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Who do you want to speak at TED2013? Vote in TED’s global talent search

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TED headed on the road this spring, combing the globe for untapped talent to speak at TED2013. Holding one-night salons in 14 cities — from São Paulo to New York to Nairobi to Shanghai — TED invited a slew of fascinating speakers to give the talk of their life in three to six minutes. While more than 2,000 applied to talk during the six continent talent search, in the end, 293 speakers chimed in on topics ranging from the linguistics of texting to our relationship with plants to the new-found popularity of kimchi.

Of those 293 speakers, at least 20 will be asked to speak at TED2013, themed “The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered.” So who should get the invite?

That’s where we need you.

We want input from the TED community in deciding who should speak at TED2013.  Starting today on the website TalentSearch.TED.com, you’ll be able to watch each and every talk, rate the speakers, and leave your comments. Who made you laugh? Who made you cry? Who got your brain cranking into high gear, and who inspired you to share his or her video with everyone you know? While TED will ultimately maintain curatorial control, your ratings and feedback will play a key role in determining who takes the stage at TED2013.

“It was a remarkable experience to travel the globe and be blown away by unexpected people,” said Chris Anderson, TED’s curator. “We want to share this experience and open the selection of next year’s speakers to the world. We’re confident that the combination of this global search, paired with feedback from around the world, will create a thrilling lineup of the young, wise, and undiscovered. And quite apart from that, this new archive of talks offers a stimulating and inspiring viewing experience in its own right. You will find here amazing inventions, brilliant insights, persuasive arguments, glorious creativity, hilarious stories and fabulous performance skills.”

So start watching, rating and commenting now. You’ll only have until August 31 to make your opinion heard on the inventors, teachers, artists, storytellers and sages who spoke during TED Talent Search events in Amsterdam, Bangalore, Doha, Johannesburg, London, Nairobi, New York, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Tunis and Vancouver.