Last week, our executive director, Heather Heimerl Brunold, held two workshops in Pasadena—one at Pasadena City College on October 19th, and one at Cross Campus Pasadena on October 21st—that covered what it takes to give a TEDx Talk.

The workshops kicked off with Heather going over the history of TED, which was founded in 1984, and the creation of TEDx events, which are local, independently–organized events. The mission of TEDx is to organize events that connect people, spread ideas, and inspire positive impact at the local level.

At Saturday’s session, about two dozen people learned about some of the nuts and bolts of giving a TEDx Talk, including:

– TED and TEDx Talks are no longer than 18 minutes long

– The talks are scripted and are generally structured in such a way that: 1) The speaker becomes vulnerable, 2) The middle focuses on the idea the speaker wants to convey, and 3) The end features a call to action.

Heather also facilitated a fun activity that helped attendees brainstorm a TEDx Talk they might give. They completed a memory map, free wrote for five minutes, and eventually narrowed down everything they wrote to one word that described the talk they would give. Afterward, several people volunteered to stand on stage to share their word.

To wrap up the workshops, Heather showed two examples of effective TED talks – one that was a short,out-of-the-box talk and another by a speaker from this year’s TEDxPasadenaWomen RISE event, Amanda Southworth.

If you’ve ever wanted to give a TEDx Talk, keep an eye out for future workshops by scrolling to the very bottom of this page and subscribing to our e-newsletter! We’ll be sending out updates on future events and it’s a great way to stay connected. Also, feel free to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter.