Promotion and press
As a TEDx licensee and organizer, you are trusted with furthering TED's mission of bringing great ideas to the world – for free. Here are some of the most useful strategies in sharing your event with the public.
An important note: To avoid confusion with the TED brand, it is incredibly important to us that you make clear that your event is a TEDx event, and is independently organized. Make sure to follow the rules on this page and under TEDx rules in all of your promotional materials.
Create a blog
Having a blog on your website allows you to post frequent updates about your event on your website, keeping it fresh and personal. Your communications and marketing director should bring in a person who has experience blogging to be the “storyteller” for your event.
A storyteller is someone who can update event guests and the public about your event in a compelling, unique way. While marketers get people interested, storytellers keep people interested. They’re the online “voice” for the event.
Often, storytellers are also the person managing your social media accounts.
Your blog should be hosted on your website, and updated at least once or twice per week. Subjects of blog posts can include speaker announcements and interviews, newly released TED Talks, your own TEDx Talks, and event updates.
Email updates
In addition to a blog, you should be sending regular email updates to your guests. It’s the most direct way to stay in touch with your guests and ensure they’re getting all of your event’s updates.
Engage the press
Press is an exciting way to bring attention to your event, speakers, and performers. Just remember that it’s very important to clearly distinguish your TEDx event as independently organized, and not an official TED event.
The best way to engage press is to through a press release. All press and press releases must be routed through for approval by the TEDx program's media liaison, Melody Serafino at [email protected]. Press releases must contain the "About TED" and "About TEDx" text as well as:
- Your event's name (e.g., TEDxAustin, TEDxDubai)
- Location (be specific!)
- Date and time
- Whether your event is public or private. (And if it’s public, how can people participate?)
- List of speakers
- Your event’s theme
- Website and/or social media accounts
- Live webcast URL (if applicable)
- Your contact information
- The following paragraph:
About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)
- The following copy:
About TED
TED is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to discovering, debating and spreading ideas that spark conversation, deepen understanding and drive meaningful change. Our organization is devoted to curiosity, reason, wonder and the pursuit of knowledge — without an agenda. We welcome people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world and connection with others, and we invite everyone to engage with ideas and activate them in your community.
TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, but today it spans a multitude of worldwide communities and initiatives exploring everything from science and business to education, arts and global issues. In addition to the TED Talks curated from our annual conferences and published on TED.com, we produce original podcasts, short video series, animated educational lessons (TED-Ed) and TV programs that are translated into more than 100 languages and distributed via partnerships around the world. Each year, thousands of independently run TEDx events bring people together to share ideas and bridge divides in communities on every continent. Through the Audacious Project, TED has helped catalyze more than $3 billion in funding for projects that seek to make the world more beautiful, sustainable and just. In 2020, TED launched Countdown, an initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis and mobilize a movement for a net-zero future, and in 2023 TED launched TED Democracy to spark a new kind of conversation focused on realistic pathways towards a more vibrant and equitable future. View a full list of TED’s many programs and initiatives.
Due to the large number of events, TED does not provide quotes for individual press releases.
You’re required to read the TEDx Press Guidelines in order to submit a press release.
Create a TEDx trailer
Creating a trailer or “teaser” for your TEDx event is a creative and dynamic way to get people intrigued in your event. For example, check out this compilation of TEDx teaser videos.
Check out other TEDx event trailers in our library for examples to draw from for inspiration.
Next: Promote your talks
Example press releases
Rules to remember
- Logos: Use your event's unique TEDx logo. Never use the TED logo, and don't allow journalists to use it (in print or on video). Supply journalists with your customized TEDx logo.
- Your event is a TEDx event – not TED: Don't say "TED is coming to [city name]." Don't say your event is "organized by TED," "sponsored by TED," or an "official TED event." TED staff should be the sole official spokespeople for TED and the program as a whole; any journalist seeking comment from TED should be routed through Melody Serafino at [email protected].
- Members of the press are not allowed to film or videotape your TEDx talks. Once talks are edited, you can share your selections with the media.