Reclaimed: TEDxBoise 2020
In March, TEDxBoise, like so many other events, was postponed until April of 2021.
Not long ago, our board met again out of concern over the viability of having a spring 2021 event.
We decided to have our 2020 event after all. (Take that, COVID-19.)
It looked vastly different from the 400+ person event it normally is; we held it outside on the Idaho Shakespeare Festival stage with a very small (masked) audience last Saturday.
My speakers had to process a lot to make this happen:
- Putting their heads back into the daunting task of preparing for what may well be the talk of their lives.
- Suddenly clearing time on their calendars to rehearse material they crafted six months prior.
- Adjusting to a completely new venue and the perils of giving a talk outdoors: weather, lighting, shadows, and… wait for it… airplanes overhead.
As a coach, my job was to prepare them:
- Holding space for them to adjust to the news. I offered reassurance and encouragment. Part of this effort was emotional (public speaking often is)—and supporting that aspect is in the scope of my role, too.
- Retooling (but not rewriting) content. We were able to pull up their content and look at it through a post-COVID lens to ensure it wasn’t tone deaf.
- We identified windows of time to rehearse and adopted strategies that fit their new realities.
- We even rehearsed how to handle the aeronautical interruptions so they weren’t a problem for them on game day. (I don’t know when I’ve impersonated an airplane before…)
- Refocusing them on the original intent: to deliver a quality idea (one “worth spreading”) to the world via the internet—not just a local audience.
All in all, it was a deeply satisfying day for me. For all of us. While our circumstances were far different than originally planned, I’m so proud of what we—the speakers, the board, and our volunteer crew—made of it.
The talks won’t be viewable online for a few weeks (stay tuned!). Until the videos and our official photos are available, here are a few shots from my personal vantage point. Maybe these can serve as inspiration for you to put a stake in the ground to reclaim a little of what it feels you’ve lost over the recent months.
Though I’m famous for my pessimism, this experience reminds me to do what I can with whatever I have. However small, I can steward the resources I have for the best good I can achieve.
And we did.
I hope you will, too.