Show notes
JohnToday I'm interviewing Connie Bennett, author of I Blew My Diet, Now What? She's going to tell us a little bit about how to get to speak at a TEDx event.TEDx is a local event produced in different cities around the country. TEDx talks are a really great opportunity to expose you and your book to a book buying audience.ConnieI'm an author and I've been a long-time fan of yours since my first book, Sugar Shock, came out. Later, I came out with a book called Beyond Sugar Shock. And now I just came out with I Blew My Diet, Now What?I am a former sugar addict and also a former carb addict. For years I did really, really well. I ate very, very cleanly. But more than a decade ago after my mom passed away. It was a difficult year watching her lose a battle to cancer. I blew my diet.Hence, the new book. I come clean at last to the world about what I was doing, which was hanging out in movie theaters and in my home and secretly stuffing my face with crunchy, greasy, salty movie popcorn and other carb garbage, what I now call carbage.JohnI know that you recently spoke at the TEDx conference in San Diego, If you’d like to watch her TEDx talk, check it out here: I wanted to find out from you. Connie, how did you get in to do a TEDx talk? Because I know that it's not always easy to get to do a TEDx talk.ConnieWell, the very first thing I did was I decided that I was going to do a TEDx talk, come hell or high water, I was going to do it. So, my first step literally was deciding that I was going to do it.So then I began to research. I even took a course or two about how to get a TEDx talk.Then one day it hit me. I had moved to San Diego. I had been living there for a number of years. Then I thought: Why don't you just volunteer at my local TEDx? I don't even know how I got the idea, but I did. So I volunteered at the local TEDx.I watched the speakers and became friendly with them. I think, yeah, I want to be up there just like them. So that was my first step, volunteering.Then the next year, I actually applied to my local TEDx San Diego and I got turned down. But I did make it through round one. So, round one you submit something in writing and then round two you had to submit a video. I made it that far but was rejected that first attempt.A few months later, TEDx had auditions yet again, so I applied again and got turned down again. Then I got an email saying, hey, would you be interested in doing this special thing that we're doing with TEDx San Diego? And that is what let to my talk.Going local was the way to go because after the first time they turned me down, they knew me.I've met several people who'd been through a similar situation. They had applied, and they had been turned down. They tried again. They applied, and they got turned down again, and finally they were accepted.You can apply for TEDx talks in other cities, but it's good to start first with the TEDx event closest to where you live.JohnActually, I think that that's two incredible pieces of advice that you really talked about.One was simply being persistent. You have to knock on the door more than once. You can't take it as a rejection. It's just they have to know you better.ConnieThe other part of it is you have to be very gracious. They turn you down. You do not want to write to them and say, why was I turned down? You've got to be really careful about the way that you're persistent.You want to be politely persistent. But you don't want to get turned down and then all of a sudden send an email and say, hey, why didn't you accept me? So you need to be very, very careful and walk this fine line.JohnBut I am convinced that that going local is the way to go.I also thought it was really wise of you to volunteer. It's an incredible way to get to know the people behind the local TEDx. It's a really great opportunity, as you said, to meet the speakers and get to talk to them.ConnieIt was it was totally fun. And it also it stoked me. It got me like really excited about doing like I want to be one of those people,But I volunteered to get to know more about the talks and the people behind the local TEDx talks. I was like, I want to know more about this.I know I want to do a TEDx talk at some time. I hadn't set my sight on doing it in San Diego. But the actual act of volunteering, it was just so exciting to see these speakers do their thing. You just learn so much just watching what they went through.Now my talk was less than seven minutes. A lot of TEDx talks, they're a little bit longer. And I went even a little long. I'm telling you, every single word counted.I've heard of a lot of situations where people give a TEDx talk and then it goes so viral that it could lead to a book.JohnThat's one reason that speakers want a TEDx talk, because they're more likely to get an offer from some publisher saying, wow, I saw you and I liked what you did. A TEDx can open doors. Such talks give you great credibility and it gets a lot of attention.Book Marketing Success is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bookmarketing.substack.com/subscribe