4 Great Client Speeches!
- Cesar Cervantes & Dr. Steven Hayward
It's one thing to have our blueprint—to understand the ingredients that make up a great speech and how they work together in theory. But what does transformation actually look like? What happens when you take these elements that we talk about in our program and bring them to life?
What follows are examples of talks that started exactly where you are right now: with an idea, a blank page, and maybe a slight suspicion that what we've been saying about structure actually matters. These speakers used our blueprint. They wrestled with their problem statements, crafted their throughlines, and discovered their STAR moments. Now their talks have over a million views, or have been selected as the TED Talk of the Day or earned the coveted TEDx Editor's Pick, and—most importantly—inspired real change in the world.
In this post, we'll give you a behind-the-scenes look at how they came together—the challenges, the breakthroughs, and our thinking as we helped bring each one to life. Because you're not just one speech away from sharing your idea—you're one Great Speech away from changing the world and transforming your business.
Great Speech #1
Does more freedom at work mean more fulfillment?
By Sarah Aviram
TED Talk of the Day - Elevated to TED platform
Sarah was a client of ours and was as thrilled as we were when her TEDx talk was elevated to the TED platform and selected as the TED Talk of the Day. When it was shared to TED’s entire email list it received 600,000 views in less than a week. What makes this talk so powerful is that she uses her personal experience to reveal the real challenges that hybrid work policies can't fix–and shows how to truly thrive at your job no matter where you are actually working.
Attention Getter: "I was working on my laptop from a beautiful beach in Bali...the swaying of the palm trees, my favorite tropical drink, and a warm breeze... And yet, something felt off."
Problem Statement: "More freedom doesn't mean more fulfillment."
Throughline: "If you hate your job in Houston, you will hate it in Hanoi. What really needs fixing is your motivation to do the work itself."
Building the problem: "After a few months though, when the honeymoon period was over, the novelty of working in all these places started to wear off. And I, and so many of my new friends, started to realize that traveling was just a band-aid solution for the real problems.”
Solutions:
- Minimize obstacles related to money, identity, and routines
- Optimize opportunities for growth and impact
- Prioritize joy in your career
STAR Moment: "Esther Perel, world renowned psychotherapist and relationship counselor says that, 'in the west today, most of us are going to have two or three marriages or committed relationships. And some of us are going to do it with the same person.'"
Call to action: "...clarify and activate your motivations to do work you love… you won't be running away anymore. You'll be running towards what you truly want."
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Great Speech #2
Why Women Don’t Sh** at Work
By Irina Soriano
TEDx Editor’s Pick
This is one of our all time favorite TEDx talks, by our client Irina Soriano which does something truly daring: it takes one of the most taboo topics—workplace bathroom habits—and uses it as a metaphor for larger issues facing professional women. It’s amazing and was a TEDx Editor’s Pick, but the truth is that we knew it was going to be wonderful from our very first conversation with Irina. We don’t remember exactly the first thing she said, but when we asked her the question we always ask at the start of the session about the “gift” she wanted to give her audience. Her reply: “I want to give them the gift of being able to take a shit at work.” It took us a while to stop laughing, but when we did we immediately saw the truth and power of her idea. What makes this talk particularly remarkable is how it uses humor to build a deeper argument.
Attention Getter: "I would like to quickly prepare you that this is not your usual Ted talk because this talk is full of sh*t. I will say the word sh*t roughly 70 times in 12 minutes, so buckle up!"
Problem Statement: "Women can go all day holding in our physical sh*t and if that's not hard enough, additionally we are also holding onto all our mental sh*t -- many of us have become numb to the physical and mental pain this can cause. That's a woman's life."
Throughline: "Society has long told women to keep their sh*t to themselves and handed us a rulebook that says, 'Hide your sh*t.' Sh*t is not limited to the physical kind, this includes our mental sh*t also."
Build the problem: "42% of women said that there is NO chance they sh*t in the bathroom nearest to their office. They find another bathroom on a different floor with less traffic and less people they know..."
Solutions: The "PEACE OF SH*T METHOD":
- Discover your sh*t
- Unpack it
- Liberate your sh*t
STAR Moment: “So, ladies, we're knee-deep in this together. We have been told to be quiet. We have been told to hide. We have been told to flush our shit and get on with our day as if it was a mere inconvenience. We need to stop holding on and liberate ourselves. It's time to change the expectations we are silently enduring and to own our experiences loudly.”
