TED2013 Auditions for Speakers

TED2013: The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered is holding auditions for speakers. More than half of the speakers will be selected through the TED Worldwide Auditions, an experiment in crowdsourcing. Robin Ince illustrates a speaker's presentation, even though he later realized what he wanted to say (February 3, 2012).

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It's continuing theme is Ideas Worth Sharing.

Organizers will hold public auditions from April to June 2012 in 14 cities on six continents. Auditions seek to uncover new talents, voices and ideas the world needs to hear.

The TED community will have a chance to vote on the most promising presenters. Many of these will be invited to speak at TED2013.

The first audition will be held in April 2012 in Doha, as part of the TEDxSummit. Other confirmed events will occur in Amsterdam, Bangalore, Doha, Johannesburg, London, Nairobi, New York, São Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Tokyo, Tunis and Vancouver.

The first audition will be held in April 2012 in Doha, as part of the TEDxSummit. Auditions will be 3-6 minutes long video recordings of submitted presentations, and the language will be English.

Organizers seek:

• THE INVENTOR ... sharing an innovation with world-changing potential
• THE TEACHER ... sharing valuable knowledge in a memorable way to teenagers or adults
• THE PRODIGY ... young talent ready to break out
• THE ARTIST ... who can showcase their work in a compelling, new way (Don't just talk about it. Show us your work!)
• THE PERFORMER ... music, dance, comedy, drama ... or something entirely different
• THE SAGE ... wisdom the world needs from those who have learned it the hard way
• THE ENTHUSIAST ... with an infectious passion they can share about a topic
• THE CHANGE AGENT ... helping shape the world's future with work that matters
• THE STORYTELLER ... vivid, original, meaningful ... with a talent for connection
• THE SPARK ... with a powerful idea worth spreading

They do not seek "product-hawkers, jargon-junkies, dullards, wafflers, motivator wannabes, self-promoters, spouters of new-age fluff."

TED, like the Tux Reports Network, provides vehicles to highlight innovative ways to inspire ambition that helps shape our lives. We want to encourage you to consider how you may inspire others through your presentations, including at TED2013.