Application Phase

Finding the Right Event

• Target mid-tier city events for better acceptance chances
• Look for events 5-8 months away
• Ensure the event will be filmed
• Use TED website to find events: ted.com/tedx/events

Developing Your Pitch

Define your idea:

• Must be new or surprising
• Appeal to diverse audience
• Be actionable, not just theoretical
• Backed by facts and research

Application components:

• Brief biography connecting you to topic
• Unique idea presentation
• Key audience takeaways
• Supporting evidence and research

Application Strategy

• Apply to 20-50+ events
• Write in your own voice (avoid AI)
• Focus on broad impact potential
• Request feedback if not accepted

Post-Acceptance Process

Interview Stage

1. Initial informal organizer interview
2. Group interview presentations
3. Key requirements:
   • Clear idea introduction
   • Framework overview
   • Justification of idea's worth
   • Talk outline draft

Development Timeline

1. Format Familiarization (18-minute limit)
2. Talk Development with Organizers
3. Rehearsal Process
4. Final Delivery
5. Post-Talk Review

Talk Structure

Introduction

• Hook audience immediately
• Present core idea early
• Minimize self-focus
• Avoid statistical openings

Body Content

• Clear idea explanation
• Evidence presentation
• Implementation details
• Counter-argument addressing

Conclusion

• Connect to audience impact
• Include actionable takeaways
• Avoid promotional content

Presentation Elements

Visual Aids

• Use only when clarifying content
• Keep designs minimal
• Follow technical specifications:
  • Resolution: 1920x1080
  • Aspect ratio: 16:9
  • Font size: 42+ points
  • Sans serif fonts preferred

Rehearsal Requirements

• Practice with diverse audiences
• Time each run-through
• Record yourself
• Use actual stage conditions
• Work with assigned mentors

Event Day Preparation

Pre-Event

1. Arrive early
2. Complete dress rehearsal
3. Technical checks
4. Makeup/wardrobe preparation
5. Warmup exercises

Performance Tips

• Stand ready before introduction
• Maintain natural delivery
• Focus on message over perfection
• Follow practiced timing

Support Resources

• Content coaching
• Presentation coaching
• Technical assistance
• Venue familiarization
• Practice space access

Post-Talk

• Video distribution
• Online platform presence
• Community engagement
• Feedback collection

Remember: While TEDx doesn't pay speakers or cover expenses, the platform offers unique visibility and credibility-building opportunities.

EXAMPLE 1: My TedX Style Talk

🎤 TED Talk Script

Title: “Grown, Not Rushed: The Sacred Journey of Becoming Your Own Medicine”
Speaker: Rory Callaghan
Duration: ~18 minutes

[OPENING – 0:00–1:30]

(Pause. Quiet breath. Calm gaze. Let the room settle.)

RORY:
Let’s begin with a breath.
Not because it’s poetic…
But because it’s medicine.

Breathe in with me.
And exhale.

I’m standing here as a man who almost didn’t finish what he started.
Not because I wasn’t committed.
Not because I didn’t care.
But because the vision asked me to become it—before I could share it.

[PART I – THE CALL TO CREATE – 1:30–4:00]

It started in a café in Bali.
Cursor blinking. Coffee steaming.
I thought I was writing a book on self-care.

Turns out…
I was beginning a conversation with my future self.

I had no idea it would take eight years.
That it would break me, remake me, and teach me the one thing no degree, no award, no clinic could:

Self-care isn’t about fixing what’s broken.
It’s about remembering what’s already whole.

[PART II – THE CHAOS YEARS – 4:00–7:00]

Year three: the “first” launch.
Beautiful cover. Empty core.
The book was complete—but I wasn’t.

So I made the hardest decision:
I pulled everything back.

Not because I failed.
But because I knew I wasn’t yet living the words I wrote.

I sat cross-legged on my villa floor, surrounded by 200 sticky notes.
Each color a lesson.
Each one a wound I hadn’t fully healed.

Rain pounding the roof.
Waves crashing in the background.
And I’m writing about peace.
Irony is the greatest teacher, isn’t it?

[PART III – THE LIFE I HAD TO LIVE – 7:00–10:30]

Then came the betrayals.
The heartbreak.
The false partnerships that looked like alignment but weren’t.

I was living the central truth I thought I already knew:

You cannot teach what you haven’t embodied.
And you cannot give from depletion.

It was around year five that I realized:
I wasn’t writing a book.
I was becoming the medicine inside of it.

