Behind the Scenes at TEDx

Last week marked my third (and 1/2 half?) stint as emcee of TEDx Charleston. In 2021, I emceed the digital version of the show, alongside a video of Bill Gates. In 2019, I was a speaker, and in the intervening years, I’ve coached more than 20 TEDx speakers at events all over the country, and participated in a number of group coaching sessions for TEDx events. I have a pretty good idea of what it takes to create a stellar TEDx event. Let me share a bit of how the sausage gets made.

First, to produce a spectacular TEDx event, you have to have buy in from the community. It can take a little while to get that, but everyone is familiar with TED by now. Buy-in, even for a brand new licensee, should not be that difficult.

Buy-in looks like a wealth of speaking applicants, participation and sponsorship of local businesses - both financial and in-kind, and a solid crew of volunteers willing to put in the time and effort to build an amazing event. Buy-in can also look like local government supporting the event – given that it is a major tenent of TEDx that there is no partisanship, politics, selling or religion involved.

There is a time-tuned process that sees the event from the inception of the theme, through speaker selection, to production and through post-production. Just because the show’s over doesn’t mean the work is done. Remember, TED & TEDx live in video, and the videos have to past muster and be given the stamp of approval before they are allowed to go live. I know of several licensees who have had videos refused because 1. The quality of the video’s visual was poor, 2. The quality of the video’s sound was poor, or 3. The speaker and/or their topic were not up to snuff or violated the rules of the license.

I can’t stress enough how important all of the planning, preparation and talented people you might never see, impact the quality of a TEDx event. Frankly, at TEDx Charleston, the people running the show - the audio/visual people, the production manager and the entire production crew, are top notch and run the stage like a Broadway production, even though most of them are volunteers. It’s magical.

There are just as many magicians running the front of house as well. People in branded t-shirts holding red X’s, providing social media prompts. Folks directing ticket holders and handing out badges, answering questions and generally making sure that the audience is well cared for.

TEDx Charleston has a steering committee that chooses the theme. There is a speaker selection committee who has the Herculean task of reviewing, interviewing, vetting and winnowing the speaker applications down to the final 13 or 14, keeping in mind that a great show requires a diverse variety of speakers, topics and perspectives. I understand that it’s not unusual for more than 400 applications to come in before each year’s deadline.

We also include three or four performances during the show, and our Performance Chair is excellent at sourcing talented local singers, dancers, musicians, poets and other entertainers. There is a Volunteer Coordinator directing people to where they are most needed on the day of the show. And, of course, there is the speaker coaching team. These are a group of professionals who have all either been TEDx speakers, or have a breadth of speaking experience themselves. They are top-notch sausage makers, and know how to help people craft their talk and presentation, and have it be TED-worthy.

At the lead of it all, is the license holder/organizer. They’re the buck-stop. They’re the one whose name is on the paper and the person who is ultimately accountable for the success or failure of the show. New organizer’s sometimes get overwhelmed with the actuality of mounting a TEDx production. There’s a million details that never occur to them until they’re in the thick of the muck, but at that point, it’s too late to stop and the only way out is usually through. The organizer is the person who holds it all together, choosing all of the people who will, in turn, find the people to churn the machine.

As I’ve said, most of the people I’ve mentioned are volunteers. It’s takes a village to produce a TEDx event, and most of that village are people who love the idea and the energy of a TEDx show. These folks are the glue who are willing to put in time, talent, and effort. No matter if it’s in front of the theatre, or moving the red dot on or off the stage, no TEDx event could exist without a giant cast of amateur professionals who do it for the love, not the glory.

Well, maybe a little glory.

LB Adams is the CEO of Practical Dramatics, LLC, TEDx speaker & coach, communication strategist, and author.