TAZ THORNTON SHARES HOW NOT TO GET A TED TALK: SIX SIMPLE STEPS TO SCUPPER YOUR RED DOT DREAMS

Today we’re talking to coach, speaker, trainer and author Taz Thornton. Taz works predominantly with business owners to help build their visibility, personal brand, audience, and bottom line, and with individuals who want to build their confidence, self-belief and personal empowerment.

When she's not doing that, she's either speaking on stages across the globe or training others to do the same, writing books or generally unleashing awesome!

Today Taz is sharing with us her top six things that could ruin your chances of being a TEDx Talk speaker!

Delivering a TEDx talk is on many people’s bucket list, but too many are going about it all wrong. Here’s how you can ruin your chances.

1. IGNORE THE RULES

It doesn’t matter how wonderful your story may be, how amazing your transformation or how arduous your journey, if it doesn’t tick TED’s boxes, it’s not getting through the selection process.

This is where I see so many speakers falling down. You all desperately want to stand on that red dot, yet you haven’t put the tiniest bit of research into the criteria for a talk.

Sure, your story might be hugely inspiring, but remember that TED stands for Technology Education and Design.

If you’re citing something as fact, you’ll need to back it up with proper evidence, and if you’re citing something as an opinion, well, go back to those guidelines and make sure your big idea is watertight!

2. GO BIG ON SPIRITUALITY

No. Stop right there. TED doesn’t really do spirituality. 

This is a major stumbling block as a huge swathe of speakers want to talk about their path to enlightenment, finding ‘god’, energy work, light healing or some major spiritual breakthrough they’re compelled to tell the world about.

Look, if you follow me regularly, you’ll know spiritually floats my boat big time, but we need to keep it away from TEDx applications if we want any hope of success.

TED’s guidelines include:

No religious proselytizing (including new age beliefs).
Only good science.

I promise you, these are taken seriously. And don’t even think about trying for quantum physics to get around things… that’ll likely fall foul of the ‘good science’ rule.

3) SELL FROM THE STAGE

The last thing any TEDx organiser will want you doing is harping on about your new book or talking about how successful you are as a coach/author/archaeologist/accountant/insert your career here. 

I’ve seen people successfully get their talks through and then squeeze little business plugs in when they get to the live event.

TED has a strict approval process when it comes to those videos. They can — and do — kick videos out, as well as changing talk titles and adding disclaimers if they don’t like your content.

4) GET YOUR PA/VA/PR TO APPLY ON YOUR BEHALF

Climb down off your ego pole and put some effort in.

When it comes to TEDx talks, it doesn’t matter how famous or important you think you are, the application needs to come from YOU.

When there are hundreds of other people all competing for that one talk spot, do you really think the organisers will have the time, or inclination, to go to and fro between you and your staff? It’s like somebody’s mum sending in a job application for them. And it’s a time waster.

They want to hear YOUR pitch — ideally with a 3–5 minute video — from YOU.

5) BIG UP YOUR CREDENTIALS WITHOUT GIVING A TALK OUTLINE

“Dear TEDx organiser,

“I am an award-winning entrepreneur, with a successful business and a track record of…” *DELETE*

Give your talk outline first. Show how it ties in with the theme of the event. THEN explain why you have the credentials to supply that content.

6) CHANGE YOUR TALK ON THE DAY

I’ve actually known people who’ve done this. Maybe they really are determined to push a spirituality-based talk or go all new age, or perhaps they’re determined to plug that book or training programme. Whatever the reason, please, please DO NOT be tempted to do this.

As I’ve already explained, TED may well reject your video or, at the very least, stick a big, fat disclaimer on it, AND you’ll be earning the organising team a black mark as well as potentially discounting yourself from any future selection processes.

It’s not big. It’s not clever. It impacts negatively on other people. Just don’t.

Still want to step onto that TEDx stage?

If you’ve read all this and you still have your heart set on delivering a TED talk, your best bet is to head on over to the TED website and find the events coming up. You can even search geographically.

When you’ve found the events that interest you, check to see if applications are being accepted and see what the theme of the event is; can you tick all those TED tick boxes AND tie into the theme? Excellent!

Bear in mind that the organiser will probably already be inundated with applications.

In my experience, networking can be well worth your efforts. Find the team members on LinkedIn and connect with them, perhaps. Build a relationship. Play the long game — aim to get in there ONE DAY instead of STRAIGHT AWAY. Find out what they’re looking for. Be a help and not a hindrance.

One more quick tip on that note, please DO NOT be a sulky cry baby if you don’t get in straight away.

I’ve heard people coming up with all kinds of bitter, sore loser remarks when their talks haven’t been accepted. That’s another sure fire way to scupper your chances for the future. TEDx teams DO talk to one another. They’re non-profit events run by volunteers and they’re pretty stressful to pull together. The last thing any of those TEDx curators want is mardy speakers.

If you don’t get in, feel free to ask for feedback after the dust has settled — politely and kindly. Ask what they’re looking for in future and how you can best deliver the kind of content they most need.

Be kind. Be considerate. Be a grown up.

Play by the rules. Be prepared for the long game. Keep going.

 

#UnleashYourAwesome

 

For more information on Taz visit https://tazthornton.com