TEDxWoking events take place on a Thursday or Friday, from 1.30pm to 4.30pm, at a venue within Woking Borough.
TEDxWoking events are recorded for TED, and will take the form of a live audience and/or live-streamed event to ticket-holders, depending on national and local Covid-19 restrictions at the time.
Speakers must be available on the event date from 12 noon to 5pm inclusive, which includes a compulsory sound check at 12.30pm.
Speaker applications open several months before the event, and application forms must be completed and submitted via the official TEDxWoking online application form only. Applications received after the closing date, and/or by other communication methods, will not be considered by the steering group.
The TEDxWoking steering group will review the applications and longlist up to 12 potential speakers by applying the speaker criteria. Longlisted applicants will hear if they have been successful in making it to the compulsory audition stage. If applicants do not hear from the steering group, they will have been unsuccessful on this occasion.
Longlisted speakers are required to attend a compulsory audition with the TEDxWoking steering group, previous and professional speakers, and each other. This will take place either at a venue in Woking Borough or remotely via a platform like Zoom. Longlisted speakers are required to attend the duration of the audition, which aims to start no earlier than 10am and finish no later than 3pm. Speakers should be able to deliver their talk within the maximum time allowed by TED of 18 minutes maximum, and ideally without notes. However, minimal slides are allowed as prompts, and cue cards can be used (at the audition stage only), if required.
Speakers chosen at the audition will be shortlisted, and are also required to attend a compulsory rehearsal and final feedback session with the same steering group as before. This will take place approximately a month before the actual event, either at a venue in Woking Borough or remotely via a platform like Zoom. Shortlisted speakers are required to attend the duration of the rehearsal, which -again - aims to start no earlier than 10am and finish no later than 3pm. The rehearsal will help each speakers to fine tune their own talk, and the steering group to finalise the programme of talks.
By the time of the rehearsal, speakers must be able to deliver their talk within the maximum time allowed by TED of 18 minutes, and without notes. However, minimal slides are allowed as visual prompts or talk illustration, and can be used on the day of the event.
The steering group retains the right to substitute speakers on the programme up to the day of the event, where it believes that speakers are insufficiently prepared to deliver their talk to the standard required by TED and by TEDxWoking, and/or their talk breaches the rules set by TED.