The TED Talk I gave at TEDxUTAustin 2026 was posted online last week. So if you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:
Okay, now that that’s taken care of, here’s the brief history of how it all came about…
In mid November of 2025, I get an inquiry from Terrance Thomas, the VP of Curation for TEDxUTAustin, which came in via the Austin Anthem website. As a board member and volunteer, I’m on point for much of the communications and media for the organization.
The content of the message made it clear that our fan culture and work bringing pro-soccer to town was the reason for the outreach. The curation committee felt sports was relevant to the event’s theme. So I sent some background and we scheduled time to for a discovery call. I met with Terrance, Kiran Siddalingaiah, and Danielle St. Clair — all from the TEDxUTAustin team — for a discussion about topics for a talk and if it would be a good fit for the program.
The ideas we land on:
Using data to anchor and create passion - When a great soccer market doesn’t have a center of community.
Empowering fandom - Leveling up the agency of fans and fan groups while also being mindful business is a sport.
Both of which wound up part of the final talk.
I’m formally invited to speak and I formally accept.
Terrance and Kiran are assigned as my coaches, who wound up being dubbed as the “Teds” by my son. I’ll meet with them almost every week up through the event.
I put together a bio, headshot, and send back some paperwork. There’s talk of how how we’ll move files around and collaborate to edit drafts and materials.
The rest of the month is iterating on the outline of the talk and having a weekly review with my Teds. Edit. Iterate. Repeat. It’s both a mix of moving things around, expanding on certain sections, and cutting things out. There’s also some minor re-tuning to not overlap with the community aspects of another speaker’s talk.
End of year deadline: Moving from outline to narrative format with my talk.
I attend a “Speaker Pod” where I review my work-in-progress talk in front of all the other “Teds.” These are the students coaching the other speakers and provides an opportunity to get fresh feedback and practice talking through my material.
We start to talk slides and format guidelines - Font sizes, format, and the really interesting one: Splitting the speaker notes into its own deck, meaning two files to keep in sync: one with visuals, one with talking points.
By mid-January I’m on my fourth iteration of the draft. By the end of January, I’d blown up the entire structure and started over.
Another Speaker Pod to review against now version 7 of the talk. I get to hear the progress of some of the other speakers and get to give and get notes.
By mid-month, I’m on version 8, and the first one in presentation format with images.
A lot of the edits now are balancing the talk so non-sports attendees can get applicable takeaways. These audience inclusion references get added or refined from here to the talk.
There’s a lot of debate on if an actual picture of a goat would land with the audience when I mention “Messi.”
By the end of month: The “release candidate” dual decks (version 9), wardrobe, and run-of-show are all locked in.
Dress rehearsal — two days before the event. Practicing in Hogg Auditorium on the UT campus while the production team works through logistics.
March 8th: The talk!
The amazing attendees I got to talk to afterward. I was amazed at the line of people I had at the after event.
Connecting with the other speakers.
TEDx team members going out to Austin FC matches.
My first non-medical trip out of the house for a team and speaker social on two broken legs and a broken wrist after the accident.
The amusing amount of speaker booking assistance outreach since the video dropped.
It was a great experience and opportunity and I have nothing but thanks, gratitude, and respect for the TEDxUTAustin team and my fellow speakers.
If you have an idea worth sharing, 2027 speaker applications are open through September 18th.
Screen: “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed” (Apple TV). Tatiana Maslany is amazing in everything she’s in. It’s definitely got some pulpy “just go with it” moments, but a great ride with a fantastic supporting cast.
Music: “This fffire” (Franz Ferdinand). Nothing like your teen pointing out “new” music which actually over 20 years old and you remember it being actually new. Anyway, it’s also the theme song to an anime we were watching together over the weekend called “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners”.
Purchase: Car Garage Parking Assist LED Flashing Stop Sign (Amazon) - Picked up some of these as thank you gifts for people who were a big help after the accident.
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