Your First Step on the Road to the Red Dot

TED-Style Speaking

Jun 25

"I can't give a talk like that. My topic is too complex."

Carole Blueweiss has a Masters and Doctorate in physical therapy. She has 3-year certifications in the Feldenkrais Method and the Anat Baniel Method of NeuroMovement.

Wait - don't leave.

She is also certified in the McKenzie Method® of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy® (MDT), Neurodevelopment Treatment for Adults(NDT), Yoga Teacher Training (YTT), Geriatric Clinical Specialist (GCS), and Certified Exercise Expert for Aging Adults (CEEAA).

Still with me?

If none of that means anything to you, you know exactly how I felt the first time I met her. My firm specializes in message clarity, so let me simplify all that for you:

Carole is an expert on balance.

(she would probably object to that statement - real experts hate being called experts - but that's what she is)

Why experts struggle to give good talks

And so when Carole passionately explained her Big Idea and what she wanted to say to the world someday on the Red Dot, I showed her a famous talk by Joe Smith at TEDxConcordiaUPortland, during which he teaches us how to dry our hands with just one paper towel.

It's only 4 minutes long, and about as clear and actionable as you could possibly imagine. The talk changed the way I dry my hands.

"Carole, you need to give a talk like this, but about balance."

And that's when she said the same thing all experts say: "I can't. That talk is simple. My topic is too complicated."

I smiled, and we got to work.

Journey to the Red Dot

For the next two months, Carole worked with our lead Conquer the Red Dot® coach, Fra n cisco Mahfuz. And together they worked through Carole's decades of experience and deep scientific understanding of balance, in order to produce one, simple sentence that summed up her Big Idea:

"If you don't want the last years of your life to be the worst years of your life, you should work on your balance now."

That's the sentence that went on her application to TEDxBocaRaton. It's the sentence that got her the interview that landed her the invitation.

And it gave us a filter for writing the entire talk.

After we had her core message, the rest of the script was filtered through it: Does this thing (story, study, joke, statistic) we're thinking of putting into the talk immediately and obviously support this statement?

If not, we cut it.

By the end, Carole delivered a very simple talk on the Red Dot.

Your socks may hold the key to aging better | TEDxBocaRaton

Did she distill the entire science of balance into 9 minutes? No, of course not. Instead, she delivered a crystal clear and actionable Big Idea.

Carole delivered her talk with intention, grace, and a desire to not just spread her ideas, but make a real impact on the people who watched.

And boy did she make an impact.

This is what it looks like to make a dent in the universe

Since the talk dropped just 3 weeks ago it has already reached over 130,000 people and is picking up speed.

Everyone who sees it knows precisely what the talk is about, who it's for, and why it matters. That's the kind of clarity that gets ideas booked by TED-style conference organizer, and those are the kind of talks that people share and spread.

We're so incredibly excited for Carole to get the recognition that her ideas deserve. It was an honor to support her on this journey, and we can't wait to see how far it goes!

If your topic is too complex, try this

Clarifying your Big Idea isn't just for stepping on the Red Dot. Experts often find themselves communicating with non-experts, to secure funding or donations, or achieve buy-in from leadership on a new initiative.

Whatever the case, you'll need to streamline your talk so that the intended audience can understand it.

Here is our framework for crafting your Filter statement:

To ACTION so that IMPACT.

Action: What should someone do, think, or rethink as a result of your talk?

Impact: How does their world change for the better as a result of taking action?

i.e. “To seek forgiveness on a regular basis so you can truly own your screw-ups when relationships are on the line.” (Peder Tellefsdal)

If you can take your idea and turn it into a sentence like that, you've taken the first big step towards message clarity. and therefore, the first step towards earning buy-in from the people who matter and driving action on your ideas.