A (3:45)

So that's a perfect next question. What are the biggest mistakes people do that want to be on a TEDx stage?

B (3:52)

Well, one of them is that they keep trying the same exact application over and over again to different TEDx organizations and not realizing that if they failed at one application, maybe the application's still fine. It just wasn't what they were looking for. But if you fail at five of them, you need to iterate, you need to figure out what can you do different with your application. What I saw the most common thing when I've been reading applications, and I've read thousands of them, is that people will use jargon or industry speak or they'll not have a fully formed unique idea. You know the number of talks that the title is about resilience or fear. And I want to tell people that you may have a really unique idea in that space, but every third application is about either resilience or fear. Like what's going to make your stand apart from all the others? Why is that the case? Or they don't brag upon themselves, they don't say, these are my credentials. This is why I am the one person to give this talk. And sometimes that's just because people don't want to feel like they're coming over too strong. But if you've accomplished amazing things with amazing organizations or you've, you know, if you're going to be an executive coach, but you don't tell me that you've coached, you know, major Fortune 100 organizations, what makes you different than the other 3,000 people who are also coaches? Do you know? I mean, like, what sets you apart for why should I want to, quote, hire you to be a TEDx speaker even though you're not getting paid anything? Why would I want to choose you? And so that's probably the biggest mistake I see people making is they don't have a really well formed idea that's different than everybody else's and they don't really lay out why they're the one person to give the talk.

A (5:34)

Okay, that's very clear. Anything else? That people make a common mistake.

B (5:39)

Yeah. The other thing that people make a common mistake is they don't vet the TEDx organizations either. Like I've seen people who apply just every TEDx association happening in every TEDx event. They apply to all of them. Well, maybe your talk does fit better at a TED women focused event. A TEDx women's event. It's more focused. You might have a better chance of getting there if your talk is specifically for that. Or you might be applying to a TEDx event that really likes hard science, fact based, research based talks. And you don't do any research to know that that's what they're looking for. You didn't look at their other previous videos, you haven't seen who's been on their stage. And then you go to them with something that's about metaphysics or it's about a life coaching type of talk. And there are plenty of TEDx talks that do that. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those, but you should find the TEDx organization that focuses more on those type of talks. So you have to make sure that you're applying with an idea or a slant of your idea to an event that is looking for that type of an idea. And the best way to figure that out is to look at their previous events and previous videos and see what kind of things they put on their stage.

A (6:45)

You also mentioned that the TEDx stage has changed a lot over the years, that there are more and more applications. Tell us a little bit more about that.

B (6:57)

Sure. So you know TedX, it was a fascinating conference. It eventually was bought by Chris Anderson, grew it to be this enormous thing that TED is today, you know, TED is stretched out all over the world. And so they now do this enormous conference with that covers everything. You know, it's not just technology, entertainment and design. It goes much wider and further. And so the TEDx stage is their way of saying, let's have more than just that one big conference a year. We'll allow these smaller organizations to create their own conferences. So as I was saying that the TEDx stages, there's about 3,000 of them around the world. They're licensed by TED, but because it's become more popular, the idea of giving a ted or a TEDx talk has become this cachet. There are more people applying now. There's a reason for that. Not just the popularity of TEDx, but imagine 10 years ago or 15 years ago, if you wanted credibility as a thought leader or an executive or as a keynote speaker, one of the things you had to go do was get a book published. And in the past that was difficult. You had to get an agent, you had to find a publisher, they had to believe in you. They had to publish your book, it had to go out. You had to get an ISBN number and get distributed to bookstores and everywhere else. Today you can publish a book in less than 24 hours. You can get ChatGPT to help you write it, you can go to Amazon, kdp, and all of a sudden you're a published author. It is no longer this marker of credibility that it used to be. Now, let's not say there's anything wrong with people self publishing books. There's a lot more of them now because people can just do that. But it no longer has become a vetted way for somebody who's trying to hire a keynote speaker or somebody to come create a workshop at their business. They can't say, oh, well, if they're a published author, they have major credibility. Because again, anyone can become a published author. Head X talks have a similar credibility as being a published author used to have, because you still have to get on that stage because somebody has to vet you. So I have found a lot of people in that space of looking to book a keynote speaker are saying, immediately send us the link to your TEDx talk. And if you don't have one, all of a sudden it's like, well, maybe you're not. You haven't been vetted yet. You know, if you had a TedX talk, I could believe. And they can then see your performance, how you do in front of a crowd, how you look on camera, that sort of thing. So that's what's happened. And not only does that mean now that there are plenty of TEDx organizations, but there are more applications than ever. The TEDx that I ran for all those years, in the first years we had have 100 or so applications. This last year we shortened our application window and still had over 300 applications for only 10 available spots. So it's. The competition's pretty tight.

