Paying for Water – My TED Talk Experience

How well do we really know what message connects with the general public? 

We often talk about the need to “educate” the public about the “value of water” or “the complexity of what we do,” but what does this really mean? 

Does the public want, or more importantly, need to be educated?  Do they really care what goes into water service and delivery?

Those of us who are in the water business spend so much time talking to others who share our background and passion, that we often think everyone else should care as much as we do.  I’m certainly no different, but through my experience with TED, I had the chance to gain a new perspective.

I was selected to give a TED talk on the water at the TEDX Albuquerque (TEDX ABQ) event.  Part of the process is going through coaching to improve your message and delivery.  NO ONE affiliated with TEDX ABQ coaching had any background in water and no more interest in the topic than any other typical water customer.

Spending so much time with this type of audience talking about water made this a unique opportunity for me, one that I was very excited about.

I planned to talk about why customers always put water bills last on their list of “want to pay” and the need to change that dynamic. 

I put together a speech with lots of detailed information about why people should care about water and hit them hard on the fact that it shouldn’t be last. 

I was happy with the speech before the first coaching session and was convinced it was very close to complete.

How wrong I was.  Other than my passion for the topic, I don’t think there was anything else about my talk they liked. 

As someone who has given many, many talks around the US and even internationally, I was pretty demoralized.

I thought about what they had to say and set about developing version 2.0 of my talk.  Unfortunately, they thought I sounded like a “journal article.”

Version 3.0 sounded too critical (no one likes to be scolded during TED Events, I’m told.)

Version 4.0 didn’t make anyone care about my subject and, oh, by the way, you are still scolding too much.

I think I was up to about version 16.0 (not all of which were ever presented to the coaches) before I lost just about all confidence that I would ever be able to give a talk about water that anyone without a water background would want to hear.

Fortunately for me, I was the only speaker to show up for one of our coaching sessions, so I used it as an opportunity to really dig into my talk. 

We finally hit on a good opening and I took it from there to create version 20.0 that I thought finally hit the mark.

So what was in version 20.0? 

A reference to the fact that people do value water and value it very highly (look at how much people are willing to pay for bottled water – 1000 times as much as tap water), the need to have money to:  keep a sustainable water source, proper treatment, and maintain water infrastructure, a challenge to customers to see water rate increases as an investment, a challenge to buy a few less water bottles and support infrastructure instead, and a story about yard sales I had where I sold water for $1 a bottle and no one bargained with me to reduce the price even though they would bargain on everything else.

I was really happy with the result.  So, this is the end, right? Wrong.

About two or three sessions later, I was giving version 20.2 (a few tweaks were added) and after the talk, the TEDx ABQ curator said, “Why should I care about this at all? I turn on the tap, water comes out, why should I care?”

I must say, my first reaction was to be stunned. 

I was sure everyone would care about water after all the details I was providing, but that wasn’t the case.

I stopped the curator after the meeting and ask him, “What would make you care about water?”

He said, “You spend so much time thinking about water.  Why do you think I should care?”

After stammering around for a little while about water in general, I realized I didn’t have a very good answer.

He pushed a little harder, saying, “Convince me I should care.”

I said, “Water is the foundation upon which everything else in your life is built.  If you don’t have water, you have nothing.”

He smiled, “Now I care.” Put that in your talk.

So Version 21 was born and included a reference to both turning on the tap and water always coming out, along with a story about a trip I took to Boston where that didn’t happen and a reference to water being the foundation of everything. 

That’s the talk that finally made it to the TED stage.

Between my time with the TED coaches and speakers and the talks I had with the attendees after the event, I came away with a new perspective.

I have thought very deeply about how we communicate with customers about water issues and the need to reexamine our approaches.

I believe it isn’t necessary to “educate” customers about the value of water.  They know water is valuable, I don’t believe that’s the reason they don’t want to pay. 

I think it comes down to being victims of our own amazing success.

We have provided drinking water to people’s taps whether they are in a small town or a big city, no matter what state they live in, that is healthy to drink and available 24/7/365 at almost no cost for over 100 years. 

The status quo has been pretty good, and for the most part, with the few exceptions of Toledo, Ohio and West Virginia, continues to be very good.

We are now faced with trying to explain that without investment in water infrastructure, it can’t possibly stay that way. 

We can either wait until things really crumble or try to change the perception of water rates as a burden that most people don’t feel they should even have to make to a perception of water rates as an investment in ourselves, our families, and our communities.

We have made major shifts in public perception before – think smoking and seat belts.  We have gone from smoking everywhere – offices, stores, restaurants, planes – to smoking almost nowhere. 

We have gone from no one wearing to almost everyone wearing seatbelts.  These examples give me hope.

Public perception can be changed, but it will take a national, unified message to do so. 

It will also take political will – this needs nurturing and growing into a long-term commitment and consensus, which is always a challenge.

If we can focus on the need for water investment as a source of:

• Health: No advance in medicine has had a dramatic effect on human health as drinking water treatment and sanitation
• Housing value: Imagine selling a house that had no water
• Jobs: How many jobs could be sustained if there was no water serving the businesses
• Recreation: Sports fields, parks, golf courses, etc. take water
• Entertainment: Imagine a restaurant with no water?

…maybe we can start to change the dynamic.

I, for one, am willing to try.