The inbox has been buzzing this week. After last week’s newsletter on organising a TEDx, everyone reaching out has been asking variations of the same question: how do you ensure consistent, high-quality programming when you're running events across multiple locations with different organizing teams? The catalyst for these conversations was last week's deep dive into TEDxJalanPadungan, which got many of you thinking about the systems behind successful event curation.

These conversations prompted me to spend another week dissecting TEDxJalanPadungan, which I believe serves as the perfect case study for any association or organizing body planning regular events, or wanting their chapters to host meaningful gatherings. Whether you're organizing regional conferences, international conventions, or community symposiums, the principles of thoughtful curation remain surprisingly consistent.

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How to build a compelling event program that resonates with audiences and speakers alike

In the past week, several of you have reached out asking about what it's really like to curate an event program like TEDx. The questions have been thoughtful and probing: How do you balance creative vision with practical constraints? What does the selection process actually look like behind the scenes? How do you ensure your program delivers impact rather than just entertainment?

These conversations prompted me to spend another week dissecting TEDxJalanPadungan, which I believe serves as the perfect case study for any association or organizing body planning regular events, or wanting their chapters to host meaningful gatherings. Whether you're organizing regional conferences, international conventions, or community symposiums, the principles of thoughtful curation remain surprisingly consistent.

The beauty of TEDx lies not just in its global recognition, but in how the organization provides extensive materials and frameworks to guide organizers through the curation journey. Yet even with these resources, the process reveals universal challenges that every event curator faces.

1. Defining a Clear Theme and Purpose

The foundation of any successful event begins with a theme that's both broad enough to attract diverse perspectives and specific enough to create coherence. This balancing act is more art than science.

When I first conceptualized TEDxJalanPadungan, I was drawn to a narrow focus on "The Art and Science of Cultural Preservation." It felt specific, meaningful, and aligned with our community's heritage. However, when I submitted this theme to TED, it was rejected for being too restrictive. The feedback was clear: while the topic had merit, it would limit the pool of potential speakers and ideas too severely.

After several rounds of back-and-forth with the TED team, we settled on "Change" as our overarching theme. Initially, this felt like a compromise—perhaps too broad, too generic. But this taught me a valuable lesson about theme selection that extends far beyond TEDx events. A good theme should act as a wide-open door that allows diverse ideas to enter, while still providing enough direction to maintain program coherence.

Take TEDxGLIMChennai's theme "Be" as another example. At first glance, it might seem almost absurdly broad. Yet this simplicity allowed speakers to explore everything from personal transformation to technological innovation to social change—all unified under the umbrella of human potential and existence.

The content guidelines that come with TEDx also offer instructive principles for any event curator. Beyond the famous 18-minute time limit, TED requires that presentations be fact-based rather than pseudo-scientific, and speakers cannot simply be motivational speakers without substantive expertise. These constraints, rather than limiting creativity, actually enhance it by forcing organizers to seek speakers who combine inspirational messaging with genuine knowledge and experience.

2. Building a Diverse and Collaborative Selection Committee

One of the most critical decisions you'll make as an event curator is whether to go it alone or build a selection committee. The romantic notion of the lone curator with perfect taste and vision rarely translates to successful events in practice.

A well-constructed curation committee brings multiple perspectives to the selection process, helping to avoid the blind spots that inevitably emerge when one person makes all the decisions. However, committee dynamics require careful consideration. Too small a committee risks narrow thinking and missed opportunities. Too large a committee can lead to decision paralysis or, paradoxically, conformity as members defer to perceived group consensus.

The decision-making structure within your committee matters enormously. Will you operate as a full democracy where every voice carries equal weight? Will you divide responsibilities with different committee members taking point on different aspects of curation? Or will you maintain centralized control while using the committee for input and perspective? Each approach has merits, and the right choice depends on your team dynamics, timeline constraints, and the complexity of your event.

In our case, we operated as a collaborative committee of two with input from advisors drawn from other TEDx chapters. While this external perspective proved invaluable, I underestimated how the curatorial burden would intensify in the later stages of event planning. As we lost speakers due to scheduling conflicts and had to find replacements, the collaborative process became more challenging under time pressure. This experience reinforced the importance of building a larger, more robust committee from the beginning rather than trying to expand it when challenges arise.

The clear guidelines that TED provides for theme and speaker selection serve as excellent guardrails for maintaining focus and coherence throughout the collaborative process. When committee members have different opinions, these external standards provide an objective framework for making decisions.

