Behind the Red Dot

How to play your way to a memorable talk | Minna Taylor, TEDxAmsterdam speaker program lead | S01E03

Adam Burak — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 13:41:26 GMT

Most speakers apply to TEDx with an opinion. Minna Taylor tells them the stage is not a place for opinions, it's a place to share findings. She leads the speaker program at TEDxAmsterdam, which a brand-new team is reimagining after the lockdowns brought the original event to a halt, and her confident communication work has reached more than 5,000 people across three continents, including teams at TikTok, Uber, Citi and Red Bull.

In this episode, Minna takes us inside the TEDxAmsterdam speaker program, from more than 300 applications to the moment a speaker waits on deck. She explains what separates a yes from a no, and why the coaching starts with play. She even performs a live Italian run, the theatre rehearsal technique, on JFK's 1962 moon speech.

We also talk about why stage fright and stage adrenaline are the same feeling read two different ways, why "yes, and" works better than "yes, but", what happens in a speaker's body backstage on show day, and why the slower you go, the faster you get there.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro

02:39 TEDxAmsterdam in three words: story, community, inspiration

04:31 Why we will crave stories over soundbites

05:40 Attention, the human currency of the future

09:17 Building a speaker program from nothing

12:59 Invited speakers, the open call and the curation pillars

15:33 What separates a yes from a no in 300+ applications

18:42 Don't come for PR

21:13 Findings, not opinions

23:24 Her all-time favourite talk

25:41 Insider tips for your application

28:10 After selection: coach, cohort, dress rehearsal

31:46 Distilling a complex idea into 12 minutes

36:20 A new angle on Cathey Armillas's question

37:58 Yes, and: generosity, curiosity, embrace the obstacle

42:46 Using yes, and with an audience on stage

46:18 Finding your authentic voice

47:55 Why TEDxAmsterdam scripts every talk

51:07 Vocal and physical play

55:41 An Italian run on JFK's moon speech

1:00:06 Actor versus performer

1:02:59 Show day backstage, through The Confident Body

1:06:52 The speaker on deck

1:10:27 The slower you go, the faster you get there

1:15:05 Passing the mic

🔗 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Will Stephen, How to sound smart in your TEDx Talk (TEDxNewYork): https://youtu.be/8S0FDjFBj8o

Freek Wallagh, Nightlife Saved Me ... And It Can Save Our Cities Too (TEDxAmsterdam 2025): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbGBjee3Yoo

Saraab Alfar, Hive Mind: Nature's Blueprint for Humanity (TEDxAmsterdam 2025): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbpqAAlQzCA

John F. Kennedy, Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort (1962): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiC-E8vl7Fw

Cathey Armillas, How to find the idea before building the talk (Behind the Red Dot S01E01): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo0iru1V8wg

🎤 PASS THE MIC

Minna nominates TEDxMalmö and leaves Ricardo Koanuka, who also organises TEDxPraia do Forte in Brazil, a question: what is something you've identified that unites speakers across cultures and continents?

Behind the Red Dot is an independent media publication and podcast. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, authorised by, or endorsed by TED Conferences LLC or any of its official affiliates or licensees.

Unscripted conversations, no AI footage, no shortcuts, just two people sitting down to talk about the work behind the stage.

How to reinvent your event every year | Javier Yunes, TEDxRosario organiser | S01E02

Adam Burak — Sat, 31 Oct 2026 10:01:16 GMT

Most events protect the format that works. Javier Yunes starts TEDxRosario from scratch every year. Since 2009 he has organised TEDxRosario in Argentina, growing it into one of the largest TEDx events in the world with editions of up to 10,000 people, and as a TEDx Ambassador he advises hundreds of organisers across the region.

In this episode, Javier takes us behind TEDxRosario using its boldest experiment as the running example: Fixion, the film his team made when the pandemic closed the doors. Shot over a year in empty spaces around Rosario, it premiered in a local cinema in December 2022, with a main character who never says a word. The idea behind it is one Javier applies to every talk: if you don't give the audience a story, they will create one themselves.

