How a Little African Boy Spoke at a TED Conference

It's about presenting an idea worth sharing

This is a true story. In Nairobi, Kenya, 1000s of families live in villages. The villages are very close to the Nairobi National Park. Unlike many national parks, Nairobi National Park doesn’t have any fencing. Sometimes, wild animals like Zebras stray into the villages. And when they stray into the villages, they bring lions with them.

The lions sometimes kill the cows in the villages. Many families have been living under the constant threat of lions attacking their cows. Richard, a small 12-year-old boy, was tasked with protecting his dad’s farm with a few cows.

His responsibility was to protect the cows and scare the lions. He tried various methods. He tried lighting a fire, but the lions were not scared.

He tried putting up a scarecrow but later discovered that lions are a bit smart. They can differentiate a scarecrow from a real human. One day, he noticed that the lions would keep away if he was moving around the farm with a torch.

He realized that Lions were scared of moving lights. And he was too lazy to walk around the farm with a torch every night. He wanted to automate the process. He thought long and hard if there was a way to make moving lights.

Making a motorized machine with an actual moving light would be too costly and he didn’t have the resources for it.

So he took a car battery, his mom’s radio, and an electronic unit from a motorcycle which helps with switching indicators on and off. (His Mom was very upset at him for breaking apart a new radio!)

He took a few torch bulbs and put them up on the fence in sequence. With the battery, the circuit from the radio, and the indicator switch, he made a system where 3 lights would blink throughout the night on automation.

For the lions, it looked like the lights were moving. The lions were afraid. And they never attacked again. He slept every night instead of working on the farm and his invention helped to keep the lions away from automation.

He has set up the same system for many neighboring farms. His method is now being used in 1000s of farms across Kenya to keep lions and other predatory animals away.

This small kid is a genius. He was bold to try his ideas out and accept failure. But he is 12 years old and doesn’t know English well. He has never spoken in front of an audience.

Can he ever become a public speaker? He was invited to TED to give a talk about this. (Not the local TEDx, but TED itself). He was invited to the annual TED conference that happens once a year, and he talked along with other mega personalities like Bill Gates at the conference.

He flew in a plane for the first time in his life to come to California. He was not dressed great, nor had a great speaking style, nor had awesome English speaking skills.

But he captivated the audience and he got a standing ovation from an elite crowd. How can someone not trained in public speaking be a speaker at TED along with Bill Gates?

Because it is not about the presentation. It is about the idea. The stage and the presentation are just a medium to share the idea. If the idea is strong enough and worth spreading, the channel and medium don’t matter.

It is the same for content writing. Many people worry about their language. They worry about their presentation. But they don’t matter. What matters is the idea. The idea that needs to spread.

Do you think you have no ideas and nothing to share? You might be wrong about that. Every person on this planet goes through unique experiences. You have a life experience that is unique to you and different from all the other 7 billion people in this world.

Of course, you have something to say. You just don’t know it yet. The job of a writer is not to figure out how to present the idea. The job of a writer is to find an idea that is worth sharing.

Once the idea presents itself, the medium will be ready to carry the idea. I started blogging 16 years back in the same way. I just didn’t hesitate to share the idea. The first blog post I wrote in 2008 was just 500 words. It was boring English.

But I wrote something and published it. It got some readers. And I’ve been sharing ideas ever since. I’ve never made a conscious effort to write better. The better writing came because I wrote a lot. I shared every idea that I got. In different topics.

As soon as DigitalDeepak.com was started, I started writing about my unique thoughts and ideas in the digital marketing space.

Writing takes courage. You have to put your ideas out there boldly. Without fear of judgment. Without fear of criticism.

And you will become better at finding those ideas with experience. Your unique life experience will lead to new ideas on an almost daily basis if you are sensitive enough to pick up those ideas.

So forget about getting the presentation right. Start finding those ideas. And just start sharing them. Like I got this idea to write to you today. The idea came because I was reading a book that mentioned this story.

I watched the TEDx talk and realized how much it is about the idea and how little it is about the presentation. And I immediately wanted to share the idea with you. I just wrote it as an email. No fancy graphics, no design elements. Plain raw communication. And I’m pretty sure I’ve got your attention, for quite a few minutes.

This was an idea worth sharing. And I just shared it. If you think more, experience life more, and read more, you will discover the idea that you want to share. And ideas that will add value to other people’s lives. It will just pop up out of the blue. And with experience, you will present it better.

If an African kid can share an idea at a TED conference, you and I can definitely share our ideas on our blog. And what applies to public speaking, also applies to writing.

And yeah, you should watch the TED talk by that kid, it’s on YouTube. Search for “Richard Turere: My invention that made peace with lions”.

Hope this post gave you some inspiration to become a better writer and content marketer.

Cheers,
Deepak Kanakaraju