I had the incredible honor to take the TEDx stage out in L.A this week – and the whole experience was a blast – from crafting the talk, to delivering the message.

TED is a non-profit dedicated to the sharing of ideas, usually is short powerful talks. To this aim, they host their own conference for idea spreading, but they also allow for privately organized events through a licensing process – hence the ‘x’ after TED. They have a broad platform, and as early as 2012, they reached their billionth view online….and that was six years ago.

I was invited to share the Murmuration vision and ideas from our upcoming book Designed For More on how to unleash unity in our divided world! The things I learned apply to any talk or presentation, and I hope they help you some day!

Here is a behind the scenes on how I prepared and what the process was like:

1. You succeed within, before you succeed on stage.

Have you ever heard the story of the athlete that was struggling with feeling like a loser because of a long losing streak? After hearing him complain, his coach came up to him, put his arm on his shoulder and said “Son, weather you think you are a winner or loser, you are right.”

This mental battle of how you approach any experience is critical and you’ve got to have confidence and a winning mentality!

2. Prepare for the larger audience, but deliver to the live audience.

Going into this, I knew that a video of my talk would eventually be placed on the TED website and YouTube channel, so I really had two audiences: the live audience and the future online audience. This added a bit of extra pressure for sure!

What really helped me was to outline my talk and content with the broader online audience in mind, but then when I delivered it, I just talked to the room. This strategy removed the extra layer of pressure of an online audience, but the biggest value was that it caused the talk to be feel natural and not as rehearsed.

3. Don’t be shy about bringing others into the process

At first, I was hesitant to show my talk to others, but once I got over this mental hurdle, there were about 8-10 people who spoke into the content, listened to me practice and gave me feedback on speed, delivery and tempo. These friends didn’t just listen, they sharpened the ideas. Your content will never be as strong if you produce it alone.

I even let some of the student leaders of the event shape the content right before I went on stage – I let them decide whether I would crack a joke in the introduction or not…they all voted yes, so I did!

4. Practice…even when your own message feels redundant.

I did the talk about 20-25 times before final delivery. Any my talk was about 14 minutes long… I also recorded the talk on my phone and listened to it while driving. In this setting, I could not have notes, so memorization was key.

Probably the MOST important thing that I had to remember were the transition sentences. The content is critical, but I know that information much more naturally. What makes the talk really flow is how you take people on a journey with you – and transition phrases are the foundational way to do this.

5. You’ve got to have fun.

At the end of the day, you have to enjoy it.

Don’t take yourself too seriously! It is easy to get intimidated when surrounded by other people who are so amazing and successful…I had to speak with a line up including the creator of the CSI tv show, a math PhD and a Vietnam POW survivor for goodness sake!

Having fun gives you confidence because you feel comfortable and this is key in delivering your content as if it was the best thing on earth. Like my friend Mike told me before taking the stage, we must be present, slow down and do it with Him!

This whole experience was awesome, but daily life is not about the big stages. It is about loving those around you and being faithful with the work right in front of you – day in and out regardless of how flashy it is. When God opens doors for experiences like these it is awesome, but we can’t live for or from these moments. The joy of these moments disappears, but the joy produced from faithfully plowing the field God has assigned to you is constant. In fact, it is the daily faithfulness that produces the larger opportunities – so stay faithful and consistent with the task right in front of you and crush that. You never know what is around the corner!

Many thanks to Shelene Bryan, Laura Mason and all of the incredible students at Oaks Christian School who organized this event.

Final TEDx Talk: