Resource:How to organize a TEDx event on your campus
HOW TO ORGANIZE A TEDX EVENT
Hannah Hund is currently pursuing biomedical engineering (BME) at Wichita State University (WSU). Hund started in mechanical engineering but switched to BME because she wanted to work directly with people. She is excited about the current trend of innovation in the biomedical industry and the innovation opportunities offered at WSU. Hund is a Wallace Scholar, WSU Undergraduate Research Grant recipient, and BEETS Summer Research Grant recipient. She is working towards creating an on campus organization to attract students interested in entrepreneurship and innovation. Hund wanted to showcase ideas that matter to the community, so she formed a team with her peers to conduct a TEDx event at her school that would have a lasting impact.
WHAT IS TEDx ?
A TEDx Talk is a showcase for speakers to present great, well-formed ideas in a short time. One reason the short talk model works is that it only demands the audience's’ attention for a short period of time. Thus, decreasing the chances of minds wandering or daydreaming. In fact, some of the greatest TED Talks were as short as 5 minutes. ted.comuploads these talks online for users across the world to access them for free.
HOW TO GET STARTED?
According to Hannah, the first and the most important factor for conducting a TEDx event is to have a compelling “what” and a strong “why” that has the potential to influence people.
Her next step was to get a license from ted.com. Hannah did not apply for the license, instead one of her team members applied for it as an individual. Since TED only allows one license holder for each TEDx event, Hannah did not have to get the license. Before issuing the license, people at TED make sure that the person applying is passionate about his or her TEDx event topic. That was one of the reasons why it took Hannah’s friend 5 tries to get the license. But eventually, he got it and became part of the TED community. One piece of advice that Hannah had was to not get discouraged by being rejected and to keep pursuing the license. The license can be used for no more than a 150 person event. Hannah found that a great way to get around this was to cycle people in the audience in between speakers, effectively allowing her event to have 300 people.
After getting the license, Hannah identified people on her campus who were interested in working with her. Once she had her team selected, Hannah started to build good relationships with them because:
1) She would be working with them for the next several months.
2) They were part of her team now and if she don’t know who she was working with, was creating a team even worth it?
Hannah’s next step in organizing a TEDx event was to pick a date for the event and build a timeline. When picking a date, she made sure to avoid major holidays or events.
Next, Hannah, along with her team, used TEDx guide, available at ted.com, as a resource to identify key resources needed for the event.
KEY RESOURCEs
Hannah and her team identified the following as the key resources for organizing a TEDx event.
Speakers
Speaker coaches
Stage and video production
Sponsors
SPEAKERS
According to Hannah, speakers are the most important part of a TEDx event because they are the ones who have ideas worth spreading. In order to have as many people as possible involved and to have diversity among the speakers, Hannah and her team sent out flash news to alumni, current students, and community members who might have had good ideas and wanted to spread them through TEDx event. They came up with an application that was filled by the candidates. This was a good way to figure out who was the best fit for the event. While reading the applications submitted by the speakers, Hannah noticed that there were two versions of speeches. They are:
Idea and invention no one has heard about.
Basic idea that almost everyone knows about but the speaker has a compelling new argument about it.
SPEAKER COACHES
Commonly overlooked, speaker coaches are vital to producing a quality TEDx talk. Many speakers have great idea, but lack in public speaking skills. If the ideas are not well articulated, they may not reach the audience with the intended effect. This is why speaker coaches are an essential component for TEDx events.
Speaker coaches can help speakers refine their presentations through collaboration, practice, and constructive feedback. To build a team of speaker coaches, Hannah looked at her campus for people with a focus in communication. If you are unable to find good candidates for speaker coaches on your campus, you may have to hire some professionals. This, also, is a great time to find sponsors who would be willing to pay for speaker coaches or other costs associated with the event.
STAGE AND VIDEO PRODUCTION
When hosting a TEDx event, you and your team will be required to manage the stage and video production. Although there isn’t a specific stage design required for TEDx events, it is recommended to have a large, red TEDx logo present on one side of the stage. While planning your stage design it is good to reach out to your school’s theater department, if there is one, and get them involved in the team.
When it comes to video production, hiring a professional team to produce and edit the videos can be quite expensive. So, it’s best to find people on your campus (i.e. in film and media clubs) that have photography/filming skills.
SPONSORS
Check the TEDx websitein advance about information on who can and who cannot sponsor. Hannah and her team got some businesses to sponsor their event. So, they inserted a slide at the beginning and end of each speaker’s presentation to advertise their sponsors.
Hannah had many sponsors telling her that they will only sponsor if Hannah let one of their speakers speak during the event. Hannah and her team refused the offers because they knew that those speakers would not be spreading ideas related to the event topic, instead they would be using the event as a marketing opportunity for their businesses.
Selling Tickets
Dividing tickets among faculty, students, and community is a good idea because it gives everyone an opportunity to attend the event, but at the same time allows you to control the percentages of students, faculty, and the community who will be participating.
You don’t have to charge for the tickets but you can do as long as it’s under $100 (US dollars). Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to make it accessible and easier for people to buy the ticket.
You can also charge different amounts for different types of participants. Hannah charged $5 for students, $15 for faculty, and $25 for community members and had 25% of the tickets reserved for faculty, 25% for community, and 50% for students.
FAQ’s
What was your “what” and why did you choose it?
Creativity, curiosity, and connection were the words that described the theme of Hannah’s event. This theme worked out pretty good because it’s broad enough to include varieties of ideas, but at the same time specific enough to not branch off into just any idea.
What was Hannah’s strong why?
To showcase ideas that matter to the community.
How many people were on the team and what was the time commitment for each?
Initially, there were about 5 people on Hannah’s team, including students and faculty, but later in the process, the stage and video production people also joined in.
They met every two weeks and worked a lot of hours as a team, but the individual workload depended on who you were and what you did (your skills).
When was the event held and when did you start working on it?
Event was held in April. Hannah started organizing the event in August of the previous year.
How long was the event?
The event went on for about five and half hours with three sessions. Each session had three speakers and was about one and half hours long.
Why did it take nine months to organize the event?
Speakers need quite a while to prepare their speeches since most of them are not very good at presenting their ideas.
The team, especially, needs time for people to apply, review applications, send out results, find sponsors, and make sure all the details about the event are correct.
Do speakers and audience interact with each other?
Speakers and audience don’t interact much unless it’s part of the talk and the speaker wants to interact with the audience.
Do You Have Any Regrets?
Not realizing the importance of speaker coaches was a big mistake.
What are some common mistakes made by people when holding an event?
Assuming you can do it quickly and easily is the biggest mistake. Another one is not realizing how much of a production TEDx is.
Did you have to bring in concessions?
No, her event featured cookies and tea however.
If Hannah held the event again, would she pick a different team?
Maybe, it’s just a matter of who is available. It’s good to include people on the team that are enthusiastic and have complementary skills to you and have the motivation to work.
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