TEDx Learning Series3 21

Editor's Notes

• #3: thanks for joining us today. We’re Ruth Milligan - and Julianne Wurm. We are pleased to be the presenters at the first ever TEDx webinar as a part of the TEDx Learning Series. Depending on how today goes, we’ll see if this is really a series...! We’re pleased to have Bruno from TEDGlobal on the call with us today as well as Lara Stein. They not going to present, but be open for helping to answer some questions at the end and listening in on the presentation to learn about how us TEDxers are pulling off our events! We thought we’d take a moment and take a quick show of hands: How many of you have already produced your TEDx Event? HOW WILL WE KNOW THIS NUMBER? (Answers - Already produced mine / Haven’t had mine yet) And for those of you who said you haven’t yet produced it - we want to know: We assume you are here because you are interested in speaker preparation, but are just curious, at this stage of the game... What’s keeping you up at night about your TEDx Event? (answers - Sponsorships and Budget, Speaker Selection, Speaker Preparation, Event Logistics, Selecting an Audience)
• #6: The way in which you recruit and prepare your speakers will be central to the success of your TEDx program. This webinar will review strategies based on our experiences, about how to manage both your speakers' expectations and your expectations of them. This webinar is designed specifically for TEDx licensees who have not yet produced their first event. Licensees who are planning their second event are welcome to join us but may find some of the content redundant to their experiences.
• #7: RUTH: On your way to the gate, you will likely have some initial RED ALERTS that may not allow your speakers to pass through security, if you will, or in your case, should NOT be let through security to get to the gate. Each of us had some experiences that speak to this. JULIANNE: In New York: Talking about the event in passing at a business meeting in which someone says “I would be a great choice...” Or, even getting an introduction in which the first words are about MY NEW BOOK- this is not a platform for sales. I had worked with a person for the last 15 years who I personally knew....SENSA GUY... RUTH: We had a prominent member of the community nominate someone else but within the nomination, suggest that REALLY we should have them both talk. While we all loved this person, we weren't sure she would give the most captivating talk. She was an astronaut and we used that discussion to spring into - well, if we had an Astronaut speak, who should it be and we eventually landed on John Glenn, who became our headliner. In an opposing situation, we had one of our best talks, a dancer, refuse to nominate herself and because of that, we as a committee nominated her. Her humility showed us that she would not show-boat and had a very sincere appreciatation for the selection process. We found four characteristics to watch for in this case. (tab in the bullets) First was Self Nomination, second is eager beaver - the one who oversells themselves to you, we both had some of those; the third is the recylced lecture - a warning mainly for those working with academicians who have given a distinguished lecture in the past and then the last, someone I had in Columbus had never talked without a note. I really wanted him to present - his topic was incredibly interesting - but did not push it since he'd NEVER in his 20 years of lecturing talked without notes.
• #14: Do you think slides add to or take away from the talks?
• #15: Julie: Next is understanding for a moment that while you are focused on content and if they should get on your plane or not, we want to impress not to make any assumptions in the 'business' of dealing with them. As you recruit your speakers and get closer to selecting them, watching their behavior will be a tell-tale sign as to how they will act during the 'crunch' time of your TEDx preparation. We recommend three things: a) asking their availability - travel schedules, daily schedules - will they be around? b) how do they prefer to communicate: email, telephone, text? c) who else will be collaborating on the organization of their talk and who else should be included on communication to ensure receipt and timeliness. Julianne example: TFA Ruth: That's right, I found that one of my speakers was gone the full two weeks before our event. While she tried to respond to my pleas for sending her final abstract, her deck and other important promotional materials, she missed every deadline by DAYS due to being gone. While leads me to the second point (advance) of gatekeepers. I always only dealt with her. She never introduced me to her assistant. Others I only dealt with their staffs. You will have an array of relationships to manage but figure out, early on, which is the best manner to get anwers and deliverables out of your speakers. Julie: and to THAT point (advance), we recommend you clearly outline the scheduling requirements for your speakers the very first time you start to engage them in recruitment. Tell them exactly when you expect your abstract, slides, headshot, and where and when you expect them to be for a speaker's dinner and rehearsal and even the day of your event. Take nothing for granted. Overcommunicate. Also be sure both when cultivating and managing your speaker to be very clear about the process. This is not a TED event, it is TEDx- there is a chance, albeit small, that their talk could get put on TED but it will go on the YouTube channel (as long as they get their release to you) Be clear not to make ‘promises’ to speakers- be very clear about what the understanding is between your speakers and yourselves to avoid later drama- (not signing a release/saying they were ‘promised’ certain things. Ruth: And lastly, watch their behavior. It will be consistent. If in the courting phase they are illusive, hard to reach, difficult to engage - that will not change in the process. You have to strike a balance in there between available and over-eager. It is a tricky one to manage. You may have a concession in your mind for accepting a speaker - name recognition for instance - be prepared to be flexible in your planning.
