If you’re an expert looking for exposure and credibility, there’s one pretty amazing secret you should be aware of.
A hint is in the title of this article 😉
The best TEDx events (like the stage below) are far easier to get invited to speak at than TED, but to the general public, this is a “TED Talk.”
So, if you really want to know how to get a TED Talk in the public’s eyes, the real answer is to just become a TEDx speaker.
TEDs over 100,000 applications per year for about 100 speaking slots (and it’s safe to say that most of the TED speakers, like Bill Gates or your average Nobel Prize winner, don’t need to apply at all), so it’s next to impossible to get booked at TED.
In fact, even though TEDx events can be quite competitive (the best will get hundreds of applications, or even 1000), it’s still about 50x easier to speak at TEDx instead of TED.
What is TEDx?
You may be familiar with TED, but here’s what TEDx is, in context.
| TED | TEDx | |
| Started | 1984, first talks online in 2006 | 2008 |
| Pays Speakers | No | No |
| Pays Travel Costs For Speakers | Yes | Sometimes, but most likely not |
| What You Can Talk About | Find TED Talk Topic Ideas | TED and TEDx have the same topic requirements – TED Talk Topic Ideas |
| Filmed? | Yes | Many, but not all |
| Talks go on… | TED Talks YouTube channel TED.com | TEDx Talks YouTube channel TED.com |
| Produced by | The staff of TED (a non-profit organization) | Independent local volunteer team that must apply to TED for a license to run a particular TEDx event in their area |
| Ticket price for attendees | $9,500 USD (tickets are application-only) | up to $100 USD (event organizers decide the ticket price for their event) |
| Size of Live Audience | 1,000 | up to 100 (smallest or first-time events) to 10,000 |
| YouTube subscribers | 21 million | 34 million |
| Notable Speaker Examples | Bill Gates | Brene Brown Simon Sinek |
| Number of views per talk | Normally 15k – millions (highest has 47 million views) | 100 – millions (highest has 77 million views) |
| Stage Quality | TED stages look like this: | TEDx stages vary considerably:  |
| Event Types | TED TEDGlobal TEDWomen TEDEd | Salon (very small stages, often no speakers or not filmed) Youth (normally held in high schools, almost never filmed professionally) Library (very small stages, often no speakers or not filmed) Standard (recommended) University (recommended) TEDxWomen (recommended) Countdown (often not filmed, or no live speakers) TEDxLive (no speakers, only pre-recorded talks shown & discussion) Business/Internal (talks not published on TEDx YouTube channel) |
| Event Date | Once a year TEDWomen is typically in November or early December TED is normally in spring (April) TED-Ed/TEDGlobal/etc varies | Any non-Salon event occurs once a year (timing varies). Salon events can occur several times throughout the year, as sub-events of the main Standard event (e.g., TEDxLA and TEDxLASalon are the same event team) TEDxWomen events mostly occur in conjunction with the TEDWomen conference Any given country has many TEDx events, so there are speaking opportunities every month of the year. The easiest way to find events in your area looking for speakers is with my event list & alerts tool |
| Application Deadline | N/A – rolling applications | Generally about 6 months before the event date |
| To become a speaker, you have to… | Full guide on how to get a TED Talk | Apply on the individual TEDx event websites, one at a time. The easiest way to find events looking for speakers is with my Call For Speakers tool Here’s the full process and what to expect for how to speak at a TEDx talk |
| Number of Speaker Applicants | Over 100,000 | 100-1,000 per event |
| Odds of Getting Selected | 1 in 1,000 | 1 in 20 to 1 in 10 |
| Same Number of Speakers As… | Gold Medalists per Olympics | Harvard Graduates per Year |
| When you speak here, most of the western world (North America, West Europe, Australia, NZ) thinks of this as… | “TED Talks” | “Huh? What’s TEDx? Oh, you mean TED Talks?” |
| …most of the non-western world (Eastern Europe, Asia, etc) | “What is this? Oh, like TEDx talks?” | “TEDx Talks” |
