TEDx Organiser Crash Course (Phase 1)
Organising TEDxSereneMeadows has been one of the most mind stimulating experiences for me. The first one in 2019 was pure learning and the second one in 2020 was all about making the experience better. Right from creating my own processes to approaching and getting to know the lovely speakers, to exploring ideas with them and building their talks. I’ve learnt so much along the way and I wish for you to have the best experience too! I would love to support as many people as I can to organise their own TEDx events and go through this brilliant process because the community needs it to grow!
In Phase 1 of this complete crash course, I’m going to be taking you through the process of understanding TED, TEDx, the why’s, right up to speaker selection and along with that share some inside hacks and experiences that will help you not make the mistakes that I made.
What is TED and TEDx?
TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.
A TEDx event is a local gathering where live TED-like talks and performances are shared with the community. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis. The content and design of each TEDx event is unique and developed independently, but all of them have features in common.
How is a TED/ TEDx talk different from other talks at conferences?
Every conference has their own agenda and theme and so does TED. TED and TEDx talks have a stark difference in the approach because the core of the talk is always an idea. Speakers are invited to a TED/ TEDx platform to talk about their ideas. They can use their story or parts of their life to help build the case for the idea but it is never about them (the speaker). TED has always been very focused on bringing out ideas from people so that the audience can always take back the most.
Why should one organise a TEDx event?
TEDx events are known to be a community event that provokes thoughts, ideas and conversations. It gets people from various fields under one roof and sparks discussions. These events help the community grow and evolve. Over the years, TED and TEDx have been very successful in building a reputed brand for themselves. Given their strict norms, guidelines and checklists, it is not always easy to organise one but because of the reputation you are able to get great speakers for your event.
What is the process of organising a TEDx event?
- Who is your audience? You have to first understand and ask yourself who is your audience. On the basis of that you can select the kind of TEDx license you need to apply for. There are majorly 10 kinds of TEDx events:
Standard event
This event type is organised in the city or town in which you live, engages a wide range of local residents, and showcases a diverse array of talks, not limited to one subject. The event is named after the location-based community it serves.
Personal Notes: When you are organising a Standard event, you might face issues with naming the event. I certainly did. The names that you suggest for a standard event need to be relevant to the city that you are hosting the TEDx in. They need to not be a religious place or a famous personality’s name. You can check out the naming guidelines here: Naming.
University event
This event type is for those hosted at a college or university, and organised by current university administration staff, faculty or students.
Youth event
This is a TEDx event organised by, or catered toward, youth and/or kids or school communities.
ED event
ED events are TEDx events where educators, students, administrators and others gather to discuss the future of education.
TEDxLive event
TEDxLive is centered around the simulcast of the annual TED Conference. Here, the world becomes TED’s audience. In this event you only gain the license to broadcast.
TEDxWomen event
A TEDxWomen event is a TEDx event which celebrates a number of different ideas, from a range of disciplines, either given by or relating to women. TEDxWomen events are organised around the official TEDWomen conference.
Business event
TEDx Business events provide the framework for businesses to spark innovation and ignite conversations through private, staff-only events built on TED and TEDx’s winning formula of short, striking talks.
Internal event
This is for nonprofit organisations, government entities and hospitals that want to organize an event under an institutional name. This event type, and the naming exception it grants, is approved only for internal, private, employees-only events.
Library event
This event follows the same format as a standard event, except that it is hosted by librarians at a local library.
Countdown (New)
Countdown events are gatherings meant to amplify and demonstrate climate solutions with the world. They can be held in various formats — live speaker events, screenings of the Countdown summit in Bergen, showcases of solution technologies, or even volunteer activities contributing to positive change.
On a broad spectrum, these are the types of events. There are also more events which require experience in conducting a TEDx for at least a year or two.
2. Apply for a license. To apply for a license you have to answer several questions about yourself, your intention behind organising one, what kind of speakers are you looking for, where will you get them, where will it be held, tentative naming of the event, why have you chosen that name, 3 talks that you like and why and some more. With this questionnaire, TEDx is trying to gauge your intent behind conducting the event and is helping you realise your own objectives for the event.
It takes anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months for the license to appear in your inbox, if you have answered the questions well. They can also send you a couple of questions in an email to get more clarity. The license is not a certificate but a simple email granting you the permission to use the TEDx name.
3. Create a landing page for your event. Login to ted.com and start creating your event page through the event manager.
Start filling all the details out in the various tabs that are given below. This will help put your TEDx on the global map. Once you create this page, you also choose to not create your own website and just function through this. You can use one of the payment gateways and add a ticket link right here.
