Want to speak at TED? Now you can audition

[Scream]

TED is offering anybody the opportunity to join the ranks of Bill Gates, Al Gore and Jane Goodall as a TED speaker. Starting this month, the organization will begin accepting auditions via YouTube and Vimeo videos for its TED2012 conference.

 

"We're holding this audition to give a chance to the undiscovered talent we know is out there -- and especially talent that can help us continue to reinvent the ancient art of the spoken word,"

 

Hosting open auditions fits with the conference's 2012 theme, "Full Spectrum," which TED describes as a focus on using creative methods to reach an audience. Some suggestions the application gives for fitting this theme include adding a custom-animated movie, improv or more images than words to a presentation.

 

Public auditions also fit in nicely with the organization's attempt to spread its reach beyond the 1,300-attendee, five-day elite conference for which it is best known. (CNN and TED have a partnership through which TED content is showcased on CNN.com.)

 

In an effort to become more open, the conference started posting talks online in 2006, hosts a translation project that helps provides access to non-English speakers, and launched a Q&A platform in February that encourages users to engage with TED speakers and other thought leaders.

 

This is the first time that the conference has held public auditions. You can submit yours by uploading a one-minute video to YouTube or Vimeo that explains your idea, and then linking to it in the online application.

 

Finalists will give their presentations live in New York on May 24, and the best auditions will be posted on TED.com. One winner will be chosen to give a main-stage presentation at TED2012 in California.

 

source: mashable.com