Every chapter was a mirror.
Every delay was divine.
The story wasn’t waiting for better words.
It was waiting for a better me.

[PART IV – THE REBIRTH – 10:30–13:00]

Year eight. Back in the same café.
Same chair. Same cup of coffee.
But a very different man.

The moment wasn’t grand or viral.
No launch team. No big campaign.

Just quiet truth.

And my mum, the woman who taught me how to pour from an “empty” cup that was actually overflowing—
She held the book in her hands.

And I knew:
This wasn’t just a book.
It was a bridge.
Between healing and community.
Between stories and remembering.
Between isolation and reconnection.

[PART V – THE INVITATION – 13:00–16:30]

So here’s what I’ve learned…

If you’re holding a vision right now—
One that’s taking longer than you planned…
One that’s breaking you open…
One that doesn’t fit the metrics or deadlines…

Let it grow.

Some things aren’t meant to be built like businesses.
They’re meant to be grown like gardens.

And gardens don’t bloom on our schedule.
They bloom when the soil is ready.
When we are ready.

I didn’t write a book called SelfCare to become an author.
I wrote it to survive.
To come home to myself.
And to help others do the same.

Because what the world is hungry for…
Is not more information.
It’s more embodiment.

[CLOSING – 16:30–18:00]

So let me say this plainly:

You don’t need fixing.
You don’t need a new guru.
You don’t need another ten-step plan.

You need a mirror.
A breath.
A reason to believe that what’s already inside you is enough.

The medicine is already within you.
The timing is divine.
And the world doesn’t need a perfect version of you—
It just needs a true one.

This book? It’s no longer mine.
It’s yours.
Ours.
And it’s just the beginning.

So, the question is no longer “How long will it take?”
The real question is:

Are you willing to become the version of you who can truly hold the dream?

Thank you.

(Pause. Breathe. Let it land.)

EXAMPLE: My Keynote

🎤 KEYNOTE TITLE:

"Grown, Not Rushed: The Sacred Journey of Becoming Your Own Medicine"

🕰️ DURATION:

20–25 minutes

Optional: Expand to 45–60 minutes with story dives, journaling, and Q&A

🧭 STRUCTURE:

🎙️ SCRIPT (Excerpts & Flow)

🔹 1. Opening Presence (2 min)

“Before I say a single word…
Take a deep breath with me.”

(Pause. Breathe with audience. Settle.)

“I stand before you not just as a speaker or author—
but as a man who almost didn’t finish what he started.
Not because I couldn’t—but because I wasn’t yet ready to become it.”

🔹 2. The Call to Create (4 min)

“In 2016, I sat in a café in Bali—flat white in hand, cursor blinking on a blank page.
I thought I was writing a book about self-care.
Turns out, I was starting a conversation with my future self.”

(Brief audience chuckle)

“But what I didn’t know then…
was that this book would take eight years.
Not because I was lazy.
Not because I didn’t want it badly enough.
But because the medicine wasn’t ready.

Because I wasn’t yet living the very truth I was writing.”

🔹 3. The Chaos Years (6 min)

“There were moments when I thought it was done.
First launch—three years in—looked shiny on the outside.
But inside, I knew: Something’s missing.
The words were right, but the frequency was wrong.

So I did the hardest thing a creator can do.
I pulled it all back.
Tore it apart.
Started again.”

(Pause)

“I sat cross-legged on my villa floor, surrounded by 200 post-its.
Each one a piece of healing, a lesson, a reader’s journey.

Rain pounded the roof while I wrote about peace.
Waves crashed while I tried to describe stillness.
And I realized… I was still trying to teach what I hadn’t yet embodied.”

🔹 4. The Becoming (6 min)

“Year five: heartbreak.
Year six: betrayal in what I thought was partnership.
Year seven: I almost walked away.”

(Pause)

“But here’s the thing about purpose—it doesn’t let you quit.
It just sits patiently until you grow into it.”

(Look audience in the eye)

“I wasn’t writing a book.
I was becoming it.

I had to experience community before I could speak to connection.
I had to burn out before I could teach sustainable success.
I had to lose what I built to realize: True wealth isn’t in what we own.
It’s in what we become.”

🔹 5. The Birthing (3 min)

“Eight years later, I’m back at the same café.
Same table.
Same coffee.
But I’m not the same man.

This time, I’m not launching a product.
I’m sharing a living transmission.

