Many have the aspiration to speak from a TED or TEDx stage. However, many do not fully understand what that means in terms of speech content. Specifically, the core idea.
TED or TEDx talks are about ideas worth spreading. They are about ideas not related to politics, religion, or pseudo, unprovable science or concepts. A TED or TEDx talk is based on a single core idea.
What is an idea?
Dictionary.com defines an idea as:
Any conception existing in the mind as a result of mental understanding, awareness or activity.
A TED or TEDx talk is the speakers’ own unique idea as a result of mental understanding, awareness or activity. For example, the idea for my TEDx talk about hearing loss was birthed from a lifetime of being profoundly hard-of-hearing.
The Core Idea needs to be simply stated
The core idea is not the place for five-dollar words. The simpler the words, the better. For example, in my TEDx talk, the core idea was: Feeling left out and not being connected to others. is frustrating, exhausting, and depressing.
A Core Idea is Your Unique Idea
The core idea is not a statement of fact. It’s your idea. It’s an idea you thought up. It means something to you. You want to share it because you think others should know about it. Ask yourself if you were sitting in a TED or TEDx audience would you find your idea to be worth your time to listen? Is it an idea worth spreading?
My TEDx talk shared a unique method encapsulated in the acronym “CPR” to communicate and stay connected with those who have a hearing loss.
Core Idea Topics
As long as not about the topics cited above (Politics, religion, woo-woo, unprovable concepts) you could be talking about chocolate cake. You could be talking about rain in South America. You could be talking about hearing loss. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it is your idea and an idea the audience has likely not considered before; an idea worth spreading. Your strong opinion about something could be the beginning of your core idea.
The Core Idea is Short
The core idea should not be longer than one or two sentences. My core idea was one sentence long (albeit a slightly long one.)
Listen to Examples
Watch the videos housed on the TED and TEDx sites. You’ll soon recognize the core idea characteristics in the talks.
Below is a video of a professional TEDx coach, Circe Denyer, explaining what she listens for when one is presenting to her what they believe is their core idea. Circe explained this to a group that belongs to a specialized Toastmasters club called Stagemasters. The focus of Stagemasters is to develop a core idea and present it verbally as well as physically in a way that gets one accepted to speak on a TED or TEDx stage.
