TED-Ed Educator Talks
Every educator has an idea worth sharing. Educator Talks is a professional development initiative that equips educators with the skills, platform and support to identify, develop and share their best ideas with each other and the world. The talk development journey starts with the Idea Workshop.
Continue reading below to learn more about the program and its unique benefits.
Why educators?
Educators are overflowing with brilliant, resourceful, innovative and — in all likelihood — extremely under-circulated ideas. Educator Talks seeks to celebrate and elevate those ideas with the goals of bettering the experience of all learners, improving student outcomes, revolutionizing learning practices and transforming the education landscape as a whole.
Get started with the Idea Workshop
The Educator Talks journey begins with a virtual, interactive Idea Workshop — a one-hour professional learning session led by TED-Ed’s Founder and Executive Director, Logan Smalley. It’s a dynamic opportunity to harness the power of storytelling and public speaking to develop ideas that can impact schools, communities and the world. The Idea Workshop also unlocks exclusive opportunities for educators to refine their ideas, share them publicly and inspire their communities.
Access career-expanding opportunities
Our Vision
What if educators and students could share their best ideas with each other, their communities and the world?
TED-Ed and TEDx have teamed up to create a global initiative, called InnovaTED, that enables educators and students to share their best ideas with each other and the world.
TED-Ed supports this vision in two key ways.
Educator Talks empowers educators to develop their ideas, share their talks, and bring this professional development experience to their communities. This complements Student Talks, through which educators facilitate students developing and sharing TED-style talks.
Examples of educator ideas:
Frequently Asked Questions
This opportunity is designed for educators looking to strengthen their public speaking and communication skills. We use a broad definition of “educator.” This opportunity is open to all educators who support K-12 students, whether in schools or through community-based organizations. Participants could include administrators, classroom teachers, administrators, support staff, afterschool professionals, employees at a youth-serving organization and more. If you wish to strengthen your public speaking and communication skills, this program is for you.
Yes! This program offers a free professional development opportunity to develop a talk.
The Educator Talks resources, such as the Idea Workshop and TED’s Official Public Speaking Course, are currently offered in English. However, educators are welcome (and encouraged) to prepare and deliver their talks in any language. TEDx events are hosted all over the world in many different languages, so there are plenty of opportunities to present in languages other than English.
Throughout the session, educators engage in:
- Idea Exploration: Construct a fresh definition of what makes an idea memorable and impactful.
- Interactive Brainstorming: Discover a practical, repeatable framework to mine your experiences as an educator.
- Professional Speaker Coaching: Learn proven techniques from TED’s expert coaches to craft and deliver your message with confidence.
Yes, through a different program called TED-Ed Student Talks. It provides free, customizable activities for educators to support their students’ public speaking skills and socio-emotional well-being as they share their ideas with the world. Check it out here.
The legacy Educator Talks program was an application-based opportunity where a select group of educators received coaching with the goal of delivering their talk on a TED stage. This inspired us to create an updated approach so that all educators could receive professional development and the opportunity to share their voices.
If you’ve completed the Idea Workshop and signed up to continue on with the Educator Talks program, you can access your resources in the InnovaTED Hub. Please note, these exclusive resources are only available to Educator Talks participants, so get started by registering for the Idea Workshop.
Please email us at educatortalks@ted.com.