Frank King
Is a TEDx talk on your bucket list? Do you want to be seen as a thought leader? Are you an agency owner, business coach, consultant, solopreneur, author or just someone who wants to promote your company, cause or career?
“If so, then land and leverage a TEDx talk,” says professional speaker, author and TEDx talk coach Frank King.
How does King know that landing and leveraging a TEDx can help you do all those things? He has given eight TEDx talks. The only other person on the planet who has done eight TED events is Bill Gates.
“In the interest of full disclosure, my eight are TEDx talks, the ‘x’ signifying a local event, and Bill Gates’s eight are TED talks—TED being an annual speak-a-palooza in Vancouver, BC,” said King in a recent interview.
King, a suicide prevention speaker and trainer, was a writer for The Tonight Show for 20 years. We met 17 years ago when he was a standup comedian looking for help to make the switch to corporate comedian and professional speaker.
Depression and suicide run in his family. He says he has thought about killing himself more times than he can count (“I can tell you what the barrel of my gun tastes like; spoiler alert, I didn’t pull the trigger,” says King). He's fought a lifetime battle with depression, turning that long dark journey of the soul into a TEDx talk, "A Matter of Laugh or Death.”
According to King, the good news is landing a TEDx talk is relatively simple. “The bad news, it’s not necessarily easy,” says King. Reportedly, the average TEDx event gets 100-300 applications, per event, per year.
King says members of the curation team (they decide which applicants audition), given that they are wading through hundreds of applications, are not looking for a reason to give you an audition, they are probably looking for the first reason to throw you into the No pile.
King shared his top six tips to avoid that dreaded No pile:
Make title and subtitle as creative as possible. “I got my sixth TEDx without auditioning, because they loved my title: ‘Mental Health and the Orgasm; Treat Your Depression Singlehandedly,’” says King.
One idea. King advises: “Give them one idea worth spreading, and only one.”
Be brief. “Describe your idea briefly; they want a short summary, not a thesis,” says King.
Obey their rules. “If they ask for a 240-character description, or a 90-second video, don’t give them 241 characters, or a 91 second video,” adds King.
Persistence pays. “There are 1,400-ish TEDx events worldwide,” says King. “Be persistent. Apply early, often, and everywhere.”
Get coaching. “Pick the best TEDx coach you can find,” says King.
King shares his lifesaving insights on mental and emotional health awareness with corporations, associations, youth assemblies (middle school and high school) and college audiences.
My advice is to do what you can to land a TEDx talk. A great way to build credibility is to refer people to a YouTube clip of your TEDx talk. But don’t stop at one.
When people tell King that they want to see his TEDx talk, he can say: “Oh, which one?” Subject matter authorities such as King need more than one talk and more than one book to share what they have to say.
