Become part of our idea pool
At TEDxTUM, we believe in the power of ideas worth spreading. Join us and give your idea a voice!
For each event, we assemble our lineup from an ever-growing pool of ideas. We have an official application period for potential speakers in spring which will be announced here. Make sure you subscribe to our newsletter or follow our social media channels to stay updated.
We are well aware that ideas can’t be stopped, therefore, if the application period is too distant for you, you can enter yours into our idea pool. Please read the information below before you do so.
What makes an idea suitable for the TEDxTUM stage?
Great ideas are not only worth sharing, but have the strength to create a lasting impact. They might alter the audience’s current perspective, or even open them up to a completely new way of thinking. We’ve provided a short list to give you a hint of which ideas are worth spreading and which may not fit our stage.
Good ideas for TEDxTUM
Groundbreaking and novel
Controversial, challenging and backed by empirical evidence
Makes the complex comprehensible to a broader audience
Invites to rethink a common perspective
Speaks of failure as well as success
Presented with authenticity by a genuine speaker who aims to give the talk of their life
Not-so-good ideas for TEDxTUM
Sales pitch of a company or product
Has a person/the speaker at the center instead of an idea
Purely motivational talks
Fundraising or crowdfunding pleas
Ideas that have been covered many times before (especially on other TEDx stages)
How to Apply
Please send us a message to speakers – at – tedxtum.com answering all of the following points:
- Introduce yourself (Who are you? What do you do? If we were to introduce you on stage, what would we say?).
- Let us know more about you (Provide a link to your LinkedIn profile, blog, website, CV, or anything you would like to share with us).
- Your idea – short and sweet (Put the core of your idea in 280 characters or less).
- Why does this idea matter to you personally?
- What are the potential implications of (people not knowing about) the idea? Why should people learn about it?
- What is controversial about the idea? What are common misconceptions? Who would disagree with you and why?
- Do you have previous public speaking experience? If yes, briefly tell us about this experience (Include links where possible. You can also include a video of you speaking about the idea if you’d like).
- Is there anything else we should know?
Please make sure you answer all points, in order. We recommend to paste the questions into the email so that our team knows which one each answer refers to.
What if i am selected as a speaker?
The road to the red circle
Even if you are an experienced speaker, a TEDx talk is a new kind of challenge. But don’t worry, you are not on your own: our curation team will work closely with you and make sure you are ready, just like we do with all speakers in our lineup. A TEDx talk requires extensive preparation, regular coaching, rehearsals and refinements so that when the day comes you are more than ready to deliver a powerful talk. Who knows? There might be a standing ovation at the end of this journey. Below is a small preview of how we will work together.
1. You develop your idea with our help until it takes on its most intense shape. This involves multiple discussions with our curation team and the iterative refinement of talk content and structure.
2. You design your talk and its supporting materials. After the core idea is there, we wrap it into a talk. We start working on supporting material (pictures, props, slides) only once the story is polished to make sure they don’t distract from the idea itself.
3. Practice makes perfect. You will have multiple rehearsals with our curation team so that you are prepared for anything. On the day of the event, you will be ready to give the best, most authentic talk of your life.
