Open call for speakers for TxR 2010!

As of our latest planning meeting, we have got a really nice list of potential speakers for this year’s event…but we could use more! Where better to go to ask than the TEDxRochester community itself? We’re looking for exciting speakers with ideas that need to be spread, so if you’ve got someone you think would be a fantastic addition to our lineup feel free to drop me a line ASAP! And, don’t worry, we won’t hold self-promotion against you, so if you’ve got one of those great ideas don’t wait for someone else to mention you to us.

We do have a couple of guidelines. First, remember how things work at TED when deciding if you’ve got a speaker for us or not…do they have an idea worth spreading? It doesn’t have to be Earth-shaking or world-changing, but it should be a new and original concept. Preferably, there should be a plan in place as to how to implement the idea and/or who can make it happen and/or who can benefit from it. And, most importantly, it has to be conveyable in under 15 minutes.

Second, while it’s not hard and fast, our “theme” this year is focusing on the Rochester community itself. Our goal since inception has been to make TEDxRochester a force and forum to provide benefit to Rochester and its residents. Our first event included a great lineup of speakers, but as it was our first time putting it on we didn’t have as many options to pick only speakers that fit a particular theme. After the success of the first event there has been a lot of interest generated and we’ll be able to be more selective in what we put on the stage. While we are focusing on solutions that would have immediate benefit to Rochester, if your idea can improve any community in general we’d love to hear about it, too.

We also need a level of commitment from our speakers, a bit more so than last year. Before making any commitment to having you present, we’d like to see your talk, if possible. If you will be presenting something similar in advance to which you can invite us, that would be great. If not, we can arrange to have some time at the Geva to see it. There will also be a cold read sometime in the Fall to help determine flow and placement of speakers. There will also be at least one final rehearsal the weekend before the event to finish up any remaining details. We understand that you’re providing your idea as a benefit to the community, but we feel getting everyone together a few times in advance will help us avoid some of the issues of last year’s event.

We’re closing this open call on Monday July 26th, 2010. As you can see in the last paragraph, there’s a lot to be done even once we’ve found who our speakers actually will be, we want to get that list nailed down as soon as possible My in box is open, I can’t wait for those submissions!