What's a TEDx Talk? Is it different than a TED Talk?
To answer this one, we’ll go back in time by about . . . oh, gosh. About 40 years.
TED (no “x” yet) started in 1984, when two nerdy dudes decided to bring together experts in Technology, Entertainment, and Design to talk about how those three categories overlapped.
That’s what “TED” stands for: Technology, Entertainment, Design.
And although that first conference highlighted some supercool ideas (like new 3D tech from Lucasfilm!), the conference lost money and the team took a break for a few years.
But when they tried again, in 1990, TED turned into an annual thing.
And then 16 years later, when the team started putting TED Talks on Youtube, it all blew up (in the best way).
Before then, you would really only know about TED if you were one of the folks who were invited (yes, the conference was invitation-only) to watch the talks in person in California.
But now that TED Talks were being published online, people far beyond the original TED crowd began to understand that TED was showcasing creative new insights (by then, not limited to tech, entertainment, or design, but also featuring ideas about philosophy, social issues, religion, and other topics).
In an effort to expand the impact of TED and the “idea worth spreading,” its leaders created TEDx—basically, a system of free licenses allowing local organizers to create TED-style conferences of their own.
Is TEDx different than TED? What does “TEDx” mean?
The “x” in “TEDx” means that the event is independently organized by local leaders. It's not directly overseen by TED.
The typical TEDx events will have a city or other community name attached to them (e.g. TEDxChicago or TEDxMileHigh), and these the events we usually hear about.
But there are other TEDx events out there, too, and they all host speakers! The most prevalent event types are:
TEDxUniversity
TEDxUniversity is a special license for a college or university to host an event. From a speaker’s perspective, these events are fairly indistinguishable from standard TEDx events. The difference on the administration side is that the license must be held by a current student, staff, or faculty member. Attendance is generally still open to the public.
TEDxWomen
TEDx Women events focus on women’s issues and the power of women and girls. Anyone of any gender can apply to speak or attend as an audience member.
TEDxYouth
TEDx Youth events can feature adult or youth speakers, and the issues they address will be ones related to an under-18 audience.
There are a handful of other TEDx events, too, and you can read about them on the TED site here.
What does it mean to give a TED Talk?
Usually, as entrepreneurs, industry leaders, and subject matter experts, when we say we want to speak at TED, we usually mean we want to speak at an independently organized TEDx event, not at the original TED conference.
Of course, some people do speak at TED itself!
But for most of us, TEDx is a more reachable (and still highly regarded) goal.
To get a better sense of that, here are a few folks who have presented at TED over the years:
Bill Clinton’s TED Talk in 2007
Elon Musk
Bill Gates
Elizabeth Gilbert
Bill Clinton
Shonda Rimes
Madeleine Albright
I’m not saying you won’t ever speak at TED. You might! But if you’re not a wildly-established thought leader, TEDx is a great place to start.
3000 independent TEDx events are held across the globe every year. That means there’s a lot more opportunity to speak at TEDx events than at the biannual TED conferences.
So does TED have anything to do with TEDx events at all?
Even though TEDx events are independently organized, those organizers do follow certain rules enforced by TED, including:
Talks cannot be promotional or purely motivational
Talks must be under 18 minutes
Subject matter cannot be pseudoscientific
Because they are independent events, the structure, energy, production value (e.g. the quality of sound, lighting, or videography), and organization of each event can vary greatly.
For speakers, the biggest point here is probably that it is the TED organization, and not the local TEDx event team, that curate the TED Youtube and TED.com video listings. That means that even if your TEDx event team loves your talk, the TED committee might decide it’s too promotional, purely motivational, falls into pseudoscience, or too long—and not put it online afterward.
That’s one of the reasons it’s super important to prepare carefully for your talk. You don’t want to put in all the effort of creating your talk only to give it once and never be able to share it online!
Overall, the philosophies of TED guide the execution of TEDx events, even though TEDx events might each have their own personalities.
In the end, it’s the Idea Worth Spreading that matters.
Drawing on her decade+ experience as an actor, director, writer, editor, and educator . . .
Messaging Expert Cathlyn Melvin helps mission-driven personal brands design and deliver their world-changing messages through TEDx coaching and done-for-you copywriting services.
Her insight has been featured via TEDx, Thrive Global, Fempreneur Online, Much More Media, Captivate + Convert, She Built This, The Writing Cooperative, and other outlets. Learn more about her copywriting and TEDx coaching services.