Chicago duders: Anyone want to go to Patrick's TedX talk?

You can apply for tickets here. Bring your creative writing skills. The event is on Saturday, October 19.

If I get a ticket, it's only a four hour drive from Chicago, and I have at least four extra seats in my car.

What exactly is he giving a talk about?

From the website:

What is TEDx?

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED- like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event.

The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

I... Is TedX a cult?

I have no idea what TEDx is, and after reading the website, I still have no idea what TEDx is.

That said, maybe.

Oh shit! Did Patrick just pull off the greatest caper on a bunch of smart people?

I was right! Kleptomania will rule the air waves!

I want to know this. It's fucked up that apparently the speakers are known now but they're not listed anywhere (that I can tell) on the site.

So TedX is like TED, but extreme? Is it sponsored by Mountain Dew and Doritos?

This event is nowhere to be found on the official TED website. This is some bootleg-ass shit right here.

Maybe I should start my own TEDx event. I'll name myself the keynote speaker, hold it in my living room and put it on my resume.

EDIT: Nevermind, my search was only showing events that are being webcast, here it is, it's a real thing. Still sounds kinda bootleg though.

You need at least one red beanbag chair populated by someone to really capture the feel.

He talked about it on the morning show. It's essentially an extension of the thing he wrote when Phil Fish cancelled Fez 2 about public figures on the internet.

I'm pretty sure anita gave a talk at one point, so being 'smart' isn't that much of a barrier to entry.

it might have been more on her kickstarter campaign though (cant remember).

As I understand it, TED speakers are chosen by Chris Anderson, while TEDx talks are licensed through TED but organized by a third party.

I think it's "male enhancement supplement" (or whatever the term was in Extenze commercials) that allows you to give public speeches for long periods of time.

@hailinel said:

Not particularly descriptive, but:

http://patrickhatesformspring.tumblr.com/post/60090180881/congrats-on-giving-a-ted-talk-any-clues-on-what-youll

"Yo, people on the internet are assholes, PEACE"

I hope that's the entire talk

@tearhead: yeah, a little.

It's cool that they're giving tickets away for this one–I worked at one a few years back and people bought their way in. Nothing like rich people acting like they're all deep.

Hopefully it's filmed in some capacity. I'm in Chicago but that's my vacation time.

People giving TEDx talks should not tell people they're giving 'TED' talks, honestly. It's nowhere near the same thing. I mean good for Patrick and everything, but he should have worded his tweet announcing this a little bit better.

This is the last thing anyone would ever want to see.

I have heard about essentially backwards TedX talks given on homeopathy and other stuff; they are offshoots of real TED talks, but they are officially licensed for better or for worse. Either way a talk is a talk, downplaying a person's point of view just because of the venue regardless of the content is a bad way to go about expressing any opinion you want to be taken seriously.

Yeah, TEDx isn't as respectable as a proper TED is. It seems anyone can give a TEDx talk.

TEDDZ.

fucking ridiculous

@animasta said:

Pretty much what I was going to say. I'm happy for him though.

@alistercat: Why do women need their own talk event?

@erhard: TEDx are community organised and hosted but with the TED name. I assume a group of people wanted to create an event to talk about women's issues.

@erhard: Because otherwise normal humans misogynist male supremacist men and their female suppressed slaves would sabotage the feminist-fanatics agenda with things like facts, statistics and research. (This is in sarcasm font, the first part, not the second part.)

I am nowhere near Chicago, will this get streamed?

Evil Patrick is going global.

I think your perspective on this is a little bit skewed, just putting that out there. "Your side" is not so devoid of irrationality, and the other side is not so devoid of factual support.

@lively: Maybe but I always find the "We want equality so we're going to host our own event where no one else is allowed." a bit strange.

In my mind TED talks are about increasing people's knowledge, especially about uncommon topics and fields the audience may not be familiar with, which both make the crowd more informed of the world around them and better equipped to deal with future challenges.

Somehow I feel like Patrick's talk will be more akin to a bully pulpit where he can lecture you what you should be morally outraged with, what people you should trust implicitly, and what are the 'right' opinions to have if you want to be allowed into the group.

@brodehouse: Eh, there's always been a bit of a self-congratulatory streak in TED talks. The Onion made a pretty biting parody:

TEDx, all the bravado of a TED talk without any of the integrity... sounds great :P

They will let anyone host a talk these days.

I'm going to have a TedX talk about pizza rolls, you guys are all invited.

The TED talks have always been something i've only heard about, though often they are available in various digital formats.

The ticket prices alone scare me away, as those are very out of my pay grade.

Isn't Giant Bomb these days just a constant Patrick TEDx talk anyway?

I just hope he doesn't fall back on the classics, and gives us some new material. The forums are gonna be set alight when it gets posted, regardless.

I think it's time for bed when I read that twice and think that both times you're saying "those are very out of my gay parade"

Does the X stand for Xtreme? No? Then of course not.

How much more is there to say about this? Are we going to get another lesson on what privilege is?

@chilibean_3: No, it's in reference to a guy named Ted who joined the Nation of Islam and dropped his slave name, only going by Ted X.

'Normal' TED and TEDx events are pretty mixed-gender, if the ones I've watched are any indication. As others have said, I think TEDx are more or less independently organised shindigs, so people can push an agenda there if they want to.

OP wants to kidnap 4 lucky people.

Yes, because I'm sure they had a big old "NO BOYS ALLOWED" sign on the door. It's not like the idea was to have a women's issues panel with a bunch of speakers who are focused on women's issues because most places either don't care about or don't want to talk about those issues or anything. Clearly it was, as it always is, about being exclusionary and only letting a specific group of people in. Just like all minority groups, in fact!

Oh but who are we kidding? You don't actually feel excluded and probably never would have gone in the first place. You're just making an issue of it for making an issue's sake.

On topic: I also hope this gets taped.

I live 45 minutes from there. If I can get tickets you bet your ass I'm going.

P.S. I went to TedxEMU, which was hosted at Eastern Michigan University, where I'm currently studying. It was free to attend, but you had to apply early to get a ticket. I'm pretty sure this one will work the same way, though there may be a fee if you aren't a UM Dearborn student. I doubt it though.

Who's Patrick and why is he so important? Really, someone please tell me. I want to know.

I thought the opposite. If I were a self-respecting woman I'd think it's condescending to be told that I'm part of some weak collective that needs its own little support group/talk event.