And when my mother, the woman who poured from an ‘empty’ cup, held the final book in her hands—
I saw it.

Not just words.
Not just a book.

But a bridge.
Between individual healing and collective remembering.”

🔹 6. The Invitation (4 min)

“So I say this to the creators…
To the entrepreneurs…
To the healers holding a vision that refuses to be rushed:

Some things aren’t meant to be built.
They’re meant to be grown.

Let your vision take the time it needs.
Let life shape you while you shape the dream.

The SelfCare Book is no longer mine.
It’s yours.
It’s ours.

And now, the real journey begins—
as we remind the world that healing is not a destination.
It’s a daily choice.
A community act.
A homecoming.”

🪄 Closing Line:

“Some stories are written.
Others are lived.
Mine was both.

And if I’ve learned one thing—it’s this:

The medicine you're seeking… is already within you.
Let’s rise together. One breath. One page. One community at a time.”

TEDx-style keynote script draft titled:

EXAMPLE 3

"You Are the Medicine: A Journey from Chaos to Calm"

By Rory Callaghan | TEDx Talk | 18-minute format

🕊️ [Opening – Hook | Minute 0–2]

"What if I told you the medicine you’ve been searching for… is already within you?"

I was 26. A master’s degree. Working with elite athletes. On paper, I was thriving.
But behind the curtain? Burned out. Disconnected. Living in reverse—healing others while slowly destroying myself.

One morning, lying in bed, already late for work, a single question on Facebook stopped me in my tracks:

“What’s your ideal day?”

That was the crack. The moment everything began to fall apart—and fall into place.

🌪️ [Part 1 – The Chaos That Called Me | Minute 2–5]

I grew up in a small town in West Australia. My mother—strong, selfless—raised two boys on her own.
My father? Homeless. An artist. A man who disappeared and reappeared in fragmented chapters of my story.

I remember the day I found him on the street, unconscious, after a street fight over his last beer. He went into a coma.
That moment became one of the first miracles of my life. Because when he woke up… he forgot the pain. And for the first time, he started painting bright oceans, not dark forests.

Sometimes, healing comes disguised as trauma. Sometimes, absence teaches us presence.

📖 [Part 2 – The Turning Point | Minute 5–8]

My breakdown became a breakthrough. I left the traditional system and flew to Bali, chasing stillness.
Not the kind of stillness you find in a yoga pose—but the kind that comes when the noise finally stops inside your head.

I stopped trying to fix myself.
I started asking better questions:

• What if health wasn’t something you achieved… but something you returned to?
• What if medicine wasn’t in a bottle, but in your breath, your boundaries, your beliefs?

That became the beginning of the SelfCare movement.

📚 [Part 3 – The 8-Year Journey | Minute 8–12]

I didn’t write a book.
The book wrote me.

What began as a passion project became an 8-year odyssey through doubt, betrayal, courage, and clarity.

The first version failed. The second was never published. The third? Burned it down.
Why? Because the medicine wasn’t ready. I wasn’t ready.

It took heartbreak, legal threats, and walking away from a co-founded retreat center to learn a truth I now live by:

You can’t give what you haven’t embodied.

And when I launched the final version? Quiet. Sacred. Surrounded by the same people who were there at the beginning—only now, something was different.

I wasn’t trying to prove anything anymore. I was simply offering a bridge—from my story to yours.

🌱 [Part 4 – The Framework | Minute 12–15]

So, what did I learn?

Three truths:

1. We don’t need fixing. We need remembering.
2. Health isn’t external. It’s the result of living in alignment—with nature, self, and each other.
3. Your life is the medicine. Your pain? Purpose. Your trauma? Teaching. Your chaos? Catalyst.

The SelfCare framework became 12 Medicines—sleep, breath, movement, connection, meaning—woven into daily life.
Not just for me. But for a community now growing in over 30+ countries. Grassroots. Real people. Real change.

🌍 [Part 5 – The Invitation | Minute 15–18]

I didn’t come here to tell you my story.

I came to remind you of yours.

You’ve already lived through something that would break most people—and you’re still here.

What if your medicine was born in the mess?
What if your gift to the world… was the thing you once tried to hide?

We don’t need another guru, program, or pill.

We need spaces that feel like home.
We need stories that remind us we’re not alone.
We need leaders who are real, not perfect.

I’m not here to save you.

I’m just here to say:

You are the medicine.

And the world is waiting for your story.