Live from TED

Desert Diaries: The TEDx Workshop

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In Tuesday morning’s chill, a group of 100 TEDx organizers — representing over 30 countries — set off in a caravan of buses through the misting desert mountains to gather at Noah Purifoy’s art site at Joshua Tree. They joined TED’s Lara Stein and Salome Heusel to talk TEDx.

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(Lara Stein at TEDActive 2010. February 9-13, 2010, Palm Springs, CA. Credit: TED / Michael Brands)

ACT I

20 participants — those who had already organized TEDx events — gave short presentations about challenges, narrowly-stepped-over pitfalls and best practices for TEDx events. The crowd heard case studies on the events’ sheer and growing variety of species: events for kids, events for colleges, etc. And all speakers trembled before the The TEDActive Gong, which rang anytime the three-minute mark was breached.

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(Kelly Stoetzel at TEDActive 2010. February 9-13, 2010, Palm Springs, CA. Credit: TED / Michael Brands)

ACT II

The TEDxers broke out into three groups: TED’s Ronda Carnegie talked sponsorships. Rives advised on preparing speakers for the TEDx stage. And TED’s Kelly Stoetzel gave production tips — how to give an event the TED shine.

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(TEDx organizers gather at TEDActive 2010. February 9-13, 2010, Palm Springs, CA. Credit: TED / Michael Brands)

ACT III

TEDxers met and greeted one another. Word on the street is more than a few interesting collaborations and spin-offs are already starting….