Tamsen Webster explains what sets TEDx talks apart from other speaking. TEDx audiences expect a novel or compelling idea, not just a polished presentation. The focus is on storytelling and structure that drives how people feel or what they do next.
Red leather, yellow leather. Red leather, yellow leather. One more, please. You see, now you're just doing it for fun. Speaking at a TEDx event really is different than other kinds of public speaking in a few key ways. The first is the substance of it. There's this expectation that the idea is just that much better or different than anything anyone's ever heard before. The second piece is really around storytelling, and I don't mean just telling stories because you can have a great story tacked onto a not-great talk and it's still still isn't going to be TEDx-worthy. It's really about thinking through the whole structure of it so that it feels like a story even if it isn't one. The third piece truly is that it's designed for action. That's where those other pieces come into play. The idea plus that storytelling is meant to make people feel or act differently afterwards.
