By Tommy Kelleher
Contributing Writer
In 2009, Manhattan Beach quickly caught on when it founded the TEDx program, receiving a license from it only a year later. The TEDx program sponsors local events, such as TEDxManhattanBeach, as long as they conform to rigid guidelines in order to maintain “the spirit of TED.” These standards serve to inhibit, rather than help, Manhattan Beach’s conference.
The TED conference – short for technology, entertainment and design – was first created as an invitation-only forum of discussion in 1984. It then became an annual event in 1990, but only in June of 2006 did TED talks become accessible on the internet. At this point, they quickly received worldwide attention.
In 2009, TEDx was created by TED to try and take a radical step away from its private roots. TEDx is a program that licenses people to create their own TED-like conferences locally. Though the events are organized independently, they must conform to rigid guidelines in order to qualify as a “TEDx” conference.
One of the guidelines mandates that all TEDx names must read as follows: TEDx followed by the location of event without spaces. Another requires a video be played to the audience explaining the difference between TED and TEDx. Such standards have only served to homogenize TED events and increase awareness about their board.
In 2010, TEDxManhattanBeach received its license and held its first conference that November. When the TEDxManhattanBeach event received its license, TED conferences were already widely famous. In the wake of this fame, people did not put enough thought into whether it was necessary or ideal for the local conference to be licensed by TED. While local forums are beneficial for the community, as they help spread ideas and let people express themselves, TEDx guidelines restrict expression with vague mandates regarding structure and content.
People created TEDx to have “TED-like events” in their own communities. Subsequently, standards for TEDx conferences are largely arbitrary measures meant to protect the integrity of the TED brand rather than improve the quality of local events.
In addition, conferences are encouraged to have broad, interdisciplinary themes, such as “Dream Big,” but are not allowed to focus on one topic, such as “literature.” The result is a conference without any disciplinary focus.
Proponents of the TEDx format believe that interdisciplinary conferences allow for the greatest variety of ideas to be shared. But the lack of topical organization throughout the speeches forces the audience to constantly shift from one topic to another and can ultimately take away from each speaker’s individual ideas.
Additionally, when conferences are themed, speeches often have content that connects to these themes placed at the end. Since these thematic ideas repeat themselves throughout the conference while specific ideas do not, they often leave the strongest impression on the audience. Consequently, audience members may leave with a sense of vague inspiration rather than a clear memory of the concrete ideas discussed.
Even if the problems within the TEDx guidelines are somewhat minor, with only minimal format flaws, there is no cost to switching to an entirely independent conference format except losing the TEDx brand name.
Though a speech conference is beneficial to Manhattan Beach, the standards of TEDx diminish the value of this conference by enforcing arbitrary measures. As an alternative, Manhattan Beach should have an independent, unlicensed speech conference.
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