Kymberlee Weil: Today, it's Case Study time. I have with us Mark Sylvester, who just did a TEDx Talk at TEDxFargo. Mark was the closing speaker of the day, and you spoke in front of, what, 2,300 people?

Mark Sylvester: A couple.

Kymberlee Weil: There were a lot of people there. We were there in Fargo. We love TEDxFargo and because this is fresh and new in Mark's mind, I thought we'd bring him into the studio and share with you guys how all of these ideas worked. We've been going through this series, this Samurai 7 series. We've covered a ton of information, so we're going to look back at that information and see how Mark actually applied it in real time. Let's start with content. What worked for you well as you were developing your content?

Mark Sylvester: At the very beginning, I wasn't willing to edit.

Kymberlee Weil: I remember this.

Mark Sylvester: But then once I figured out how that worked, I just gave in to the editing and I think I locked my content on version 19.

Kymberlee Weil: That's actually really good. We just had a TEDx event finish and I think the winner was version 46, I believe, so draft 46. It is not uncommon to be draft 20, 30, 40, 50. I might have seen a 60. You put your heart and soul into this one talk on one day, so you're going to have a lot of drafts. Great, great, great.

Kymberlee Weil: How about delivery? From all the techniques that we worked on, what did you feel helped serve you in delivery?

Mark Sylvester: What really helped was I told a story about being in a certain place, working in a kitchen. What Kymberlee had me do was think about the red circle, and when I was in a certain spot of the story I would be in a certain spot on the stage. That really helped me, and it helped me more in my memorization and rehearsal, but to be very intentional. That took a while. It took longer than I thought, but once you were watching the videos and watching them together, it really made sense to be very focused and intentional.

Kymberlee Weil: Excellent. Mark made a really good point, which is watch your videos. Video yourself. It's not going to be pretty. You're not going to like it. I never like watching these videos. However, we're all our own worst critic. What that means, though, is you can learn. There's an opportunity to learn and train from watching these videos, and so we put Mark down on the couch and made him watch his videos and, as a result, he's a better speaker because of it from watching those videos.

Kymberlee Weil: Okay, the topic that everybody struggles with, rehearsals. Tell them about rehearsals. What worked for you?

Mark Sylvester: I know that we did a whole series on Rehearsal Rituals {link here} and so I'm aware of all of that. For us, we just live a short walk from the beach. I thought it would be great every morning, get up, and as you say, start with your rehearsal early in the morning and get that done. And so what I did was I went to the beach and I found a stick and I drew a circle because I thought that would help me anchor. It absolutely did.

Kymberlee Weil: Love that, and that is so important. Get your rehearsals in. Try to do them first thing in the morning if you can, because then you know you will have gotten it in, and that's beautiful. Mark found the stick, he made a circle. He had his TEDx stage on the beach. You can do this in a park. You can do this in a closet. I have had people actually on camera zoom with me rehearsing in a closet. Whatever it takes, get those rehearsals in. Excellent.

Kymberlee Weil: Okay, now memorization is another thing that goes hand-in-hand with rehearsals. What worked with you? We tried a lot of different techniques. What worked for you the best?

Mark Sylvester: I had a coach who was my performance coach, and he said to me, he said, "What's your relationship to rehearsal and memorization?" I don't have a relationship, because I've never had to memorize anything. He helped me, and again, we had the Mindful Memorization series, and I tried all of those and he added another one that I hadn't done, which was to take a line, say that line, and try to understand what I was conveying to the audience with that line. That really stuck and anchored with me, and so that helped. Now, it took a while. I had six pages of script, so it was line by line by line, but figuring that out helped a lot.

Kymberlee Weil: Beautiful. That's just it. That's why I have so many different videos on rehearsal rituals {link here}. There are so many different ways to rehearse. You have to find what works for you, and the same with memorization. You have to find what works for you, because not all memorization techniques will sink in for different people. Find what works and go deep on that.

Kymberlee Weil: Okay, so now let's look at the three things you wish you would have done differently. Let's be honest. Let's talk to them about if you could change your road to the red circle journey, what would have you changed?

Mark Sylvester: I was invited a year before TEDx, but I didn't start taking it serious till four months before, and it was my fitness coach who said, "What do you mean you haven't written your talk?" I said, "Well, I'll do it."

Kymberlee Weil: It was also someone else, but we don't need to go there...You can listen to the fitness coach.

Mark Sylvester: Number one, I would have started sooner. Number two, and this was really interesting, which was to have a theme song that got me into state. That song, it helped. I had no idea how much it would help. It was a big deal. I wish I had been listening to that walking to the beach for rehearsal.

Kymberlee Weil: Yes, so here's what we did. This is great. We're at TEDxFargo and Mark's the last speaker. When you're waiting through 15 speakers or more, it's a long day - these ideas and amazing insights on the world. I noticed Mark's energy was going down and down and down, so I suggested, "We got to get up, we got to get outside, get some air, and put on your favorite song and go." I sent him out and he walked around the block several times with a song pumping in his earphones. He came back a different person. You were ready to go.

Mark Sylvester: I was wondering if someone was watching me, because I was just going! I was pumped.

Kymberlee Weil: Hey, whatever it takes in the TEDx world. Whatever it takes.

Kymberlee Weil: Okay, last thing. What else? What's the final thing you would change?

Mark Sylvester: The hard one was videotaping myself. Here's a pro tip. Get the wireless headphones, because that was hard. I tried it at the beach. That didn't work, so I found a quiet park. In the afternoons I would go put the headphones on, set it up, and get to where I could see myself, and then do that and do that and do that, and then watch it. I found also not necessarily watching, but listening to delivering the lines. I should have done more of that.

Kymberlee Weil: Great. Thank you for being honest with everyone and sharing your insights, and also some ideas and tips. This is amazing and we can't wait for your TEDx Talk to come out.