Thank You For Coming To My TEDx Talk

Or, a long overdue update

One of the most surreal moments of my life

It’s been a while, folks!

Though things might be quiet on my Substack (my last post was in early Jan), my life feels a bit like it has hit an escape velocity. The first two months of 2025 felt like a crazy take-off and I have so much to share with you guys.

So in short, I had to temporarily stop writing the weekly column here on Substack because of all the stuff I’ve been up to during Jan-Feb of 2025, and here’s a brief run-down:

December 2024, Invitation To TEDx Oxford

I lept out of bed after reading an email from my agent:

“Hey Robin, I’m wondering if you’re interested in speaking at the TEDx 2025 conference in February. I’ve…”

And before reading the rest of the email I replied with a “hell yeah”.

What followed was a two-month-long preparation that involved rounds of Zoom rehearsals, shuffling my schedule around flying to England and endless hours of talking to myself in the room like a crazy person.

Meanwhile, I was also exchanging emails with my liaison from Bloomsbury Publishing about a book proposal we’ve been working on since September. When I flagged that I would be flying to England around late Jan for my TEDx talk, my liaison said: “Any chance you would be down for a lunch around Bloomsbury on the 30th?”

So, instead of a quick three-day trip down to Oxford turned into a 10-day stay in London followed by a train ride to Oxford. I arrived at around 7 pm on the 26th as the London greeted me with this sight.

It was cold, wet and disgusting just the way I liked it.

I didn’t have too much time to roam around, so I quickly got down to a daily work routine from 10 am to 3 pm at this local café next to my Airbnb followed by a pint at various pubs. This routine ensured that I had everything ready before the meeting and my talk while still retaining some time for fun.

On the 30th, I took the Northern Line to Bloomsbury’s head office and had a fantastic lunch with my publisher. We went to a Greek restaurant called Life Goddess on Store Street and finalised the last steps before my book proposal was submitted to the publishing board. The rest of the night was filled with good food and great wine accompanied by a sense of relief.

But the celebration didn’t last long. I had two more days before the TEDx conference in Oxford so on the 31st, I packed up all my bags and boarded a train at Paddington Station headed for Oxford via Reading.

After 40 minutes the train pulled into Oxford station. I couldn’t believe my eyes so I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

I quickly checked into my hotel and texted Ruby Granger (a wonderful YouTuber who graduated from Oxford) to tell her that I’d arrived. She told me to take my time to settle in so I unpacked my makeshift podcast setup and was ready to have Ruby on the show.

Now here’s a perfect place to talk about a big project that I’ve been working on since December.

Introducing: A Mug of Insights - Small Talks

For the second season of A Mug of Insights Podcast, I decided to branch out my episodes into a new direction of capturing genuine and engaging conversations under a segment called Small Talks. Ruby was an obvious choice for an episode because she’s one of the most engaging and thoughtful YouTubers I know, so we sat down in my hotel room, turned on the mics and had a total blast recording this episode here:

I’m so excited about the future of this show and so far we’ve booked many interesting guests. You can listen to my conversations with some of the recent guests here:

Listen to the show at your own pace and let me know what you think of it. Now, back to Oxford.

After recording the podcast it all started to hit me. My talk was less than 14 hours away so I spent the evening rehearsing in my hotel room one last time, went to sleep and walked to the Sheldonian Theatre first thing at 7 am on the 2nd.

When I saw the number of chairs in the theatre, my throat felt dry. I asked the AV team: “How many people are we going to have today?” And the guy shrugged and said, “Somewhere around 500?”

This is that weird feeling when you’re waiting in line for a flu shot. You’re nervous, you’re nervous and then they roll your sleeves are rolled up. Before I knew it they mic’d me up and I was about to give my talk.

And just like a flu shot, it was over just like that. It felt so long and so short at the same time and by the time the talk ended, adrenaline was still coursing through my veins.

So, what did I do to calm all the adrenaline? I rounded up a gang of speakers, organisers, and attendees and we all went out to the local Oxford pubs for a few pints of Guinness to take the edge off.

In short, that was why I’ve disappeared from Substack for a bit but I’m about to return with a bigger update for the newsletter next week.

For now, I hope you’re having a wonderful week so far and as always

Until Next Week

Robin