested in this, not to mention the financial investment, the hair, makeup, the shoes, and the outfit, all came down to the next 18 minutes of me sharing my story on stage. I took a deep breath, felt the air move into my core, and began speaking!

The first slide transition, when I clicked on the clicker, it didn’t work! I quickly saw on the side monitor that the slide hadn’t advanced, so I hit it again, and my first slide appeared. Not on time with my speech, but still appropriate. It threw me off for a second, but I kept going, and I don’t think anybody noticed.

My boyfriend was positioned in the second row at the end, and he was my timer. His role was to give me a hand signal at 14 minutes, so I knew I had 4 minutes left. My talk had been coming in around 16:30-17:00 minutes during practice, so I knew I could deliver it within the 18-minute limit, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t go over. If you go over, your talk never makes it to the TEDx YouTube channel.

The audience was pretty sparse, but I did my best to make eye contact and connect with them. At one point, my photographer was on the far-right side, right up front so I spent several minutes just presenting to him so he could capture some good images!

At one point, I realized the slides had not advanced again, but I was able to catch the presentation up to my speech and keep moving. I will pause here to explain that the video recording will not show the actual presentation screen. The way the cameras were positioned, you won’t see the screen. The video team will need to overlay the presentation slides at the right times within the video. The benefit of this is that if the slides don’t align, they can be adjusted for the final video output. It also means that the placement of those slides correctly within my talk is now up to a stranger. “Oh wow!”

As I was giving my talk, I felt very comfortable, as this walking stage is the best environment for me. I knew my speech so well and hit almost every word of the 2115 words! When I reached the 4-minute mark, I was ahead of where I needed to be, so I knew the overall speech timing was within the 18-minute limit.

I was doing all the “great presentation” skills I have learned throughout the years: using my hands, voice inflection, speaking with my body, moving across the stage, making eye contact, pausing when appropriate, and smiling. What I learned is that I need to smile more! I performed well on the other skills, but I will need to work on that one. I was so focused on getting the content right, the slides, and all the other presentation skills, that smiling didn’t happen as much as I would have liked. A great learning!

I reached the end and was so happy it was over! I did it! I was proud of my delivery. I didn’t love the issues with the slide advancements, and I heard some echo in the microphone, but overall, I was really happy with my performance!

We then took a break. The first two presenters re-did their talks, the audience had the chance to grab the dinner that was provided, I got to mingle with the audience a bit, and after 50 minutes we went back in for the final three presenters.

At the end, we took group photos, and the event organizer presented us all with flowers and a small thoughtful gift. I then thanked them and said my goodbyes.

Regardless of how it all turns out, a few things will remain true:
• Presenting a good TEDx talk is no easy feat. I saw 5 other speakers try to do it, and I can tell you, it is very hard! It is a speaking style many of us are not familiar with or trained in.
• While I don’t like the memorizing speaking style of TEDx, I now know I can do it.
• Having a great outfit can help with your confidence!
• During my two visits to Dallas, everyone I interacted with, from the Uber drivers, the hotel staff, to the students at UTD, was incredibly kind, welcoming, warm, and supportive.
• The TEDx team’s willingness to allow us input on the overall output of the video and our photographs was a gift.
• I am so proud of myself for setting a goal and completing it.
• I am glad it is behind me, and I no longer need to practice it daily!

The mission of TEDx is to discover ideas worth sharing. Every speaker had great ideas to share. Regardless of their ability to present them, every speaker stepped up, made themselves vulnerable and uncomfortable with the intention of sharing their ideas with the world. That should be celebrated, and I am honored to have been a part of it!

Everyone keeps asking me, “ok now what?”. The video produced by the event team gets submitted to TEDx, and TEDx controls when it gets posted to their YouTube channel. That could be 2-5 months after the event. There is no way of knowing.

In the meantime, I am working to update my website, launch my group coaching program and focus all of my time on speaking, my Podcast, and coaching. I have to fully trust that the universe will take care of the rest, and doors will open as they are intended to after the YouTube video comes out.

While I wait for the video to be live, I can proudly say I am a TEDx speaker! That label has already opened some incredible speaking opportunities, so the momentum is already building.

I hope my TEDx journey has inspired you to think about what might be on your bucket list, and how you can take inspired action to make it a reality!

You all have stories that are worth sharing. Which one of you will become the next TEDx speaker in the hopes of inspiring the world with yours?