Letter to Editor: Why Grant’s link of Rowley and TEDx is not an idea worth spreading

“TEDx Talks are about “ideas worth spreading”. The speaker is tasked with building an idea in the mind of the audience.

“Did the Prime Minister do that? The jury is still out…”

The following Letter to the Editor on columnist Lennox Grant’s criticism of a speech by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, which he likened to a TEDx presentation, was submitted to Wired868 by Dennise Demming, former TDC chairperson and TEDxPOS licensee:

Dear Lennox Grant,

As curators of the TEDx community in Trinidad and Tobago, we just don’t get your four references to TEDx in your recent article titled “Superhero PM rallies year-two apprentices” which appeared in the Sunday Express of 8 January 2017.  We are indeed surprised that a seasoned journalist of your standing would be so loose in your references.

You referenced TEDx four times. So, we are responding by giving you four reasons why you were dead wrong in making those references.

1. Firstly, TEDx Talks are delivered in 18 minutes or less and the Prime Minister failed on that score. Additionally, we ask speakers to imagine that the TEDx Talk is the last talk the would ever give. Now surely our Prime Minister’s would have done a lot better than that.
2. Secondly, TEDx Talks are about “ideas worth spreading”. The speaker is tasked with building an idea in the mind of the audience. Did the Prime Minister do that? The jury is still out. Chris Anderson, curator of TED, suggests that you ask yourself, who does this idea benefit? If you are honest with the answer and the conclusion is that it benefits yourself or your organization then it is not a TED or TEDx Talk.
3. Thirdly, the global organization TED is apolitical and license holders are required to ensure that their talks remain apolitical. You are clearly trying for a tenuous link to TEDx which just does not exist.
4. Fourthly, TEDx Talks are curated, vetted and rehearsed for delivery and impact. The news conference you referred to was more of the same on the national agenda.

Ideas that make it to a TEDx stage do not need to be new ideas, but they do need to have the potential to change our perspective or outlook on the world. For many people TEDxPortofSpain allows them to reset for the year. It gives them inspiration to continue on, to recharge or reset.

As part of our commitment to ideas worth spreading, we publicly offer you a scholarship, a free ticket, to attend the 2017 edition of TEDxPortofSpain which is tentatively scheduled for 7 October 2017.

Yours in the spirit of “ideas worth spreading.”

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