The Hack:
Invest time in team development and have constant communication to pass on the excitement
Monica Alba is a force of nature and the perfect person to lead the team at TEDxCancun, located in one of the most beautiful places along the Gulf of Mexico. Cancun is only 40 years old, and unlike other colonial cities in Mexico, it is full of many nationalities, creating a diverse population.
Monica is also the TEDx Ambassador for Mexico, and after the first few minutes of listening to her, you'll see why New York picked her for the position. She's sees the challenge of producing a TEDx in a city of 1 million citizens as a way to open their minds and inspire them.
Her last event was themed Resonance. She said these are the ideas that need to be heard; we want to have them resonate with our community. Her advice to other Organizers was simple; be open and vulnerable and share your failures. Be able to say, "I tried this, and it didn't work out..." and learn from it.
I love to come to the backstage of the speaker's ideas and discover their motivation. Monica Alba, TEDxCancun Organizer, TEDx Ambassador, Mexico
The Lightning Round
Tell us a bit about your background and your TEDx origin story.
TEDXCancun started in 2015. Oddly enough she was rejected several times, but hung in there and finally got her licenses. It's an exciting part of the story.
How many TEDx events have you worked with or produced?
She attended TEDFest and the TEDSummit in Banff and has done a few TEDx events in Cancun.
What makes your TEDx unique?
Cancun is only 40 years old, and the first generation of people who populated the region still live there. They were able to focus on local speakers pulled from the 1 million citizens of the area.
What’s your Superpower?
Collaborating and Curating
What was the biggest surprise while working on your event?
How the community responded to the event: "Mind-opening" "Inspiring!"
Every event has its challenges, what was the biggest dragon you had to overcome?
Getting sponsors and finding the best types of organizations to approach.
What’s one piece of advice you have for veteran organizers? For first-timers?
Be very open about your failures and learn from them.
Looking forward to your next event, what excites you the most?
This show was recorded before her event in October 2018, and she was looking forward to having 450 people at that event.
What’s a TEDx event that you’d like to attend?
TEDxRiodelaPlata, the largest TEDx, TEDxTaipei, and TEDxSydney
The show is called Hacking the Red Circle, so what's your best hack?
Invest time in team development. Use Facebook, What's app and have limited, but constant communication with the team to pass on the excitement.
Featured Episodes
TEDxUCLouvain – Creating an Experience in spite of COVID
Finding ways to be creative and stay connected to your TEDx Community during these challenging times of sequestering and dealing with a global pandemic can test even the most creative Organizers.
Lara Stein – Founder of TEDx
On the first day of TED2019 in Vancouver, Randy Bretz, TEDxLincoln, Emeritus, and I were honored to interview the founder of TEDx, Lara Stein.