What If You Could Give a TED Talk? An Inside Look at "My Big Idea," an Original Series from TED

Chris Anderson: At TED, what we've discovered

is that some of the best ideas come

from really the most unexpected places.

Helen Walters: You don't have to be a super fancy person

in order to make a difference.

Jon Mallow: We put out an open call --

Kelly Stoetzel: And said, tell us what your idea is.

JM: We wanted to find people

who might not have totally seen themselves as TED speakers before,

but who definitely are.

Toby Moore: People that are hidden at home, hidden in their garden shed,

hidden in their community.

KS: From that large batch of people,

we worked hard to narrow it down to 10 incredible ideas.

CA: An idea by itself won't achieve anything.

But what if it was presented on a stage

and, secretly, in the audience

there were experts and mentors and investors?

KS: Something huge can happen just because they stand on that stage

and share their idea with a room full of people.

JM: Then eventually the talk goes online.

Things kind of blow up from there.

CA: From TED, this is My Big Idea.

[My Big Idea]

[Brighton, 11 hours until doors open]

CA: It's been so exciting to come to Brighton

and meet the 10 people who will be speaking tonight.

JM: In an ideal world, the TED talk acts as an accelerant.

So this person is an amazing person with an amazing idea

on an amazing path already.

But getting to speak at TED

and getting to share their idea with the world

makes things move faster.

CA: At TED, we have got to know an incredible network of people

who have the connections, the funding, the businesses

to take these ideas and help them grow.

We've sought to bring them to each of these events.

KS: So there's this opportunity for a talk on the TED stage

to lead to massive change.

TM: We had over 500 people apply for this program.

Going through all of those took a lot of work.

Person 1: Bear with me.

Person 2: It can be the very tool that brings us closer.

Person 3: Forming a cohesive framework.

Person 4: To reshape the world for better.

KS: One thing we learned

is that there are so many people out in the world

doing really amazing, positive things

and just working to make impact.

Person 5: I want to share science, the wonder, the curiosity, the sparkles.

Person 6: Innovation and how it comes from strange, unconventional places.

TM: We're looking for people that haven't had the opportunity

to move their idea forward yet.

Person 7: My idea that I want to share is a hot take on tears.

Person 8: I would like to share precision neuroscience.

JM: And we selected 10 people who are people with these bold,

interesting ideas.

KS: They are 10 ideas we would not have known about any other way.

Hi, I'm Karli, I faint at the sight of blood.

Hi, I’m Rishika, and I’m the founder of Sole Circle UK.

My name is Yijia, I'm a musician.

Hello, I'm farmer Tom.

My name is Hazel Cottle.

I'm Hazel Mead.

My name is Percival Tussamba.

My name is Jade Buffong.

Mav Dhothar: My name is Mav.

I saw it pop up on my socials.

It's kind of a culmination of an alignment of the stars, I guess.

The idea I want to share is how artificial intelligence

and advanced technology can revolutionize accessibility

for people with disabilities.

Dan Flanagan: I thought there would be hundreds of other people,

much better placed than I was.

But if you don't try, you never know, do you?

I'm Dan Flanagan, I'm the founder of Dad la Soul.

They want ideas that could change the world,

and I think I've actually got one.

Together, we're shaping a new narrative on the future of fatherhood.

KS: When a speaker gets invited,

sometimes they've spoken frequently in public.

Sometimes they really haven't.

JM: You know, TED Talks are not a lecture.

They're also not an acting performance.

And so how to do it is very natural to some people

and less so to other people.

But we've had a number of Zooms.

(Video) HM: So I'm going to try my best to just kind of say it.

JM: Individually with speakers as well as a number of group Zooms.

Briar Goldberg: You want, just like all of this variety in your voice,

up and down and high and low and fast and slow.

JM: And we worked on some basic skills around how to succeed

giving a talk on a stage.

(Video) KS: You were practicing exactly as Briar suggested yesterday,

just using really your own words.

JM: But that's different than seeing somebody face-to-face.

[08:00 Speakers arrive]

Karli Büchling: Hi.

Hazel Mead: As soon as we came together,

it felt like we'd known each other for years.

It feels like a family.

MD: We're all connected through this, like invisible string,

and we will be for the rest of our lives.

Hazel Cottle: I feel like we're sharing something special.

Tom Morphew: They’re all talking about something that they’re doing

to help others and better the world that we live in.

It's always nice to meet other people like that.

DF: There is a smorgasbord of talent

and people that I wouldn't have normally met.

KB: We all have deeply rooted passion within us

to see change in the world that is so needed.

Like every single idea

will have an enormous impact on the world.

TM: OK, beautiful people.

[09:00 Warm ups]

I welcome and invite you to gather around the red dot.

More time you get the speakers spending time together,

learning from each other,

the better they perform as individuals on the day.

They get to understand the context of the whole event

and how the audience is going to receive everything.

JM: Because we did this in a public open call,

we kind of condensed the time frame a fair amount.

People didn't have the full length of time

that maybe an average TED speaker would have.

(Video) PT: Just going over my script again.

The day is coming soon.

KB: This is literally how a mom prepares for a TED Talk.

JM: And that creates a little bit of jeopardy.

(Video) PT: Another late night.

KB: I've just been so ill.

(Coughs)

PT: 12:56.

Really tired.

KB (Coughs)

PT: Yeah, I don't even know how to describe right now

the feeling that I'm having.

KB: I just feel like nothing will go into my head anymore.

JM: So we ran through some exercises that helped people to face

some of the very natural anxiety that they all have.

DF: For you, it sounds really, really long.

And that's where the panic sets in.

But actually, for the audience --

TM: Seven seconds before the audience starts to worry.

DF: Before they start worrying.