A (9:42)

And yet you say that the quality of the TEDx proposed talks hasn't increased.

B (9:48)

It really hasn't. We still tend to only find 20 or 30 really good ones that cut through, that are sharp, that are sharp enough to break through. And mostly it's because people don't know how to apply and there isn't a training class for it that everyone's readily available. Right. There's not an easy way to go figure that out. And TED TEDx itself, the main TEDx organization, which is under the umbrella of the main ted company, the TedX Group, is only 10 or 12 employees. They don't put on any conferences. They interact with TEDx organizers. They don't really give guidelines for how to select speakers or even an application process. In fact, they prefer that there weren't applications. They have told us many times that they'd rather that we cultivated people in our community. The problem is many of these TEDx talks or conferences are in very small communities of 15, 20, 30,000 people and there just aren't a dozen people every year who even want to get on that stage. You know, there are still people who don't know what a ted or a TEDx talk is. So applications really are still the Main way most TEDx organizations are finding their speakers. But at the same point, there's not a national, you know, expected way in which you go about doing that process.

A (11:06)

Okay, so there's more and more applications. There are more and more companies that say they train, you know, TedX speakers. So what would you say is critical to get a TEDx speech? Our listeners would be fascinated by that.

B (11:23)

Sure. Yeah, and I want to talk about that part. And I also want to talk about hiring somebody if you're going to do that. So I want to make sure we cover both those things. The number one most important thing is that you have to have an idea worth spreading. And depending upon how you have people in your life who are willing to be honest, you need to find a few people, you can tell them your idea and say, does that cut through? Is that interesting? Does that make you go? Does it make you stand up and say, I want to Hear more of that. Because the goal isn't just to have an idea that's good. It's to have an idea that's going to grab a curator's attention or a TEDx organizer's attention. Because remember, it's not just about do I have a good idea? But whether your idea will get their attention so that they'll select you. Right? So some of it is about, you know, it's like when two people, two equally good employees, potential employees, go to a job interview, but one of them's got a little better schmooze and they're a little bit better at the razzle dazzle and they get hired. Right? They might actually be worse than the other person in their actual performance, but they did all the things performatively to get hired. Same thing here. You're not yet giving the talk. You are literally trying to get noticed so you'll get put on the stage. And part of that is making sure that your title or your one sentence explanation of your idea, all the words are valuable and they really hit, they have a bam. I just love to act like it's got to be something that's going to grab my attention so that as I'm reading all of these ideas, yours stands out. And the hard part is if you don't know what the other ideas are, it's hard to stand out. Except let me just tell you, a lot of them are jargon, boilerplate, corporate speak. They're overwritten, they're run through AI and or they have colons in them. They're like, you know, justified colon. My long journey to become a lawyer. Well, I don't need the justified part beforehand. I just need, and even my long journey to become a lawyer, that doesn't, I don't know how that would relate to the rest of the audience. And again, you're trying to relate something to a full audience. I'll give you a quick example. Most recently in TEDxustice, we had two people applying, two certified financial planners applying with a very similar idea. They each had a similar idea. And just to give you a generic idea, the idea was instead of budgeting all your money out first, you should actually save the amount of money you want to build wealth in the future and then you can worry about how to spend the rest of it. One of them gave that idea it was fine, it just didn't light anybody on fire. The other one's title was why you should delete your budgeting app and he's going to be on the TEDx use to stage next February because it's a controversial title. I sold somebody, hey, I got a guy, a certified financial planner. He's going to tell you why you should delete your budgeting app. And you're like, does he know what he's talking about? Because that's an idea that requires defending. And a good TEDx idea does require defending. It's got to make you click on the video. Well, I'm going to click on that video. I'm like, I want to know what this guy's talking about. Because I just got my budgeting app all nice and pretty and you're telling me it's not worth it. So again, some of it either has to be sexy or controversial or something to get my attention. Right.

