I think this is a prime opportunity for OT to learn how to be proactive in making connections in this emerging niche. It’s worth thinking about even though the cost to register is $1000+ USD and current US political climate is not friendly for OT’s outside of US who want to get in this.

If people in OT think that I am a natural, I actually made a good number of adjustments to stay relevant and survive. I am now used to thinking multiple levels faster and deeper when sociopolitical things happen than many people in OT would.

If it’s my POV, it has to start from changing our mindset. We need to welcome challenges and be more used to programmatic/systematic/collective thinking. One key to being great in public media arena is to know when to make the courageous, strategic, powerful, and timely moves.

Also, while our leaders kept on saying that OT should connect with public media more to increase our public visibility, what I am doing essentially is showing our profession that there is a path… even if the cost in totality will be quite high.

Problem is- people always think that the challenge is too demanding, especially with the time frames given. First thing the profession must be mindful of is that TEDx doesn’t automatically mean speaking. The organizing part is a lot more vital for setting these opportunities for our profession.

I don’t care if the bar I set for the rest of the profession is super high. But since OT is part of an extreme minority in that space, then it is important for me to become a model minority. OT now needs to follow my footsteps, however hard that might be!

I also don’t think rest of OT realize that I have established myself as an awesome citizen in that community. This is an expectation I want more in OT to follow when being in charge of TEDx events.

I know many in OT might think I am nuts to take on even more pro bono work. But, OT needs to stand taller as a community pillar more than ever. We need to be more willing to lend a hand to help such teams to disseminate credible and accurate info from their speakers.

I will put things this way- I read some scripts from youths for a TEDxYouth event that will happen next month. Some of what they wrote left me shaking my head, even though I know they tried hard. I have to give them constructive feedback for their speeches to make them sound more credible.

Rest of OT doesn’t have as much presence as I do in that space. But, I want to set an expectation of what OT can do in form of servant leadership in the public media space in today’s turbulent times.