Start from scratch, every year
Javier Yunes has organised TEDxRosario in Argentina since 2009, together with co-organiser Julian. In that time the event grew from a few hundred people in small, controllable rooms to open-air editions of more than 10,000, with talks on giant screens across a park full of games and food trucks. It changes venue every year, so every edition starts from scratch. Roughly every five years a new generation joins the team, bringing ideas the founders don’t always agree with but try anyway. And it almost always rains.
He draws a clear line between what must stay the same and what should belong to the city. The talk that goes online keeps the format and the spirit. The day itself should reflect the community’s problems, desires and idea of fun. When the pandemic stopped live events, the team turned that thinking into an hour-long film, shot over a year in sponsors’ empty spaces around Rosario and screened every half hour at a local cinema. Its main character, Ted, never says a word.
“If you don’t give them a story, they will create one themselves.”JAVIER YUNES
Javier explains how he finds talks through Café Exploratorio, two-hour coffees spent looking for the moment someone’s eyes light up, and why one talk can only carry one idea. He shares why more speakers now drop out halfway through preparation, and how he went from industrial engineer to running a communication firm whose corporate clients now ask for one thing above all: help their people suck less.
The episode also opens up the organiser community: the TED-ache that follows show day, what happens at the TEDx workshops he has run since 2010, and what his role as TEDx Ambassador involves, from helping new events get started to protecting the brand every TEDx event shares.
Inside the episode
Jump to a moment.
3 takeaways from Javier
One talk, one idea
A TEDx talk is not a life story or a pep talk. Keep digging until you find the single idea worth spreading.
Drive the bus
Pick the audience up where they are, keep a steady pace with no sharp corners, and get everyone to the destination.
Give them scaffolding
Audiences build a story either way. A theme gives them a frame to lean into, without dictating the talks.
Mentioned in this episode
- Sir Ken Robinson, Do schools kill creativity? (TED 2006), the talk that got Javier hooked and is still his all-time favourite
- Benjamin Zander, The transformative power of classical music (TED 2008), the shining eyes idea behind Café Exploratorio
- FIXION, TEDxRosario’s feature film, shot during the pandemic and screened in a Rosario cinema
- Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing cracks with gold, the idea behind the TEDxRosario 2026 theme Fisuras
Who they're passing the mic to
Every guest nominates the next team and leaves them a question.
How on earth do you manage to curate so many speakers and organise so many events in one year?
Adam’s favourite moment
It is fascinating how differently Javier approached the known formula, offering a festival around the main event with food trucks and activities outside. It sounds like a lot of fun — no wonder the attendee numbers just keep growing year after year.