A (14:33)

Well, very well expressed. So there's a lot of the knowing how to do the application, an idea that catches your attention, knowing how to present it. And what else has changed for the TEDx platforms over the years besides having a lot more? But what else would you say is in the making?

B (14:56)

Well, I think people are much more savvy about applying. I've seen people. I mean, we had a speaker last year for our TEDx event who had applied at 35 TEDx events before she got accepted. But she had honed her idea down until she finally got it to a point and she had two different TEDxS reach out to her to say, we like your latest version. And she was thinking of that. Then it's an embarrassment of riches. Right? She has a gets to choose. I'm very pleased that she chose us. She thought we were a better fit for her. And also she had spent some money on hiring somebody and you had asked that question. I do want to make sure I cover it. There are quite a number of people now coming out and saying, I can help you to get onto a TEDx stage. I will say a couple things, I think. Absolutely. If you can talk to an expert and you're willing to shortcut the process by finding an expert. I do that with people all the time. I have clients that I do that with and I'm happy to do it because I'm excited for them. So those are paid clients and I'm happy to do it. And I think that's a great way to go about it. I want to caution people, though, that if somebody tells you as part of their sales pitch that I can guarantee to put you on a TEDx stage, you might want to be careful because the only person that can guarantee to put you on a TEDx stage is a TEDx organizer and they are prohibited by their license to charge people for services. So you can't make money off of being a TEDx organizer, which is mean. I didn't make any money for eight years while I was doing that work and creating that organization. I did it. And I love the group that we put together and they I'm so happy they're continuing and I'm still helping them as one of the coaches and I volunteer to do that. No one pays me to be one of their coaches. I do have people who hire me for other events that do. I do get paid to coach. But if somebody promises you that they absolutely can get you on a TEDx stage, I just wonder if there's doing that to try to sell you rather than being honest with you. The honest part is I can give you the best possible shot that I believe for you to get on a stage and I'll tell you all the secrets and things that I know and I will help punch up your idea and your application so that you do get the very best possible chance of getting on a TEDx stage. But I can't guarantee that you'll get on that TEDx stage. Now I think if you did work with me, you know, I would be awfully surprised if we didn't get you on a TEDx stage at some point just because you know we're going to keep doing the work until you get there. Because I'm not abandoning my clients until they're on stage. So I will work as long as it takes to get you on that stage. But I can't guarantee to put you on that stage. And you might join a TEDx event that doesn't give any coaching after that. They just say show up in March and give your talk. In which case I keep coaching you. But if they give you a coach, then you follow their coaching process so that you can put the best thing on their stage as possible.

A (17:34)

Does most organizers give a TEDx coach?