Call to action: “It's in our collective vulnerability that women can find liberation. True freedom from any of these expectations comes when we unite and embark on our Mindshift journeys together…because shared shit is lighter shit.”
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Great Speech #3
Why We Need Adult Sex Ed
Dr. Kelly Casperson
TEDx Editor’s Pick
Here's a TEDx talk that takes on one of society's most persistent taboos—sex education—and transforms it from an awkward adolescent topic into an urgent adult necessity. Kelly had us hooked right from our first meeting with her exuberant, amazingly frank, high energy mode of delivery. We do hope you take the time to watch all of these talks, but Kelly’s is one that you have to see for a number of reasons, not least of which is her stage presence and her amazing fashion sense. She comes out on the TEDx stage in an outfit that says, “buckle your seatbelts”-- she wears a long, red, flowing dress, black converse All-Star basketball shoes, and her blonde hair seems to be standing straight up, as if it’s a little shocked at the subject matter. As you might imagine, we get a lot of questions about how one should or shouldn’t dress for a TEDx talk, and the advice we always give is to “dress like yourself, but also appropriate to the subject matter.” Kelly does precisely this. Her talk is a TEDx Editor’s pick and deservedly so – she uses her medical authority, humor, and direct approach to make a traditionally uncomfortable subject both accessible and compelling.
Attention Getter: "I’m here today because of tears and a box of Kleenex. Three years ago a patient was crying in my urology clinic. Sobbing - you know in that way that sounds -- hopeless…I can't help her. No idea what to do.”
Problem Statement: "Without sex, none of us would exist, and yet here we are - expected to be experts with close to zero education."
Throughline: "Sex unites us all... and as long as it is taboo, we cannot be fully connected to ourselves and to each other... Adult sex education will unbreak the world."
Build the Problem: "Worldwide the rate of sexual dysfunction - I'm talking any gender - is as high as 40-50%, with the highest rate of distress in the midlife age range."
Solution:
- Biology - understanding our bodies
- Psychology - understanding our minds
- Sociology - understanding our culture
STAR Moment: "Remember pleasure and connection are the goals. Realize that when the mind and body come together in the present moment, and thinking ceases, it can be as close to a transcendent spiritual experience as many people ever get."
Call to Action: "Nobody is so good at sex that they can't get better. If you're having bad sex, or no sex, it does not mean you're broken. Remember, good sex is a skill.”
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Great Speech #4
The Power of Following the Leader
Ruben Gonzalez
1 Million + Views
Here's one of our most celebrated and most watched client talks – over a million views and counting – from four-time Olympian Ruben Gonzalez. The core of Ruben’s idea was that the fastest way to achieve our goals is by letting go of our fear-based control and individualism, and thereby becoming vulnerable, which is what allows us to follow our coach or leader’s advice. It’s a TEDx talk that at first could be mistaken as a sports story and transforms it into a powerful lesson about humility, growth, and success with wide application and relevance. What makes this talk particularly effective is also what makes so many people watch it and share it – it uses Ruben’s unlikely journey of becoming an Olympic luger as the way to challenge our assumptions about control and the meaning of success.
Attention Getter: "Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be in the Olympics. But I'm not a great athlete, so I didn't think it was possible, and I didn't pursue it. Then when I was 21 years old, I was watching the Olympics on TV. And I saw this little guy that's about five foot one..."
Problem Statement: “Olympic coaches and business leaders, they agree that very few people want to follow the leader anymore. That's a problem because it keeps them from being their best."
Throughline: "Being in control feels safe. But being in control keeps you in your comfort zone. You can't improve if you're in a comfort zone. Letting go is scary, but letting go gets you out of your comfort zone so you can improve."
Build the problem: “I’ve always been very independent, “ he tells us, “that’s a nice way of saying I don’t like people telling me what to do. I like to be in control. Even so, before I went to Lake Placid, I promised myself that I would submit to my coaches’ leadership. After all, who was I to question the Olympic coaches? But it was so hard for me to follow their advice, and I paid the price.”
Solution: "What if the next time you're trying to achieve a big goal, you found somebody that had already done what you wanted to do? What if you let go and follow their advice right away?"
STAR Moment: "You don't lose yourself when you follow the leader, rather, you can become better than you ever were before."
Call to action: "You'd create a better life. You'd start a ripple effect of success. And together we'd make the world a better place."
