TEDx here I come!!
I received the most incredible Christmas gift the other month in the form of an invitation to strut my stuff on the TEDx stage in Melbourne on December 3rd and with only 5 sleeps to go I can’t wait to unwrap my present that I’ve titled – Unlearn the Future and don’t worry I haven’t forgotten you – after all it is better to give than receive – your invitation and discount promo code is at the end of this post.
This is a new piece that’s been kicking around in my head for the last three decades or so and speaks to why we so often have difficulty seeing the opportunities ahead; why we feel such trepidation at evolution and innovation and how we must take the best of what we already have and know and blend it with the best of what we need and want from the future if we are going to live up to the expectations we place on tomorrow.
It is also an extremely personal piece as I weave my story of going back to Poland after a family absence of 70 years, finding the old homestead, walking around familiar but never trodden before streets and share how this life altering event taught me to unlearn the future.
As a lead up to this event I did a podcast with Jen Storey of Anthill yesterday, discussing next week’s TEDx event as well as chatting about 3 very challenging questions:
1. What’s the one big thing that is happening now you believe is shaping the business world?
2. With all the amazing new technology around us, what are your thoughts on the trend towards retro – both genuine retro and new technology made to look like old stuff?
3. What are the three trends every entrepreneur should be aware of?
Have a listen now and then share your answers with the Eye on the Future tribe
[audio mp3="http://www.morrisfuturist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/131127MorrisMiselowski-Anthill.mp3"][/audio]
Great interview, exciting times and if you’re in Melbourne next week I’d like to give you a $20 discount off the ticket price, simply use the word “speaker” in the promo code box when you click here to buy your ticket to TEDx Melbourne.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the process of preparing a TEDx talk and what does it require from the speaker?
Preparing a TEDx talk requires distilling a body of thinking to its most essential, communicable core. The 18-minute format is deliberately constraining — it forces the speaker to identify the single most important idea they want to share, rather than the comprehensive catalogue they might deliver in a longer format. The preparation process typically involves months of iteration: writing, rehearsing, receiving feedback, cutting, rewriting. The constraint is the discipline — the talk that emerges is usually clearer and more powerful than any version the speaker had before the process began.
Q: What makes a TEDx talk different from a standard keynote or conference presentation?
A TEDx talk is built around a single idea worth spreading — not a topic survey, not a service pitch, not a career summary. It requires the speaker to be genuinely vulnerable and specific rather than broad and authoritative. The format favours story, revelation, and intellectual honesty over credential display and data density. The most memorable TEDx talks are those where the speaker shares something they genuinely believe, not something they think the audience wants to hear.
Q: How does the discipline of preparing a TEDx talk improve a speaker’s overall communication capability?
The discipline of TEDx preparation builds communication capability in several ways: it forces clarity about which ideas are truly original versus inherited; it develops the ability to make complex ideas accessible without oversimplifying them; it builds the narrative craft that turns information into experience; and it creates a presentation that can be delivered with genuine conviction because it has been tested to its essential truth. Most speakers who go through the TEDx process report that it permanently changes how they approach any presentation.
Q: How can I book Morris Misel for a keynote, workshop, or TEDx-style talk?
Visit morrismisel.com/event-organisers or explore topics at morrismisel.com.
I received the most incredible Christmas gift the other month in the form of an invitation to strut my stuff on the TEDx stage in Melbourne on December 3rd and with only 5 sleeps to go I can’t wait to unwrap my present that I’ve titled – Unlearn the Future and don’t worry I haven.
When signals like TEDx here I come!! emerge, organisations that engage early have the advantage of choosing their response rather than reacting to events. That gap between those who prepared and those who did not is where competitive positioning is actually made or lost.
The most important question is not whether TEDx here I come!! will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.