B (17:38)

It's not homogenous. Every TEDx event is different in many ways. Like it's not like a franchisee. Like if you think of a restaurant franchise and you have to follow all the rules from the main franchise organization. TedX doesn't operate that way. They give you a handbook with details, but they don't tell you what you have to do. So TEDxustis that I created and have since passed on to my the legacy guy who took over, we always gave people and they still do give people a coach for the whole process and they're volunteer coaches that are part of the organization. But you know, over eight years I built a team of more than 50 volunteers that all come together to put on that event. So yes, they're working for six months with their speakers to get them ready for the stage. I've also had people from big university events. I had somebody at a very large, well known university. He reached out to me and said I've been chosen for this very prestigious university to be one of their speakers. And but they told me that since I'm not one of their students or their faculty and I'm an outside speaker that I just have to show up and be ready. And they've reviewed my speech one time and told me one or two things to change, but otherwise I'm expected to memorize it, get there and do all the work myself. I have no help from them. Can you help me? Well, it came to me three weeks before the event so I mean I did as much as I could but you know, he wasn't as prepared as I'd like someone to be. But that organization is. If I told you the name of that university, you'd be like, oh yeah, I know exactly where that is. And they didn't. Now I'm not saying that negative, but that's just their choice of how they do it. So not every TEDx organization provides a coach. Some of them only have one coach for all 10 or 15 of their speakers. So one person doing all the work, it just depends on how many people they can get to volunteer and be part of the organization.

A (19:16)

So I just also want to clarify for the listeners there's two processes and also I'm going to do a TEDx talk soon. It's the application and as well the speech, you know, just really working that speech, how to come across, how to get it integrated so much that basically you act it out to some degree. Would you agree what else is important?

B (19:41)

No, absolutely, you're so right. So yeah, the application process, it just gets you the slot right? After that you're all your work is still ahead of you. Right. All of that preparation and every TEDx again is also different. I've seen TEDxs that tell people, well, you just have to know kind of what you're going to say and then you can come almost wing it, which I would be scared to do. And then organizations like the one I created and others and I think the more successful TEDxS really focus on the speaker memorizing their talk and then doing it so many times practicing it and Memorizing it, that they move past memorization into internalization. The idea that you can get up on any stage at a moment's notice and give that talk and it's almost going to be word perfect or is word perfect, but you're now performing it as a conversation. There's something that we love about TEDx and TED talks and if you think about it, they are so valuable. I mean, it's in the lexicon of just culture of people saying, oh, welcome to my TED Talk, welcome to my TED Talk. You see that in pop culture because they have such a specific feel and cadence and rhythm to them. And a lot of that is because they're told at a slower pace than a lot of speeches. They don't feel like lectures, they feel like storytelling. And they are beautifully conversational. In fact, the most amount of time in any TEDx talk is typically the pauses and the space in between where the audience is laughing or thinking or whatever else. So you give them in a very specific way of doing it. And that's because the really the best ones you've ever seen, they are so well rehearsed that they are now performing this conversation, one sided conversation with the audience.

A (21:23)

Yes, I think that's a very, very good point. Now also for our listeners that want to do a TEDx talk, how do you think you could leverage it? Because it's all free, meaning that you're not paid to get there, you're not paid to speak. Takes a lot of time to memorize everything. So there's a huge amount of investment without a return necessarily. Definitely not financial. How can they leverage after they give a TEDX talk? And do you help with.

B (21:53)

