Drinking the TEDx Kool-aid

TEDx conference at St. Edwards University, Austin TX (photo courtesy of Sarah Bork)

Corporate Events. Conferences. A small business speaker series. I’ve done all of it. As a coach, consultant and cofounder I love new ideas and novel ways to solve problems in business and in life. So when a colleague suggested we put on a TEDx Women’s conference, I was game and signed on as a co-organizer and primary speaker coach.

Right away, I could see how putting on a TEDx conference was different from a normal conference event or speaker series. There are actual legends about TED and TEDx talks! Brene Brown. Mel Robbins. Many others too. Speakers rising to fame and fortune, post their talk. I was told that a built-in community of TEDx supporters had high expectations for production, for content and were somehow aligned in an unspoken mission to make the world a better place. Hmmm. Really?

Quickly I learned that TED and TEDx have very, very strong global branding. This is both a blessing and a curse. The US Army has fewer rules than TED / TEDx! I can’t blame them — protecting their brand for all future potential great talks and maintaining a vibrant online speaking community for both past and future thought leaders is serious business. Keeping the rules straight through their online organizer forum was a significant challenge.

Some of the standard speaker and conference stuff that I have done for years was also true with a TEDx event. We…