This page is very important because a lot of aspiring speakers keep scouting the TEDx World event page and searching for upcoming TEDx’s to apply to. This will also help you build authenticity for your TEDx.
You can check out: https://www.ted.com/tedx/events/36134 to understand better.
You can also create a website for your event. I made our website on wix.com. I’m not a developer and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money creating a website. This was not only a quick and easy fix, but also helped me save a lot of money. I hosted our website www.tedxserenemeadows.com for as low as INR 2,500 a year.
4. Read through all the guidelines and manuals that they have to offer. Like any other franchise, this one too comes with its rules, regulations and much more. If you don’t comply by the rules, you may get blacklisted and not get a license next time. The guidelines will also help you structure down the event, create budgets and understand the quality that’s expected. You can start reading here.
5. Start assembling your team. It is very important for you to build a team that resonates with you and your reason to conduct a TEDx. It is necessary for all of you to be on the same page and work towards a common goal. While looking for partners and team mates, look for people who are self-motivated, enthusiastic, eager to learn, have worked on events before and have an influential network that they can bring to the table. You need the following people on your team:
- Curators: These are the people responsible for wooing and selecting your speakers, helping them build their talk and grooming the speakers for your TEDx. It always helps if the curators are handling programming for the event since they know the speaker lineup, the speakers have gotten comfortable with them and they also know the speaker’s material.
- Event Managers: These team mates help with actually organising the event. Venue, decor, event production, placement, etc.
- Video Team: These people take care of the entire video production for the event. Since TEDx videos are recorded in a LIVE event and posted later to TEDx’s official Youtube channel, you have to make sure that you build a team who can manage that. Also, read the guidelines on camera placement and angles. It always helps to do a couple of trial sessions before the event with your team so that you can get the best footage possible.
- Speaker Duty: It is advisable to keep at least one person in-charge of the speakers, their logistics, their travel and stay arrangements. This person or team act like a concierge for the speakers and make them feel comfortable and welcomed.
- Marketing & Sales: This team is responsible for the marketing of the event, creating the buzz, getting the event collaterals in place and getting prospective attendees to buy the ticket. Most often, this team also takes care of sponsorships.
Luckily, I’ve had a great team who were from different age groups, fields and backgrounds and were able to add a lot of value to the event. Since this is a voluntary event and there are no salaries, you will have to keep your team motivated and constantly show them the bigger picture. You have to make them feel like a part of the change that you want to bring to your community.
6. Speaker Scouting and Selection:
Your entire event depends on this process. At the end of the day, the quality of your event is going to be defined by the kind of speakers you bring onboard, their credibility, their achievements and their ideas and talks.
Process:
(This is not a standard method. I’ve devised my own process for scouting and selection and you can come up with yours. But in my experience this could really help build a good speaker base)
- Create a speaker application form. This is really important because it will give you a lot of insight into the speaker and will help make the screening process easier. You can also take a look at what we do at: https://forms.gle/TnGwRCGCnpXZ2Yng9
- The first step is to create a speaker pool. You can receive speaker applications in five ways:
- When speakers are searching for TEDx events on the ted website or other social media platforms, they will directly apply or send you a query about application.
- You can send out the form to people you already know and believe can add value to the platform.
- You can ask people to recommend speakers and then get in touch with them.
- You can also create ads on social media and push the link out for people to apply.
- You can start looking up people who you want to invite as speakers, connect with them over social media or email and send them the form for application.
- Before you send out your speaker form or declare applications open, you need to create a selection criteria. I usually write down the fields/industries that affect or are a part of the city I’m hosting the event in.
Personal Notes: TEDx is a community driven event. Your talks needs to be relevant to the community. When you select speakers who are a part of the industries that your audience belongs to as well, they will be more keen to buy the tickets and attend attentively.
- Once you have successfully created your speaker pool, you need to start segregating the speakers and ranking them. First segregate your speakers into smaller pools on the basis of industries. Then start ranking the speakers in each pool on the basis of their expertise, achievements, background, public speaking experience and their ideas.
- I usually give a total of about 25% weightage to the idea, 25% to the public speaking aspect, 50% to the expertise and achievements.
- Rank them in terms of first priority to last in the industries and then start contacting them and confirming them in the same order.
- You can send a confirmation to the speaker via email, welcoming them to your TEDx and asking them to confirm their presence.
This process will help you build a solid and diverse speaker list to offer to your audience.
This was phase 1 of organising a TEDx talk. Stay tuned for Phase 2 and 3.
If you have any queries, feel free to contact me at: info@tedxserenemeadows.com
