I spoke at TEDx Hyderabad!

A few months back, Vikram, the Founder and CEO of NephroPlus, where I am the Co-Founder, pinged me forwarding a Whatsapp message from someone asking if I could speak at the upcoming TEDx Hyderabad event. I was excited!

TED stands for Technology Entertainment Design and is an American-Canadian organisation that posts international talks online. Over the years, the topics have become more widespread beyond just the three topics that form the abbreviation. TED is the original global event and is held once a year, nowadays in Vancouver, Canada.

TEDx events, on the other hand, are independently organised events under license from TED. TEDx events are organised in several locations serving the needs of smaller communities but on the same lines as the original TED event.

I got to know about TED sometime in the early 2000s. I was fascinated by the speakers and the visual spectacle these talks were. One of the first talks that I saw was "Meet the SixthSense Interaction" and remember being mesmerised by the technology demonstrated in that talk. Over the years, I have watched several talks and have almost always been fascinated by them.

So, when Vikram sent me that message asking if I could speak at TEDx, I was thrilled!

The team from TEDx Hyderabad reached out in a few days and we had a video call where they heard my story in my own words and talked about how the event would flow. They also asked me to start working on my speech. We had several conversations over the next few weeks. The team was immensely helpful. For someone who has never spoken in front such a large audience before (they were expecting 1500 people), the encouragement they gave was really a boon.

About a month before the event, I had my speech ready. Over the next couple of weeks, I had practised several times and thought I was fully ready. One Saturday evening I asked my parents and brother, Prasan, to listen to it. While my parents were very happy with it, Prasan said, "It was very good. Only about 70% needs to be changed!" I felt the floor beneath my feet opening up and swallowing me whole.

Over the next half an hour, he asked me to make several changes including the most important one - add humour! I protested, "how could you add humour to this kind of story?" He gave me some suggestions. I incorporated all his suggestions over the next 24 hours and did another round before him and my parents the next evening. This time, he actually applauded! I was relieved.

One day prior to the event, they had rehearsals at the venue. I was the first to go and I messed up on the slides. I forgot to change the slides as I had not practised with the slides! I got back home and practised with the slides 3-4 times and felt confident by the end of the day.

On the event day, as we reached the venue, we saw a huge crowd had gathered at the venue. I was told I would be the third speaker in the first session. The organisers introduced me when it was my turn to speak. I was fairly calm and walked to the stage and well, just did my thing. I thought it went pretty well. I got a standing ovation!

After my talk, during the breaks, several people came up to me asking for a picture and said they were  really inspired by my talk. That was good to know.

The event was really well-organised and executed flawlessly by the TEDx Hyderabad team. The entire experience was one I will remember for years to come. I am truly grateful for being given this opportunity.