Google alerts connected me with
a man who gave one of the most-listened-to-ever TED Talks.
A couple friendly emails back and forth and I was invited to do one myself.
Yep, a virtual nobody got a TED Talk by exchanging silly, playful emails with a fellow Smile enthusiast.
The funny thing was nobody asked if I’d ever spoken in public, so I wasn’t about to bring up the fact that I had not. So, good golly Miss Molly, my first experience as a public speaker was to a packed auditorium and 350,000 simulcast viewers.
Was my heart pounding to beat the band? You bet. Was it worth it, you bet! One of the smiley-est days of my life. Now that I’ve been doing a lot of speaking, my voice doesn’t quiver and I know how to make the clicker work, LOL. An audience member came up to me at the end of the day to say it was refreshing to see a TED speaker who was endearingly nervous instead of cocksure. That’s me!
I even got to bring 100 framed Smiley photos to hang on every wall of the event. Fun, huh?!