Pursuits

How to Get into TED? It's Like Applying to College—Again and Again

Kate Brodock spent nearly a decade getting into the famed gathering for techies. For presenters, it's even harder

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By John Tozzi

February 27, 2012 at 1:35 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

How hard is it to get into TED? Even at a cost of $7,500, the Technology, Entertainment, Design idea-fest, which begins Tuesday in Long Beach, Calif., is always oversubscribed. Organizers carefully vet applications to choose the 1,350 who get in.

Kate Brodock applied to TED conferences for eight years straight before being accepted in 2010 to TEDWomen, one of the occasional thematic offshoots of the main TED gathering. Brodock, who is chief marketing officer for the nonprofit Girls In Tech and social-media director at Syracuse University, says she didn’t pick her pursuits to get into TED, but recognizes that her profile has become closer to that of the typical attendee. “If I am doing the types of things that these really inspiring speakers are up on stage talking about, then I’m on the right track,” she says.