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Dr. Stephanie Schuttler from fancyscientist.com has a PhD in biological sciences and will be publishing a book on careers in wildlife biology in the fall. She has given a TEDx Talk and loved the opportunity.
A TEDx Talk provides speakers with an opportunity to present exciting ideas relevant to their area of interest or specialty.
Stephanie started blogging over 10 years ago. She embraced it as a way to advertise her research about animals and communicate the science behind it. When she interacted with the North Carolina Bloggers Network, she learned that she could blog for a living.
During her postdoc at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Stephanie ‘became’ the Fancy Scientist. Her role was to integrate lab research into a middle school classroom, and the students were continually surprised to see that she didn’t ‘look’ like a scientist.
“They all had this impression of what a scientist looks like, like we all do, which is usually a white person in a lab coat,” Stephanie recalled. “Usually older, so someone that looks like Einstein.”
This was definitely not her image. She loved to dress up and wear jewelry, so she earned the nickname ‘Fancy Scientist’ at the museum. Stephanie adopted it for all of her social media handles as she blogged about animals and how people can help them. Today, she does science communication full-time and blogs a lot about careers in wildlife biology.
“That stems from one of my blog posts that I wrote, (which became) really popular,” she said. “It was my most popular blog post: seven beginner tips for a wildlife biology career.”
She knew that she wanted to do more public speaking. She had given a lot of talks during her time at the museum, and as a science communicator she had given several presentations across five continents, but she put this goal temporarily on hold so she could finish her book, The Guide To Careers In Wildlife Biology.
“I see public speaking as something to follow up on that. I’ll probably reach out to universities and see if I can give talks on the subject. But I love public speaking, I actually think it’s really fun.”
Stephanie was referred to be a TEDx speaker on the recommendation of a museum coworker.
Stephanie’s TEDx took place at Furman University. She had been invited to speak after someone she knew at the museum recommended her. At the time, she didn’t know that she could have applied for the opportunity.
“If you’re really interested in giving a TEDx Talk, just Google TEDx,” she said. “You can apply online. You can even nominate people for TED online too, but that’s probably going to be a lot more competitive.”
She blogged about the experience in a post titled What is it Really Like to Give a TEDx Talk? “At TED, it’s really about ideas worth spreading. That is the hook… And it doesn’t even have to be completely new. And the process really is that you start with your concept and they give you a coach to work with, too.”
The coach reviewed the slides for her talk beforehand and provided some suggestions on how to make it better. She went over the process over and over with him until she felt confident about her upcoming presentation.
“It really just boils down to doing an idea worth spreading. And for anyone who’s thinking about giving a TEDx Talk or just a good talk in general, it’s really about the story and the arc of everything.”
Stephanie recommends regular speaking practice.
“It’s a fine balance of sounding rehearsed, but not memorized,” she said. She also advised that presentations consist of appealing imagery, not text. “Because if they’re reading, they’re not listening to you. And if you’re doing a good talk, you should be able to convey the point well.”
Her TEDx talk was How Kids Can Save Wildlife. She thoroughly enjoyed the experience, saying that it gave her a lot of credibility and clout. “I can use it when I’m working on my public speaking career, definitely to accelerate it. It does show that you have the clout to do a TEDx Talk.”
She looks forward to assisting academics who want to have a career in wildlife biology. If that sounds like you, you can reach Stephanie at fancyscientist.com or stephanieschuttler.com. She is also active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
If you have questions about how to apply for and make the most of a TEDx talk opportunity, share it in the comments below!