TM: But even then, like, let them worry.

KB: I felt really empowered by the TED team.

They provided a lot of support and guidance.

TM: You just take a breath,

and whatever the reset moment is that you need to take,

just reset and come back to that.

Yijia Tu: We've done lots of exercises to help us prepare for the talk

that also kind of help us get a better understanding of our message.

TM: The audience has the power to actually go and have impact

and make change as a result of attending the event.

And then when this goes online, the people that that reach.

And the more reach and the more engagement it has,

the more power your idea and your talk has.

CA: It's really quite hard to make something land powerfully,

but I think everyone can actually learn to do it.

[13:00 Rehearsals]

KB: That's become even more staggering.

PT: As time went along, I was able to --

I'm just all over the place right now.

I think I was trying to say exactly how I've written,

and that wasn't the best strategy to do.

I know what to say, but then it's a mix of what to say and when to say.

Can I have a minute, please?

KS: Speakers rehearse their talks in front of the team

and in front of each other.

It's so important that they're doing it

in the way that they want to share the idea.

MD: Only 15 percent of people with disabilities

have got access to assistive technology.

Let's create a world

where AI and technology turns limitations into possibilities.

Rishika Bhalla: It's been great coming up with something

that is almost completely different from what you started with,

but in essence, the same thing.

CA: Was there an "aha" moment when you were developing this?

RB: Maybe I could bridge it better when it comes to the idea.

CA: You're very compelling, very, very compelling.

This will land, as is, it will land.

YT: My rehearsal was a little bit scary because Chris was there,

and I wasn't expecting that.

But it was amazing to hear his feedback,

and that kind of took the weight off my shoulders.

CA: You have such presence,

I think often just standing still

and looking out there will give you more power.

It's just a huge fear for a lot of people to stand up,

look at a bunch of strangers,

you feel like your whole reputation and future is at stake.

RB: Something as simple as a pair of shoes

can truly transform the world.

It really helped break down that wall of nervousness,

and it's made me readier than ever to just do my talk.

Hazel Cottle: What do we do when it rains?

Our instinct tells us to stay in, get cozy,

put the kettle on.

We need that extra push to get us out the door

when the weather's bad.

It has been really valuable

to understand myself a bit more, why this idea came to me.

It's not really sort of by accident.

There's lots of parts of my life and my character that feed into it.

One of the things I said, so I had a little connection over there,

and that kind of spurred me on.

YT: In a way, a lot of what I'm sharing has been literally my life story

over the last 27 years.

So it wasn't too hard to kind of get it through

in a short period of time because it was already in there.

It's literally like what my life is about.

I believe that music has this ability to build a bridge

between what we call the East and the West.

Now I'm ready to do the real thing.

[18:00 Showtime]

CA: It's time for TED.

TM: This is a collaboration between TED and TEDx

to create something completely new.

Everyone thinks that they are the most worried,

the most scared, the most nervous, the least experienced.

But everyone else is having the same fears and the same worries.

We have found what we believe

to be a wonderful collection of speakers to share with you tonight.

JM: It will be exciting to see people face the challenge and hopefully rise to it.

TM: Something that's important to remember with each and every one of these speakers

is coming up and doing this sort of thing, it's not their day job.

and this is scary.

KS: When speakers give talks, sometimes they do mess up.

Sometimes they forget to say something,

sometimes they have to pause and get back on track.

MD: Just to see --

Just to -- sorry.

Jade Buffong: Building a multi-billion dollar company --

Million dollar -- sorry, added a few zeros there.

KS: The thing that's amazing about that, too,

is that the audience is so warm and forgiving.

MD: Thank you.

(Applause)

KS: It's not that that doesn't happen, but it gets edited out and cleaned up

so that it's delivered in the clearest way possible

when we all see the videos online.

The reality is, everyone gets nervous.

DF: There is a weight of expectation with a TED Talk.

Hundreds of thousands of people would like to be in this position,

so I want to do them justice.

HM: I really didn’t think I was going to be able to do this,

but I've just surprised myself.

I'm at this place where I feel like I know it,

and now I'm excited to go out there and say it.

JM: The people here are really impressive and really accomplished.

They have big dreams,

and it's our hope that this will help them to realize that.

JB: We have the power to turn generational struggle into generational wealth.

I hope

that for the people who are here,

that they can walk away having learned something

they didn't know before.

That's my biggest hope.

(Cheers)

PT: Stepping on the stage,

it was that moment of realization,

yes, it's actually happening.

The light's in my face right now,

I'm standing in the front of the red dot.

I felt like I needed to just let it go and be free and speak.

For many young refugees,

that daunting challenge is finding their voice,

their confidence and a place to belong.

TM: Opportunity will rise out of the audience

and present itself to each speaker,

and it's up to the speaker to decide whether they can take it

and do something useful with it.

HM: I think illustration is a great vehicle for tackling these topics

that might seem too risqué or scandalous for many.

CA: We want to have millions of people around the world

dreaming about their chance to share their idea more broadly

and to give it its chance.

Wow, if that happens,

I really think it will change how we think about people,

how we think about the future.

RB: I hope this talk inspires you to believe it too.

Thank you.

(Applause and cheers)

HW: We hear stories for years after a talk has been given

of how it affected somebody in some community somewhere,

and then they decided to do something different with their life.

This is just the beginning of those stories,

and I'm excited to see what happens next.

TM: Thank you ever so much.

We're extraordinarily grateful for you.

Good night.

(Applause and cheers)

[Since the event]

[many of our speakers have been contacted by world-leading architects,]

[business strategists and athletes, among others.]

[Go deeper with some of our speakers on YouTube.com/TED]

[We can't wait to see what happens next ...]