TEDxLondon is all about ideas worth spreading.
Our speakers are a passionate group of communicators, educators and change-makers who bring ideas to life, make them memorable, and motivate others to take action. We carefully curate the topics and speakers for each event to ensure the most exciting and innovative ideas are featured on our London stage and beyond.
We’re not currently curating speakers for any 2024 events as yet, but we’ll announce any future ‘Ideas Searches’ on our social channels and newsletter.
If you’re thinking of submitting an idea to us in future, the information below will help you prepare.
Specifically we are interested in proposals related to:
Our stage is not for you if you’re a motivational or inspirational speaker, want to speak about a specific product, business or brand, or want to share your personal story.
We receive a large number of speaking enquiries, and each one needs to be reviewed and considered carefully according to the specific event we’re working on. As TEDxLondon is managed by a team of volunteers, it’s not possible to reply to all enquiries individually, but we’ll be sure to contact you if we want to find out more about your idea or take your proposal to the next step.
Please don’t feel disheartened if your proposal isn’t right for us – we can only feature a small selection and it doesn’t mean you don’t have a great idea! With your permission, we’ll keep your application to consider for the future.
If you’d like to submit a prospective application on one of our topics of interest, you can do that here and we’ll keep it on file to review when curating for future events.
“I can’t even still thank you enough for changing my life and helping me reinstall the confidence I thought was lost.”
Before applying, please have a look at our guidance below to understand more about what we’re looking for and whether we’re the right fit for your idea.
It’s important to us that everyone featured on the TEDxLondon stage has that magical combination of a fascinating idea and the ability to share it in an engaging and relatable way. Some key characteristics we’re looking for are:
Novelty: We want innovative and original ideas – or ideas presented in a way that’s uniquely yours. We’re not likely to feature motivational speakers, confidence coaches, business advisors or people who’ve recently given similar TEDx talks elsewhere.
Diversity: We actively seek diversity in ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, age, disability, education, background. We’re proud to champion non-traditional experts and voices that are marginalised or underrepresented in our society.
Creativity: We’re looking for speakers who can present ideas in a unique and captivating way. We’d love to hear your idea in a way that’s personal to your experiences, perspectives and expertise.
Credibility: We need speakers who are fully committed to their idea and knowledgeable on the topic. You don’t need to have a PhD, be a published author or a world-recognised public figure. But we do ask that you’ve spent time understanding, developing and validating your ideas through work, research or lived experience.
We know that successful speakers come in many guises – from raw talent to vast experience. Don’t be discouraged from applying if you don’t conform to the image of the ‘traditional public speaker’ – we’re always seeking that elusive ‘diamond in the rough’!
Every speaker has a personal motivation for collaborating with us, and we love helping our speakers achieve their goals and have a great experience with us. As a team, we commit to:
Mentorship and guidance throughout your TEDxLondon journey. We have a dedicated and experienced speaker team ready to help you prepare for the event and make sure you have an incredible experience. You’ll have individualised coaching support from our Director and Curator, Maryam Pasha, and a great opportunity to develop your public speaking skills for life!
Creating high quality communications and great exposure. This is an opportunity to spread your ideas to London and the world. We facilitate this through filming and editing your talk to broadcast quality and actively promoting it throughout our community, online networks and press contacts. Through our pre- and post-event communications, we’ll do our utmost to champion and amplify your idea.
Assembling a dynamic, diverse audience and networking opportunities. Our events are always in high demand, with tickets often selling out within days, and we continue to grow our global audiences. We want to bring your idea to new minds around the world.
Delivering professional events to showcase your idea. Our production, creative and communications teams work tirelessly to create unforgettable experiences for speakers and audiences alike, enabling you to present your talk in the best possible light.
– Creating a professional platform with great exposure. This is an opportunity to spread your ideas to London and the world. We will facilitate this through filming and editing your talk to broadcast quality and promoting it to our community, online networks and press contacts.
As a TEDxLondon speaker you’re fundamental to our shared success. Committing to speak is a big undertaking, and we do have some important expectations of all our speakers:
Commitment: Speaking at a TEDx event is unlike no other. Whether you’re an experienced or first-time public speaker, we ask everyone to fully engage with our coaching and rehearsal process. You’ll be working closely with our Director and Curator, Maryam Pasha, who’ll tailor the coaching process to your needs, experience and time.
Time: We typically ask all speakers to have at least three meetings (in person or remotely) before an event with our speaker team, to work on developing the talk. We also ask all speakers to attend one informal rehearsal and a formal dress rehearsal, in addition to event day. If you want more time for preparation or rehearsal, we can definitely make this happen.
Passion: Development of your talk takes effort! Your enthusiasm, positivity and willingness to collaborate throughout the process are essential. We’ll support you all the way, but you need to have that fire in your belly and determination to succeed.
There are lots of great resources to help you develop your idea before applying. These are our favourite:
If you have questions about your application, please contact our Speaker Scout and Applications Manager Ashleigh.
