The BIG IDEA Mill
Your Path To TED-Ready Big Ideas
By Devin D. Marks | Published Feb 14, 2025
You see the advertisements.
You know the promises.
Give a viral TED Talk. Get millions of views. Idea Spreading.
Yadda-yadda.
Sure “viral” happens (on rare occasions). But the counterpoint is this painful reality:
There are 100,000 “mehhhh to maybe” TEDx Talks on YouTube that missed the mark.
Tragic really.
They were (hopeful) big ideas.
(Well maybe they were big.)
But they will never rise out of the cemetery of the YouTube TEDx channel. Nor will they ever be featured on the TED home page.
Why? Those many, many wannabe TEDsters failed to “Start at the very beginning, a very good place to start” — as Julie Andrews sang in The Sound of Music.
The Very Beginning
The overriding misstep of hopeful TEDsters is beginning with a half-baked idea.
The “Ahaa” may have been good. Great even.
But it wasn’t TED-ready.
Or as we say…
“It was a not-so-big idea that’s not worth spreading.”
Ouch.
Frankly, few TEDx organizers properly vet ideas. They don’t have the bandwidth or experience to adequately stress-test them. A LOT of event producers are new volunteers. Less experienced production teams are (too often) ready to roll, if the idea sounds trendy or timely at first blush.
On the other extreme, some large veteran events are akin to bloated talk-producing machines. They rely on VOLUME to produce a handful of home run talks.
For more on avoiding both TEDxAmateurHour and TEDxCookieCutter events, click to this previous article: TEDx Stages Are Not Created Equal
Remember, in both cases, TEDx-ers are all part-time volunteers.
It. Is. Overwhelming.
For those reasons (and others), not all TEDx events are created equal.
For more on this topic, read one of my previous TEDxTuesdays articles: TEDx or better off TED? What’s the (real) difference?
That’s not to suggest (in any way!) that scores of dynamic, powerful, and catalytic TEDx events don’t happen each year. There are some amazing top-tier events, whether run by veterans or the Unicorn first-time producer.
But you must consider the numbers. Only 5,200 or so talks are elevated to TED.com. See that gap? (And a LOT of those talks were generated from the "Big" TED, not TEDx events.)
At the TEDx level, based on those numbers, we *know* mistakes are made — many thousands of times each month.
And speakers pay the price. #MissedOpportunity
Keep THIS ideal in mind...
When people leave an auditorium or close a browser window, they should be able to easily answer the question:
What was that talk about?
(And be able to share the same.)
So how do you craft a message that will land with an audience and stick? How do you create a talk that hits the TED standard?
It all starts with developing messages that are built around one singular BIG IDEA.
Everything else in the talk — every story, subpoint, or specific application — serves this one overarching, controlling idea.
The best TED speakers know this. Borrowed from theater scripting methods, it’s called the Through-Line. It is the one central thread that ties the whole talk together.
I call it the BIG IDEA.
A BIG IDEA that is TED-worthy is one that is focused, sticky, and drives action. That's a TED Talk BIG IDEA.
Isolating your singular BIG IDEA, distilling it, and milling it into its essential and fundamental elements is where the power of your message gets its Ummmmph!
I mean it needs to be refined, stress-tested, focus-grouped, and more before it ends up being scripted, rehearsed, and delivered on any TED “red dot” rug.
The BIG IDEA Mill™ can get you there.
This is a time-proven, 6-step process that my team has used 100s of times with high-view TEDsters. It refines an “idea worth spreading” into a high-caliber, TED-worthy, compelling message.
Lookit, YOU likely have an idea you want to share with the world, and watch spread. You believe it will resonate worldwide.
And, there is no more potent, idea-spreading way than a (successful) TED Talk.
So let’s get to it!
Give your idea a chance. Let’s start at the very beginning...
That’ll help you avoid the “mehhh to maybe” result.
Want to learn more? I’m happy to come alongside you one-on-one to help you refine your BIG idea worth spreading. Or, you can check out The BIG IDEA Mill™.
Another cohort is forming soon!
DEVIN D. MARKS is known as The TED Talk Whisperer. His firm, CONNECT to COMPEL, has served 100s of TED, TEDx, and short-talk speakers — including Harvard’s Dr. Robert Waldinger for his all-time Top 10 TEDx Talk. The result: 100s of millions of views for clients. He helps niche experts, authors, and leaders spread world-changing ideas.
You can reach Devin at 617.804.6020, or DM him here. His newsletters are here.
LET THE WORLD LIVE YOUR MESSAGE™
