539: What a Speaker Development Curator Does at TED With Cloe Shasha, TED Conferences [Main T4C Episode]

Cloe Shasha is the Speaker Development Curator for TED, a non-profit organization geared at sharing ideas through short, powerful speeches and presentations. TED stands for “technology, entertainment, design” and it is Cloe’s job to research and choose potential new speakers to share their ideas onTED’s stage, podcast and video programs. Through her work, she helps speakers write and develop their talks so that the general audience can comprehend and be impacted by their experiences and research. Fundamentally, Cloe curates in many fields with an international focus on literature, culture, social justice and humor and she aims to provide a platform for marginalized voices through TED. She has worked with many notable speakers including:  Monica Lewinsky, the co-founder of Airbnb Joe Gebbia and the former World Bank President.  WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE: What TED is, what it does and how the organization has been affected by the coronavirus (6:24) What a speaker development curator is and the role’s responsibilities (8:28) Who Cloe’s favorite speaker she has curated is, specifically Jad Abumrad, and how she helps speakers prepare for their TED talks (12:28) Why it’s important to have great delivery as well as great substance in a presentation (17:06) What kind of “research” Cloe believes a speaker needs and the level of specificity a good speech should have (18:58) What is Cloe’s best advice for a dynamic presentation (19:54) What are the pros and cons of working a single company for much of your professional life (26:59) What Cloe learned from her moments of difficulty, especially when she did not ask for  What advice Cloe would give herself in college, including what she would change in courses, the importance of grades and her social circle (39:07)