Determined to Deliver a TEDx Talk? Tips to Get Selected, Sharpen a Message, and Leverage it to Build Your Brand

While scrolling social media you have certainly encountered peers and local thought leaders excitedly sharing links to their TEDx Talks. You have watched emotional speeches, insightful ones, and heard deeply personal stories that encompass broader themes. “Why them?” you might have wondered. “What did they do to earn a spot on that coveted stage?” 

TEDx is an offshoot of the popular TED brand that empowers communities to find local speakers capable of delivering globally resonant messages. The events are independently organized, and the speeches are licensed by TED. Many major cities have a TEDx organizer on the hunt for talent, and there are now more than 3,000 events held annually. The speeches are recorded, vetted by TED, and posted to TED’s platforms.

Former EO San Diego President Anna Crowe delivered a TEDx talk earlier this year titled “The Immigrant Mindset: Turning Struggles into Superpowers.” The Russian-native-turned-SoCal-public-relations-maven shared her thoughts on the experience with EO. As did Audrey Jacobs, TEDxSanDiego’s Organizer, who selected Anna to deliver her speech.

See their advice about earning a few minutes at center stage on TEDx’s famous Red Circle and how to make the most of your time there: 

How to Get Noticed

Audrey has been involved in business and community leadership in San Diego for three decades, so she relies on her vast network in the area to find thought leaders who have compelling messages to share. She values recommendations from trusted peers rather than relying on people reaching out to her directly.

Once someone is on her radar, she conducts a detailed interview, probing for a message or a story she is confident will resonate with TEDx’s broader audiences and will remain relevant over the long term in the TEDx archives. 

“I am looking for someone whose idea is their life's work,” Audrey says. “It is the culmination of everything they have done and what they stand for.”  

Shaping a Message

Anna was thrilled when she learned Audrey had selected her: Then she realized how much work awaited. How do you craft a compelling narrative that meshes with broader themes? How do you memorize an emotional, detail-rich seven-minute speech?

First, she enlisted a coach that has vast experience crafting TEDx talks that TED approves and publishes. Anna found the process of drafting her talk about her experience as a young girl immigrating from Russia to New York — and the power she has subsequently drawn from that challenging time — to be empowering as she probed into her past and unearthed old emotions.

“I did not think I had a story,” she says. “I had no idea what to talk about, and then it was like an onion is being peeled. I thought, ‘Oh, and then that can go down this avenue, and then there is this, and we learn that everybody has journeys filled with a lot of different milestones, up and down.”

Typically, Audrey says, successful speeches require roughly three-to-five hours per week of prep over the course of about eight weeks. After Anna and her coach completed that intensive process and found a compelling narrative arc, she practiced…and practiced…and practiced. Repeatedly, for weeks, Anna learned not only to recite the speech but to use body language to emphasize her points and hold the audience’s attention.

Anna rehearses her speech outside the auditorium
one last time before the cameras start rolling. 

The Day of the Talk

Multiple speakers deliver talks every session, so Audrey makes a point of gathering the group for multiple virtual practice sessions as well as a social event before the big day so that they get to know one another and get comfortable with who will be sharing the stage with them. Then, on the day of the speeches — whether they are recorded in front of an audience of hundreds or filmed in front of a smattering of staff and loved ones — she delivers a pep talk to help the small group battle the inevitable nerves.

Anna awoke the day of her speech in a relative panic, having dreamed she was running late. Driving to the event, she practiced her speech again and again, even gesticulating wildly at stoplights to mimic her on-stage delivery.

“I think it really hit me when I walked into the theater and I saw the TED letters, saw people getting miked up, and I looked at the stage,” she says. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is real. It is go time. I have to trust that I have done the work, and now it is time to execute.”

Spreading the Word

When the talk is done and the nerves have subsided, the work is far from finished. The time and focus speakers devote to shaping and delivering their messages must be matched by their efforts to promote it.

After recording, the TEDx organizer sends the talks to the parent TED organization which must approve each video before publication. That process typically takes several weeks: Once approved, the talk goes live on TED’s app and the TEDx YouTube channel.

Audrey recommends using that window to craft a promotional plan. As a starting point, she says, consult experts to optimize your YouTube title and description for SEO.

Prepare a contact list and craft language for a series of social media posts. Integrate the TEDx branding into your website and other channels. Host an in-person or virtual watch party. Consider hiring a consultant to help spread the word and target the right audiences. Once the speech is live, encourage your network not only to watch it, but to comment and share to help bolster engagement and reach on YouTube.

“It is a huge investment to put your stamp on a TEDx talk, so you better be ready to leverage it,” Audrey says. “Your talk will live forever.”

TEDx speakers and TEDxSanDiego staff on the day the talks were recorded.