Episode 132 TEDxNHS
Florence: [00:00:00] Episode 1 32, TEDx NHS regular and listeners will know that I took August off this year. Well off from the podcast. I didn't actually have August off at all. I was preparing for my very own TEDx NHS talk. Why am I coming back to this now? at long last, it's been released and it's there on the TEDx YouTube channel ready for you to see if you missed it on the day.
TEDx NHS was something I decided to do on a whim. You know, you see something when you're browsing on your phone and you think, I know I'll just bung in an application. I did it in about 10 minutes on my phone. didn't really give [00:01:00] it a second thought, so a month or so later, I was really surprised to get a phone call when I was standing in the middle of labor Ward telling me they loved my application and they wanted to know if I was free on a certain date in August, and was I up for it?
Well, I hadn't really thought through what doing a TED Talk or a TEDx talk would involve. , but I was up for it. TEDx is about spreading messages, spreading ideas. They're short talks. Have a look at the TEDx YouTube channel and you'll see they're about 10 or 15 minutes of someone standing, giving a talk on whatever topic they like with the idea of spreading ideas and inspiring.
when I've talked in the past and given presentations, [00:02:00] it's always been really important to me to do so alongside women. I'm a firm believer in co-production. Doing a TEDx talk was almost like having the ultimate co-production. You are allocated a coach and a co-coach, and they help you through an iterative process.
Write your talk. I had Ayse, who was fantastic, really helped me first broaden out all the various stories I wanted to tell so that I suddenly felt overwhelmed that I couldn't imagine how I was gonna bring it all together. And then with her help and the help of Carrie, who was my co-coach, tried to successively bring it down and narrow it.
think what were the key messages? What were the things I really wanted people to take home? [00:03:00] And then of course, alongside my official coaches, I had my unofficial coaches, Mr. Obs Pod, my husband, my two now adult daughters, and their partners. , all of them contributed in a massive way to the writing and performance because yes, unlike any presentation I've ever given, TEDx really is a performance of my talk.
I wanted to bring into my talk the voice of the obstetrician, much like I do in my podcast. I wanted to bring through what it is like to work in maternity care and that we are well-meaning and we are doing our best even when it appears that we are not. But equally, I wanted my [00:04:00] TED talk to be useful for midwives and obstetricians, people working in maternity.
For them to understand the impact that they have on the women they care for, and that for the women under their care, this is one of the most momentous days in their lives. These birth experiences are profound. They're life changing, they're pivotal, and that what we do at these incredible moments is absolutely crucial.
The closer and closer we got to the event, the more and more I thought, what on earth have I let myself in for? This is a really big deal, and I became more scared and this kind of culminated in the dress rehearsal where I felt absolutely petrified. And although the feedback was [00:05:00] that had gone well, I hadn't felt satisfied.
The way I delivered the talk and I'd missed out what I felt was really quite an important chunk and I was feeling really nervous on the day. We had a fantastic compare. She really put us at ease and I was waiting in the wings, feeling completely petrified, and she talked about how difficult her being, giving birth to her daughter and.
just how much she remembered that birth experience and the importance of birth experience. And that was great. It felt like a safe space. And as I stepped out onto stage, I felt in that spotlight with the lights on me like. , this is what I've prepared for. This is what I want to do. This is, I chose to do this.
I chose to spend this time, I have something I want to say about maternity [00:06:00] care for all those women being looked after in the NHS in an imperfect system, and I want to inspire other people to think about maternity care and take my talk and use. to inspire them and change things for those women. I have a voice and I want to use it.
That's why I'm on this stage, and that sounds a bit preachy, and I tried really hard not to make my talk too preachy, but I really felt motivated as I stepped out onto the stage. This is it. This is my opportunity. This is what I've worked so hard for, and I owe it to all these women up and down the country giving birth every day to try and nail this
and as I started the talk, I was nervous, I was shaking, and you'll see if you watch my talk. How I started was not easy, but it was important to me. And [00:07:00] as I got into the talk and I got through the bit that I'd fluffed in the dress rehearsal, I started to relax. I started to enjoy it. I started to feel like it was going the way I wanted it to, and I was saying my piece.
And I came off the stage absolutely exhilarated, pumped, full of energy and felt I had set out and achieved what I had wanted to. So that's my story of giving a TEDxNHS talk, and the zesty bit is now it's out on YouTube. Please do take the time to listen and watch it if you can spare. around 20 minutes and also the Zesty bit is go and listen to some of the other amazing TEDx NHS talks because I was one of a lineup of many speakers [00:08:00] on all sorts of different topics.
And yeah, go, go explore. Go explore TEDx. in general, not just TEDx nhs, because there are all sorts of ideas and motivated people in the run up to doing my own talk. I listened to some really fascinating, interesting, inspiring talks. And so if you need a bit of a pep up a you want to explore a topic, go listen to some of the fantastic talks that are freely available on the TEDx YouTube.