TEDx in a Box

December 21, 2011

The Fun Continues with TEDx!

The IDEO.org team gets to work on another quick project with those idea-spreaders, helping TEDx redesign the TEDx how-to manual for event organizers worldwide.

Since starting with people is the IDEO.org way, our team began by interviewing TEDx event organizers from around the world. While many of these conversations took place through the magic of Skype, we also went old school analog this time and met with a group of Bay Area organizers in person. These TEDx-ers made the trek down to our IDEO.org studio last Tuesday night and shared some really rich stories with us about what it takes to land a TEDx sponsor or curate a speaker session—all of which will influence the ways in which the IDEO.org team will reimagine the TEDx how-to manual for maximum impact and use.

Those conversations with TEDx organizers got us thinking intensely about both the content and the form of the information contained in the how-to guide. We’re trying to understand when organizers are using the manual, what parts they’re using most, and what problems they’re trying to solve with different resources. We’ve been thinking a lot about how we might boil down the manual to its essential parts, and how what’s essential might change depending upon the experience level of individual event organizers.

We’re hoping to represent the Bay Area on behalf of TEDx organizers Gordon, Christina, Jennifer, Tam, Dennis, Denise and Alex (our Bay Area organizers who made the trek to our offices), and make the thousands of other TEDx organizers proud with our new and improved guide to all things TEDx. Stay tuned for the final product in early January. 

Contributed By
Sarah2 Sarah Lidgus
Writer, IDEO