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Millions have watched them and thousands have paid to attend them. TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, has been sensationally successful ever since it first launched in 1984. If you have not heard about it yet, TED is an invite-only affair that brings together the most inspirational and smartest minds from around the globe to share new ideas and old wisdom with the attendees. These talks are made available online and even as podcast so that anyone can watch and share his or her thoughts. By doing so, TED made it easier for people to access speeches of innovative thinkers who can provide them with a new viewpoint or give them an insight into many different areas.

But if you look around and care to observe, you will find that these innovative thinkers on TED are in fact, everywhere. People who excel in their profession are the potential TED speakers who have ideas worth spreading.

This is why in 2009, TED decided to launch a program called TEDx, the local, self-organized events that can bring people together to share a TED-like experience. TED website now posts great videos from TEDx events as well. Commonly, TEDx would be hosted by cities or universities such as TEDxTokyo or TEDxStanford. But recently, there has been an attempt by few high school students who convened the event at their own high school. (Gunn High School to Hold First ‘TEDx’ event)

It is your turn to host TEDx at your high school.

Here are some general steps that you should take. This is just to give you an idea of what kind of work you would be doing. So for more information, please visit, TEDx website: http://www.ted.com/pages/organize_tedx_event

1) Find a supervisor: In order to host TEDx, you need to first get a license and in order to do so, organizers under age 18 must be supervised by an adult.

2) Find a group of friend or volunteers to organize the event

3) Start making a list of speakers that you would like to invite: Inviting speakers may take longer than you imagine. Be patient and reasonable. Sometimes the most inspiring people are in-fact our peers, and people who are in your own age group. Don’t forget to invite them as well.

4) Create Logo, select a venue, set a stage and create a program

5) Utilize Social Media

6) Find someone to record the event

Hosting an event is not an easy job. But it will be a priceless experience that you cannot easily gain as a high school student and an event like this will benefit your peers and school as well.