Open Mic

Our Open Mic events for 2020 have already been completed. Keep your eye out for our Open Mic events so you can present or perform at our 2021 TEDxFargo event.

What is a TEDxFargo Open Mic?

TEDxFargo hosts Open Mic events where individuals are given the opportunity to pitch their best ideas or showcase their talents for a chance to take the stage at TEDxFargo. Speaker curation team members will be onsite to listen and may select one or more ideas for further exploration.

We invite thought leaders, innovators and risk takers to share their ideas and talents with our community and beyond. If you are interested in taking the stage at TEDxFargo as a speaker or performer, we ask that you participate in our next Open Mic!

Open Mic Guidelines

• Each person will have a maximum time of 3 minutes to share their idea or give a performance
• No slides or videos may be used
• Simple props are allowed
• Only one idea may be pitched
• Walk-ins are available if space and time available
• Pre-registered participants will get first priority
• Before you take the leap to audition to speak at TEDxFargo, please note that you must be in town the week of July 27th, as we require all speakers to attend rehearsals prior to the event.

What can I talk about?

As an independently organized event we are also required to follow content guidelines created by TED. The 4 major guidelines are as follows, and you can read more about them here .

• • • Guideline 1: No Selling From the Stage
    • Guideline 2: No Political Agendas
    • Guideline 3: No religious proselytizing (including new age beliefs) 
    • Guideline 4: Only good science

What is TEDxFargo “looking for”? 

This is always the hardest questions to answer, because while we are not looking for any specific idea it is important to note that there are rules in place by TED that we follow when looking for our next TEDxFargo speaker. Before auditioning we encourage you to read them, and you can do so by clicking here. 

What is a Speaker + What is a Performer?

What is a speaker? An individual who presents a great, well-formed idea, demo, or discovery to an audience.

What is a performer? A group or individual who chooses to share their talent/vision with an audience through music, puppetry, dance, poetry, or other forms of artistic expression.