TJ Walker explains how to get a TEDx talk. The main TED Conference is invitation-only, so apply to TEDx events instead using the TED.com/tedxevents directory. Target events four to six months out, research past speakers on YouTube, and submit to three to five events at once. Your application needs one sentence on your core idea, two to three on its novelty, and a 60-90 second video of you actually presenting.
Chapters
Ultimize. One clarification before anything else, because this question comes up constantly among motivational speakers who are new to this world. You cannot apply to speak at the main TED Conference. The main conference is invitation only. As mentioned before, TED's curation team identifies speakers through their existing work, their audience, and their professional reputation. If TED is interested in you, they will reach out. In other words, don't call us, we'll call you. Everything in this session applies exclusively to independently organized events, which is where the open application process actually exists and where your time and energy should be focused. The official starting point for finding those events is ted.com/tedxevents. This is TED's own directory of every currently licensed independently organized event in the world, searchable by location, date, and event type. Start by searching your city and every city within a comfortable driving distance. The reason to start locally is practical. For your first independently organized talk, the goal is to get a professionally filmed video of yourself delivering this format well. And you don't need to fly across the country or to another country to accomplish that. Events within driving distance eliminate travel costs, reduce the time away from your speaking business, and give you a lower-stakes environment to test whether you've genuinely mastered this specific format before taking it to a larger stage. Search for events whose next date is at least 4 to 6 months away. Events that are less than 4 months out have most certainly already locked their speaker lineups and are not worth pursuing right now. From that initial list, apply the research standard covered in the 3rd session. Go to the main TEDx YouTube channel, youtube.com/tedxtalks. Search the name of each event you're considering. Find their playlist if they have one, but at least find find videos with their name in it and look at the view counts on their published talks. Then, as a motivational speaker specifically, go one level deeper. Search the names of their previous speakers and see whether any of them have gone on to build visible careers in your space. Are they getting booked? Are they creating content? Are they growing? An event whose alumni are active and thriving in the motivational speaking world tells you there is a real professional network behind that stage. Apply to 3 to 5 events at the same time, not just one at a time. Not all events will be in their application window at the same moment, and parallel applications are simply smart time management for a busy speaker. One important detail before you apply anywhere: not every independently organized event accepts open applications. Many events curate their lineups entirely through their own networks. And if no application form is published on their official event page or social media, there's a reason. Don't send unsolicited pitches to organizers who haven't opened their process. It wastes your time and makes a poor first impression with people who communicate with each other. For events that are actively accepting applications, the submission form is typically linked from their TED.com event page. Their own website, or their social media accounts. Eventbrite and Facebook events searched with TEDx plus your city also surface open calls that don't always appear in the main directory. The application itself is where most motivational speakers lose the opportunity before the organizer finishes the first paragraph. And the reason is almost always the same. They lead with their biography, their credentials, their speaking history, and their publications. Organizers are not looking for the most impressive resume. They're looking for the most compelling idea for their specific audience. Your application should open with your idea stated in one sentence that is specific, interesting, and clearly relevant to the events community. Follow with 2 to 3 sentences explaining what's genuinely new about this idea, why it matters to that audience, and what someone who watches your talk will think or do differently as a result. Then include a short video clip, generally 60 to 90 seconds, of you actually presenting, not introducing yourself, even if the application doesn't explicitly request one. Organizers need to know you can hold a room. For a motivational speaker, this clip is the single most persuasive element of your entire application, and skipping it because it wasn't asked for is a mistake that costs real opportunities.
