The Talk of My Life

It began with sharing TED Talks with the team. We all watched Brene Brown and Benjamin Zander. It was inspiring. Then there was Susan Cain – on introversion, and it made the team think differently about how we spend time together.

Then we began to explore the ideas in the Academy of Creative Minds – this was a concept developed late last year where we commissioned a team of creatives to work with us on a programme that would introduce creative techniques to researchers and other healthcare workers. Three reasons – to look at ways that creative techniques can improve communication of evidence, to look for ways that creative techniques can be incorporated into research methods, and to pursue a personal journey of transformation.

What does all this have to do with the talk of my life? As the journey through the Academy programme continued, I found myself working on the talk that I would give at the conference in September where all of the various creative projects would be presented.

Typically, when I speak to large groups I have a hastily written note and a rough idea of what I need to cover, and then I improvise. It sort of works!

For this situation that has all changed. It’s a case of unlearning and relearning. Stripping a whole talk back down to the basics, putting it together line by line like one would a play. And then rehearsing it to death – until I have memorised it.

Now, I have always told myself that I don’t have the sort of brain that can memorise large amounts of information – especially lines to be recited. I have always been hugely impressed with actors, with people who speak without notes and are clearly working on lines they have learnt. It’s all very impressive.

The flaw in my thinking was to assume that this is an innate skill that some have and others don’t. True, it’s not easy for me – but it is something that I can master with hours of gruelling practise.

By the time I get onto the platform in front of the conference audience in September I will have learnt the whole thing by repeating in some 50 or 60 times. I will have honed the words for maximum effect. With the support of the Creative Team at the Academy of Creative Minds I will have work out how to emphasise specific words and get the tone right. It’s a huge amount of work. Especially massive, compared to the improvisation I usually apply.

The whole process has shown me how much I can achieve when I put my mind to it. It has demonstrated to me that there are all sorts of assumptions about what we can and can’t do, about raw natural talent – many of which are just myths. It’s about hard work, focus and having skilled people around to push me when I am faltering and not sure what works and what doesn’t.

I may be getting a bit tired of the talk itself. But as it slowly improves it does also feel like I am finding my way back into it again. By the time I present it I will be alive with the talk again. And I do plan to drop a new section into it to make it more alive on the day.

Am I looking forward to delivering the talk of my life? In a strange sort of way, I think I am. It will be the talk of my life – until the next time I use these techniques on another talk. And onwards.