•Every TEDx centers around a shared dream. That dream, your theme, is the basis for your team.

•Make your theme inspiring, believable, and accessible.

• If a first time event, all you have is the idea of a tedx made real by your team

imagine

•a community of networked heroes

•dreaming and working together to deliver excellence

• leadership with limited control

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Good teams will address challenges

•teams too small for the job, burnout or overburdened

•volunteers and pros who underperform

•too many jobs done by the organizer

•budget overruns

•unclear expectations of volunteers

• leadership problems: too much control or too little guidance

design & plan•start early -- 6 - 12 months before your event

•hold a design retreat or vision session

•based on your vision and TEDx guidelines, divide work into roles

•core team, team leaders, team members, interns, project managers, advisors, hired support, budget manager

• identify your event’s risks and manage them

recruit and enroll

•recruit as selectively as possible, as widely as needed.

•a pool larger than what you think you need is good.

• invite inspiration and require talent

How to Recruit•use your network and/or post position listings

•post general volunteer announcements on facebook or email lists

•use a google form or email to accept volunteer applications

•ask for resume or CV, hours per week available, skills

•Reach out to students as interns

•have a volunteer manager role

•hold orientation meetings or interviews to verify qualifications

When should you Hire?•When professional expertise and experience is

required

•Expensive and specialized equipment is needed

•Volunteer support is unavailable

•Staff time is required beyond the level volunteers can offer

•!Maintain clear leadership over hired pros, just as over volunteers!

Let Teams Flourish•speaker selection

•speaker coaching

•presentation design team

•sponsorships

•communication

•social media & web teams

•video production

•stage management

•set design

•ushers, ticketing, day of event

scale

•all roles scale from a task for one volunteer, to a team of many

•staff teams with co-leaders who have earned accountability

•assign and deploy project managers

•aim for the right size team, not too big or too small.

manage the work•brainstorm, precipitate ideas into tasks, timeline, and

managed projects

•meet regularly: every 1-2 weeks for core team, every 1-4 weeks for other teams.

•dream big and be relentlessly realistic

•retain surplus leadership capacity

•!keep your planning on schedule!

use organizing tools•Project Manage: Basecamp for managing milestones,

calendar, lists

•Documents: Google Docs for shared documents and spreadsheets

•Meetings: free conference call services (freeconference.com, google hangouts, skype)

•Offices and space: partner with local businesses and organizations

sustain inspired leadership• love your teams fiercely

•choose and groom leaders carefully

•monitor for over-reach

•be generous with praise, stingy with criticism

•there are no small gifts

•manage complexity beautifully

•care

•tap the pool for additional roles as needed

•All you have is Time and People, the vision and the trust you inspire

key points•Dream a dream your team can share

•Build teams that scale

•Head teams with good leaders and use project managers

•Retain surplus leadership and volunteer capacity

•Monitor for over-reach and prune the work

•Thank all volunteers