I wrote the talk an hour before showtime and delivered it with no monitor or timer in front of me. I’m sure that the performance suffers, but that the message may manage to be worthwhile nonetheless. I hope you or some teenagers find it interesting.
This is in contrast to someone like Amy Burvall, who felt that the TED format, something critiqued on method as much as content, required something different:
Usually when I give keynotes, I don’t really make a script per se…I know what I’m talking about and prefer to speak naturally and let my slides, which are very visual, guide me. But TED-style talks are different…they are timed and must be precise, therefore requiring a script. Every word counts – like a poem. The trick is, you want to practice that bad boy till it’s part of you, like a tattoo, but still come off sounding like it’s the first time you’ve ever said it.
She even went to the length of creating an animated version to thoroughly prepare:
Thanks Steve for sharing. It definitely challenges me to push myself beyond my usual comfort zone.