Sounds...um...never mind.
I'd say that the acceptance standards are low. Some of the presenters seem to be involved in pseudoscience and others seem to be of generally low quality. I'm also questioning the wisdom of allowing only ten minutes per speaker. Most Ted talks seem to go a lot longer, and I would want more than a ten minute conversation on an interesting topic.
http://www.ideawave.ca/2012-conference/low-level-external-nu...
As someone who wants to do the same thing (and has the contact network to feasibly do it), I am extremely interested in knowing how you did it :) Any pointers?
Edit: Also, I would be happy to join in on your project. As in become your assistant organizer or something like that. I am awesome at finding interesting talent and getting it to work for free :) Email me for more info :)
This unfortunately is no longer the case, because TED has moved to a new city.
For your future conferences, you may have better luck not having your event at the same time as TED. Though you may not be attracting the same speakers, you may be able to attract some of their audience, and some of their audience may make excellent speakers for your event.
It can be done, best of luck to you
EDIT: link (http://wmcfest.com/)
- 1 year community membership
- admission to a conference + meals and events
- TED book club (4x/year)
- online social network
But apparently $5k of that is tax deductible? Interesting.
The pirate ship of Theseus talk would probably also interest hackernews readers and/or Canadians, as it's perhaps even more politically relevant today as it speaks about copyright.
