Wondering how to get on the stage at TEDx? Spice caught up with TEDx Sydney curatorial director Edwina Throsby to find out how they choose their speakers.

Throsby said, “There are two criteria; they must be Australian or have some tangible connection to Australia and they must be interesting.”

The panel goes through a couple of months of brainstorming where they take into account suggestions and suggestions, only to wind up with ‘100s and 100s of names’.

After that, the panel start approaching people and have ‘dozens of conversations with potential speakers’.

“A conversation is not a guarantee,” said Throsby.

In terms of choosing a theme for the event, Throsby said it’s a paradox; there has to be cohesiveness but also diversity.

“It has to speak to a wide range of interests and open up topic areas to people who may not be familiar with that [discipline],” she said.

Furthermore, the speaking positions are unpaid because TED is a not for profit organisation and it would go against TED licensing to charge a fee.

So why do people do it, if not for the money? Throsby said it’s because a lot of the speakers have spent their lives thinking about and researching a particular topic and TED offers them a platform to share their idea with millions of people. Throsby said that everyone presents their own material in their own words but that the TEDx team help them structure it.

“The final talk is absolutely reflective of what the speaker wants to say,” said Throsby.

Finally, even with speakers who are high profile and do a lot of public performances, Throsby said that they only accept talks where they will be presenting new material. For example, this year human rights lawyer Julian Burnside will be presenting something deeply personal that no one has ever heard before.

This year’s theme is around the concept of learning as a lifelong process and that lessons can come from anywhere. Despite the fact that the event has completely sold out, there is still an opportunity to attend a satellite event or host one. Details on how to register are here.

The speaker and film programs have been announced and the entertainment and food programs will be announced in the coming weeks. To check out the program, click here.