• #17: How much time do you think a speaker should dedicate to preparing their talk?
• #22: Was this useful? Would you recommend this webinar?
• #23: You might have had good or bad experiences through selection process- but crafting of the talk is a whole new process. Ruth: I had a speaker show up the day before her TEDx talk with 66 slides and still trying to craft the narrow angle of the essence of her talk. Hmmm. And I thought we had agreed on what that was a few weeks prior. What did I do wrong? I didn't set my expectation clear enough that her talk was not necessarily HER decision to make but OURS. By the time I realized this, it was too late and I was just thrilled she was still planning to show up to the event. Julianne: And I had a speaker who (Suzy Welch) or another who did not respond to my queries- both did not give great talks. Once because she was not available for coaching and then ultimately did not connect for enough prep and the other because he did not take feedback well. One I handled better than the other. Rule here: when working through assistants is not sufficient. If you didn't set expectations in the selection process, this is the first thing you will want to do after you have confirmed they are a speaker. Slide deadlines, abstract summaries, biographies - if you are like us, these things were due about 10 minutes after you got them on that plane!!! But most importantly, refining their talk. Next, it is imperative to get to one core idea. And remember, just because they have an idea does not mean they have a good talk. To that point, we recommend that you attempt to herd the wandering story...
• #29: How do you get to a TEDx Talk? The same way you get to Carnegie Hall. PRACTICE. Here’s our quick thoughts on how to encourage practice in your speakers. Julie: If your speaker is using slides, you must review them well before the talk. Ruth: Yep, remember my speaker that showed up at practice the day before with 66 slides? Yep. Julie: Slide review and editing will be the next most important part of helping them to craft their talk. If they won’t submit them, then tell them they can’t talk. I had a speaker with 96 slides- we were able to negotiate setting a number of them in the middle on an automatic timer which clicked at 1 per every couple seconds and that made it doable. Our recommendation is to get the slides 1-2 weeks before the talk and use it as the critical point to really shape the final talk. Until this point, you may not have had a complete talk sequence from your speaker. In other words, you’ve had the ideas and the facts, concepts and theories, but how is it all coming together? How will their story unfold? The slides, while we also believe are not always necessary, are the one assurance you have a thorough look at the talk before your event. Otherwise, you are really have to think about insisting that they nearly write out the speech beyond an outline to share with you. Ruth Point two - The rehearsal is something we did but it was for more technical than content flow. We made them check their slides on the computer and screen we were using in the auditorium, the cordless microphone, etc. The one thing that couldn’t be replicated and was a pretty big deal was how the lights were being set up - everyone just had to experience that in real time during the event. (they were very bright to assure good production quality on our video). Also - a side note. Julie and I approached our slide templates slightly differently. I allowed the speakers to design their own and Julie re-purposed their content into a template she designed. I had introductory slides between each speaker that were consistently TEDx branded to tie our event together. I think either can work fine.