A few years ago, I coached a 23-year-old rapper who had been asked to give a TEDx talk at his university. Matt is an extremely intelligent and gifted rapper from Chicago’s South Side, where I grew up (in fact, his mom and I went to the same high school!) The TED People sent out a thorough list of recommendations for how to build and prepare for a TED talk. The problem was, the more Matt read the list, the more uncertain and anxious he became. So, we focused on just 5 things that would help Matt share his ideas, engage the hearts and minds of his audience and challenge their thinking around a controversial topic. Matt’s talk received the first standing ovation ever for a TEDx NIU talk. http://rb.gy/xtuhe