3. Sourcing and Selecting Ideas Before Speakers

Perhaps the most counterintuitive aspect of successful event curation is prioritizing ideas over individuals. Our natural tendency is to think "Who would be a great speaker?" rather than "What ideas do we want to explore?"

The most effective approach focuses first on identifying the right ideas that align with your theme, then finding the best people to present those ideas. This can happen through open applications where potential speakers submit their concepts, through auditions where people pitch their ideas, or through community outreach where you actively seek specific perspectives.

We chose a different path for TEDxJalanPadungan, opting to research, identify, and shortlist speakers ourselves rather than using an open application process. While this gave us more control over the initial pool, it also meant we potentially missed ideas and voices that an open process might have surfaced.

The most sophisticated events use a multi-stage development process. First, applicants submit their ideas in written form—not just topics, but actual concepts with potential impact. At scientific conferences, these are called Abstracts. The curation team then shortlists based on alignment with the theme and potential audience impact. Finally, selected speakers go through mentoring and audition processes to refine their presentations.

The goal throughout this process should be developing a diverse portfolio of ideas that will genuinely surprise and engage your audience. This means looking for different angles on your theme, different types of expertise, and different presentation styles that complement each other while maintaining program flow.

4. Developing and Curating Talks with Speaker Support

The selection of speakers and ideas marks the beginning, not the end, of the curation process. Talk development should begin at least three months before your event, with speakers drafting their presentations and working closely with your content curation team to refine messaging, clarity, and audience engagement.

This development phase requires coordination across multiple teams. Your content curators need to work with speakers on substance and structure. Your production team needs to understand technical requirements. Your marketing team needs compelling speaker stories and presentation concepts to promote effectively.

The refinement process often reveals gaps in your initial curation decisions. Some talks that seemed promising in concept may struggle in execution. Others may evolve in directions that no longer fit your theme or audience. This is why building buffer time and maintaining flexibility in your speaker lineup becomes crucial.

Stage rehearsals and technical run-throughs represent the final phase of curation. In our case, we had mentors with public speaking backgrounds work with speakers on delivery techniques—what to do and what not to do on stage. These sessions often surface last-minute content adjustments that can make the difference between a good presentation and a memorable one.

The collaborative nature of talk development means that your final event program may look quite different from your initial vision. Embrace this evolution rather than fighting it. The best curation recognizes that the process itself generates insights and opportunities that couldn't be planned from the beginning.

Building Your Association's Curation Playbook

Reflecting on the TEDxJalanPadungan experience, the most valuable insight isn't about any single curatorial decision we made. It's about recognizing how TED's comprehensive framework made our success possible, even as first-time organizers navigating complex creative and logistical challenges.

This brings me back to the associations and organizing bodies I mentioned at the beginning—those planning regular conferences, conventions, or chapter-based events. The lesson from TED's approach is clear: every organization running event series needs to develop its own curation playbook, complete with guidelines, standards, and support materials that chapters can follow.

Consider what TED provides: theme selection criteria that prevent organizers from going too narrow or too broad, content guidelines that maintain quality while allowing creative freedom, speaker development frameworks that ensure consistent presentation standards, and decision-making structures that balance collaboration with efficiency. These aren't restrictive rules—they're enablers that allow novice organizers to execute professional-grade events without reinventing every process.

Your association's playbook should address the same fundamental questions we faced: How do you select themes that resonate locally while maintaining brand coherence? What committee structure works best for your organization's culture and resources? How do you source and develop content that serves both speakers and audiences effectively? What support do chapters need during the inevitable challenges that arise in later planning stages? Are there industry standards that you must adhere to?

The framework approach also ensures a certain conformity across chapters—not creative uniformity, but operational consistency. When your Portland chapter and your Miami chapter both follow similar curation processes, they can share insights, troubleshoot common challenges, and maintain quality standards that protect your organization's reputation. More importantly, they can focus their creative energy on content and community connection rather than figuring out basic operational questions.

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, we needed a bigger committee. But the deeper lesson is that we needed better systems. Individual enthusiasm and expertise matter enormously, but they're not sustainable foundations for event series that need to scale across multiple locations and organizer transitions.

The conversations that sparked this article remind me that curation isn't just about individual events—it's about building sustainable frameworks that enable meaningful events to happen consistently. Whether you're running professional conferences, community symposiums, or educational gatherings, the investment in creating comprehensive curation guidelines will pay dividends every time a new chapter launches or an experienced organizer faces unexpected challenges.

TED didn't just give us a license to use their brand; they gave us a proven system for creating impact. That's the real model worth replicating across any organization serious about the quality and consistency of their event programming.