Over the last several months, TED has been running its global TED Talent Search (#TEDTalentSearch), an effort to draw on a wider pool of speakers than ever before for TED2013 in Long Beach, California. In fourteen cities around the world, 290 speakers did their best to explain their idea worth spreading. I got to talk in Joburg.

A key element of the Talent Search is public opinion, so on each video, viewers can Recommend, Vote, and Comment. A kind of intellectual Pop Idols. The TED team will be guided by that when selecting about 25 speakers for TED2013. The public voting ends in five days, so if you have a favourite speaker, get your vote in now by going to the Talent Search site (the quickest way is to hit the Facebook Recommend button below a video). Naturally, I’d love to see votes for me and my fellow southern Africans! Continue reading →