Library holding TED-like event - but it’s definitely not TEDx

The Springfield-Greene County Library District plans to hold a TEDx-like speakers’ event July 19 called “Look Who’s Talking!”

The event was originally billed as TEDxSGLibrary, and organizers claimed the library was a TEDx licensee to hold speaker presentations in the style of the popular TED Talk videos and podcasts.

The TED references stopped when Jessie East, the branch manager and librarian of The Library Center, realized she misunderstood a contract the library had for a previous event. The library was approved to hold a February event, dubbed TEDxSGLibraryCenterLive, that included streaming a TED Conference in Vancouver, Canada. East misread the contract to say the library had permission for a second TED-sanctioned event.

“There were some misunderstandings early on,” East said of her discovery a week before the event.

Library organizers quickly put the brakes on the TEDx promotions, and East additionally realized the guidelines set by TEDx were not in line with the library’s goals.

“They wanted us to preselect the audience members,” she said, pointing to TED’s rules that cap attendance at 100 individuals, unless the person organizing the event has attended a TED conference.

East, who has never attended a TED conference, said that strayed from the library’s goal to be inclusive.

“The library is all about taking down barriers,” East said. “Patrons expect something amazing to be happening here.”

When East reached out to TED representatives about the misunderstanding, she didn’t receive a response until July 13, and they said the library would be allowed to hold the event. In response, she asked TED officials if the library still needed to comply with all the rules that are set for the TEDx format. TED replied in affirmative the next day, and East decided the library would not go ahead with the TEDx rules and would hold the event under a rebranded name.

The library’s misunderstandings prompted one scheduled speaker to back out.

“I respect the TED brand and I feel that, given what I was told, it was a TED event,” said Ellen Rohr, a Rogersville-based business consultant, author and speaker who planned to present “How much should I charge?” a talk on business pricing methods. “It was never presented to me as pending TED sanction.”

TED began in 1984 as a conference where technology, entertainment and design converged, and now the nonprofit organization spreads thought-provoking ideas on science to business to global issues traditionally at weeklong conferences. Attendees are selected through an application process. TED.com features over 2,200 talks “to stir your curiosity.”

TEDx is a smaller-scale event in which a number of speakers come together to address a variety of topics. The TED website describes TEDx as “a local gathering where live TED-like talks and videos previously recorded at TED conferences are shared with the community.”

“I love TED, and as a speaker, a TED talk could be a quantum career leap,” Rohr said. “I think that’s what, as a speaker, I have had on my list, that I wanted to do a TED talk. When this opportunity was presented I was excited out of my mind.”

Rohr said she didn’t want to hurt her chances of presenting at a TED-sanctioned event in the future by participating in the newly rebranded library event.

“I don’t want, in any way, to be looked at by the executives at TED as someone who used that brand inappropriately,” she said. “They have created a movement and I don’t want to disrespect that.”

The other scheduled speakers still plan to participate, East said. Now, the event has seven speakers lined up to give eight-minute talks on topics covering technology, business, personal growth, science and writing.

“I just wanted to be a part of engaging the community,” said Keith Ray Mackie, a behavioral science adjunct professor at Evangel University. “Sharing good ideas with people who are interested in good ideas is not about the brand, it’s about coming together.”

Mackie’s talk is titled, “Knowing your Significance.”

“I’m excited about the opportunity to get together with some other community leaders and talk about some of the good things that are going on in our community and just to be a fun and interesting part of the community conversation,” he said.

Without the TEDx affiliation and restrictions, East said the library can allow time for Q&A after speeches and self-promotion by speakers.

“They are protecting their brand, and that is great,” East said. “We want to make it to where people that are picking up books might stumble upon this amazing speaker series.”

East said the effort to connect with TEDx was a learning experience.

“Maybe I’ll do a TED talk one day about how I tried to schedule a TED event,” she said.