That's a really. Yeah, I do help people with that. It's not my major expertise, but I'm developing now that I'm working with speakers on the other side that I'm not just at a TEDx event, growing our own event. And part of that is you have to be ready with your own marketing campaign. You know, if you just say I'm going to do this TEDx talk, and I hope it catches fire. The average TEDx talk on YouTube has a thousand views. That's typical. That's average. That's all average across all of them. And that takes into account that some of them have a million views and some of them have a hundred views. So you got to remember the average text talk is going to get a thousand views. So you have to do a lot of the work, the heavy lifting. So I always encourage people, I say whatever space you're speaking in. If you're talking about mental health or if you're talking about reproductive issues, maybe you're talking about leadership. Depending upon what space you're talking about, a good plan is to reach out to people in that space that have large social media followings and say to them, I've just done a talk at TEDx, Plano, Texas. I've just done talk there. It's going to come out in the next couple of months. It's about this idea. Bam. Here's the idea. I'd love to give you first access to let you know the moment that it's available so that you can share it with your audience. That's a really good way to get some traction from some social media influencers who have quite a large wide reach. It's also really important that you get your own followers to watch the video. TEDx has also made it very clear that they want shorter videos. So even though anything that you were to, if you had googled or use generative AI to get answers to this and said, you know, how long can a TEDx talk be? They'll tell you that TEDx talks are 3 to 18 minutes long. But TEDx is asking every organizer to bring in 10 minute talks of 10 minutes or less. So you want to make your talk shorter. And they're also allowing the TEDx speakers. So you're going to give a TEDx talk. Once the video's out, you can cut clips of your video and use it on social media. Now, you don't own the video. The final video of your performance of that Talk belongs to TEDx. You sign a waiver at the beginning saying that you understand that you're on their stage in front of their letters and you can only be published on their YouTube channel. But they do give a license for you to use 30 and I think 30 second clips. I think it might be 60 seconds, I could be wrong clips. So you can do that for short reels and other places to draw the attention and then of course, direct people to watch the video. But you really do want them to watch the video on the TEDx YouTube page because you want the numbers to go up. You want the views to go up. Now I'll tell you what happens when you can get some good views on your video. We've had speakers who've had 500,000, a million views on videos that I helped to coach and put on stage. Those speakers tell me that what has happened for them is that they are no longer having to push doors open. The doors are being opened for them. People are pulling them rather than them having to push. So Johnny Crowder had a very successful talk for us in like 2019 and he was invited to join a speaker's bureau. Sometimes that's hard to get to do. And he's giving, you know, five figure speaking engagements at major companies as a keynote speaker that he doesn't have to reach out and find them. So that's making a big difference. We had a speaker who just launched her book and she got her book deal in part because she had a 500,000 view TEDx video. We have another speaker who'd already written a book with McGraw Hill, published a book with a major publisher, but she got her second book deal because her TEDx YouTube video was over 1.4 million views. And they looked at that, they said to her, obviously you have a following and people have listened to you. So you know, we're going to believe that, that you're going to be able to sell books now. The book business is a whole nother thing and a lot crazier, I think just because she told me how much money of her advance she spent just to publicize her own book. And I was like, well, what was the point of getting an advance if you had to spend it all the. She's like, well, I gotta prove that I can make money so they'll get me for the next book. I was like, that's amazing. But it allowed her, it gave her that opportunity with a major publisher, not her doing her own self publishing. This is a major publishing company, made a huge difference.

A (26:15)

Okay, that's great. And also I didn't know that you can use the video of the TEDx speech in clips.

B (26:23)

Just in clips. That's something they've added the last like two years. It's very new. But obviously the rise of all this short form video content has made TEDx realize, oh, no one's using like you're not supposed to post your whole video in 30 second clips. Your goal is to post a really good 30 second clip and then people click on the link to go through to the next portion to watch the whole thing.

A (26:45)

Yes, I could listen to you for hours, Tim, but unfortunately we come to the end of our podcast session. So where can people get a hold of you?

B (26:55)

Yeah, it's really easy. My website is just my name, timothytotten.com or you can just email me@timothytotten.com I love to do 30 minute sessions with people. Those are completely free. Just get on my calendar and pick a session. We will love to chat. Obviously I can talk a lot, you know that, so. And I try to be the person bringing really good information. So.

A (27:12)

Yeah, you do.

B (27:13)

I just want people to do better. I want people to have better TEDx applications and bring better ideas to the world so that we all improve. It's so much fun. Great.

A (27:21)

Thank you so much for being on the podcast. Thank you, tim.

B (27:24)

Thank you Dr. Yeah, take care. Thank you for listening to the Excellent Executive Coaching Podcast. You can subscribe to all Future podcasts@excellent executivecoaching.com join us each Wednesday to learn more about the latest trends in leadership techniques and bring your coaching to the next level. To learn more about Dr. Dr. Burris, CEO mastermind, use the contact form@excellentexecutivecoaching.com.