Designing Your TEDx Talk!

Many speakers tell me it’s their dream to give a TEDx talk…

And so, I've done my best to go out of my way to help speakers understand what it takes to prepare their talks for the TEDx stage over the last couple of years. 

With that said, I won’t be able to donate as much time as before; my schedule seems to fill up like crazy nowadays, and there’s only so much I can do…

So, I wanted to share three keys to designing your TEDx talk...

1. Keep It Short - You want to make the most use out of every word you use. Anything under 18 minutes should be your target. This one was 5 minutes! 

2. Make Sure to Focus on an Idea, Stop Trying to Teach - One of my favorite parts about TEDx is that they really want speakers to focus on an idea worth spreading. Think about how you can give a talk that makes your friend want to share it with his/her friends, and then their friends share it. Here's the one I've shared the most by Susan Pinker! 

3. Read "What is a TEDx Talk?" on their site; it goes more in-depth with the different categories and shares a wide variety of examples. 

For those who would like to go more in-depth with this, I decided to do a brief training tomorrow night to help speakers understand what it takes to develop a TEDx talk!

This will be a hands-on workshop, and I’ll then bring some past @tedxstamford speakers, Solana Lewis and Tony Pec, to share their experiences.

Whether your goal is to become a better speaker or to give a TEDx talk someday, this is an event you won’t want to miss.

Date: Wednesday, November 12th, 2025

Time: 6:30 PM to 8 PM

Location: Warm Heart HQ (Stamford, CT)