Say yes to feeling dumb
TEDxAmsterdam is being rebuilt from the ground up by an all-volunteer team that brings TEDxAmsterdam Women and the original event, which ran for a decade before the lockdowns stopped it, back under one roof. Minna Taylor leads its speaker program, this year together with a co-lead. That covers the curation strategy, the speaker experience, the training program and how speakers get ready for the main stage. She also coaches and trains speakers herself, as one of a team of coaches she is clear are all equals. An actor by training, she runs it like a theatre production. Auditions, script approval, rehearsal.
Her filter for more than 300 applications is blunt. No original video and no real engagement with the theme is close to an automatic no. TEDx is not a place for opinions, she says. It is a place to share findings. And don’t come for PR. The speakers who make it get a coach, an in-person cohort, a fully scripted and fact-checked talk, and a dress rehearsal before show day.
“The slower you go, the faster you get there.”MINNA TAYLOR
Minna also answers the question Cathey Armillas left in episode one, but first rephrases its premise: you can’t change what someone believes, only create the space where a belief can be examined. She explains why “yes, and” works better than “yes, but”, on stage and off, and why stage fright and stage adrenaline are the same feeling read two different ways. Then she performs a live Italian run of JFK’s moon speech.
The episode also offers a rare peek backstage: what happens in the body and mind of an accomplished speaker when the adrenaline hits, what it is like to wait on deck as the next speaker, and how to prepare speakers to get back on track when they forget a line on stage.
Inside the episode
Jump to a moment.
3 takeaways from Minna
Three shifts Minna trains into every speaker.
Bring a finding
Not an opinion. Show what your lived experience has taught you, and build the idea on that evidence.
Ideate on your feet
Find the words by speaking out loud and improvising first. That way, the script already has your natural voice and rhythm.
Play your way present
Vocal and physical play turn stage fright from psychosocial risk into play space.
Mentioned in this episode
- Will Stephen, How to sound smart in your TEDx Talk (TEDxNewYork 2015)
- Freek Wallagh, Why is nightlife dying in cities? (TEDxAmsterdam 2025)
- Saraab Alfar, Hive Mind: Nature’s Blueprint for Humanity (TEDxAmsterdam 2025)
- John F. Kennedy, Address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort (“We choose to go to the Moon”), 12 September 1962
- The Confident Body, Minna’s book
- Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter
- Cathey Armillas on Behind the Red Dot (S01E01), whose question Minna answers
Who they're passing the mic to
Every guest nominates the next team and leaves them a question.
What have you found that unites speakers across cultures and continents?
Adam’s favourite moment
I absolutely loved surprising Minna by asking her to demonstrate one of her own exercises, the Italian Run, live on the show.