We also talk about why the rain follows TEDxRosario to every venue, why a talk has to be about one idea, the Café Exploratorio Method, TEDxRosario 2026 and its theme, Fisuras, and what a TEDx Ambassador actually does.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro

02:59 Keeping TEDxRosario fresh after 17 years

06:03 How the venue shapes the show, and the rain curse

07:39 Thousands of umbrellas at the National Flag Memorial

09:31 A festival, not a conference: why the breaks matter

11:34 What stays universal, and what belongs to the city

15:17 Making a TEDx feature film in a pandemic

20:32 Ted, the main character who never speaks

24:46 The hardest part of organising a TEDx event

27:12 Building a team that stays together

32:11 TEDxRosario 2026 and an NPS of almost 90

35:14 Fisuras: the theme is for the organisers

38:04 TED-ache: what comes after show day

42:00 His all-time favourite talk

44:08 What makes a great talk, and the bus driver

48:18 Café Exploratorio: looking for shining eyes

51:41 Writer, director and performer in one

55:03 Why more speakers drop out today

58:54 From industrial engineer to communication firm

1:05:18 Inside the TEDx organiser workshops

1:09:58 What a TEDx Ambassador actually does

🔗 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Sir Ken Robinson, Do schools kill creativity? (TED2006): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

Benjamin Zander, The transformative power of classical music (TED2008): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LCwI5iErE

Fixion (TEDxRosario 2022): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuVOIbcp3jE

🎤 PASS THE MIC

Javier nominates TEDxSãoPaulo and leaves Elena Crescia a question: how do you manage to curate so many speakers and organise so many events in one year?

Unscripted conversations, no AI footage, no shortcuts — just two people sitting down to talk about the work behind the stage.

How to find the idea before building the talk | Cathey Armillas, TEDxPortland speaker coach | S01E01

Adam Burak — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 22:32:42 GMT

Most speakers start with their work. Cathey Armillas starts by telling them: your job is not the idea. For more than a decade she has coached speakers for TEDxPortland, one of the most influential TEDx events in the world, and other TEDx events now invite her to train their own speaker coaches.

In this episode, Cathey takes us into the coaching room using one talk from TEDxPortland 2026 as the running example: three months with biotech CEO Sean McClain. The first month goes on nothing but finding the idea. Only then come the blueprint, the story that carries it, and the humour, which she insists you find rather than fabricate. No script at any stage.

We also talk about why she never lets a speaker bend an idea to fit an event theme, the only two questions to ask friends and family after a run-through, why she hopes the rehearsal goes wrong, and what it takes behind the scenes to run TEDxPortland.

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro

03:00 What watching 1,000 TED Talks taught her

04:17 The three pillars: the idea, the evidence, your story

05:47 Her all-time favourite talk

07:19 The speaker sneaker wall

09:50 From shredding a Volkswagen to the Letterman show

15:50 Your job is not the idea

19:40 Find the humour, don't fabricate it

24:47 Why she coaches without a script

26:50 Finding the emotional punchline

29:55 Month one with Sean: nothing but the idea

38:34 Should you bend your idea to a TEDx theme?

45:19 Month two: the blueprint, then breathe it to life

48:14 Whose feedback to trust

53:59 Why she wants the run-through to go wrong

58:40 What it takes to run TEDxPortland

1:06:33 Give love to get love

1:11:41 Can anyone become a great speaker?

🔗 MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Tim Urban, Inside the mind of a master procrastinator (TED2016): https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator

Sean McClain, Can we flip the body's regenerative switch? (TEDxPortland): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHLr3jCwcQY

Ben Canales & John Waller, Finding Portland (TEDxPortland): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8MxqbhnaiQ

Finding Oregon, Uncage the Soul Productions: https://vimeo.com/32852978

Aneesh Agarwal, Why can free time feel uncomfortable? (TEDxPortland 2026): https://www.tedxportland.com/year/14/

SSI's "Hippie" Bug shred, the Watch It Shred campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOdZkSdNKSM

The Unbreakable Rules of Marketing by Cathey Armillas & Jeff Berry: https://catheyarmillas.com/products/

Speaker Skills Academy: https://www.speakerskillsacademy.com/

🎤 PASS THE MIC

Cathey nominates TEDxAmsterdam and leaves Minna Taylor a question: how do you take an idea most people believe is one way, and make them believe it could be another?

Unscripted conversations, no AI footage, no shortcuts — just two people sitting down to talk about the work behind the stage.