The Hack: Greet and welcome each guest in line with a coffee and pastry
Réka Artner and her team of 70 have been producing TEDxVienna for several years now. She joined the team after attending TEDxViennaLive in 2012. It's one of the TEDx events that other organizers would love to visit. Set in some of the cities most amazing historical venues, this TEDx also features Adventures (see video montage below) and workshops. TEDxVienna has been around since 2010 and has produced 23 events, including Salons and Live simulcasts.
Réka has an infectious laugh, and her first job was as an event manager and working with 50 volunteers on the day of the event. She says that the most significant surprise has been what the audience reacts to. Having a close liaison with the speakers gives her a sense of how the audience will respond, and they resonate with the ideas in unexpected ways. She loves this.
The idea of producing Adventures for the event, essentially mini-field trips, led by volunteers, is a way to take attendees on a local exploration into a place that they'd probably not be able to get to on their own. They did ten adventures with 20 people in each one. (The more we hear about adventures, the more we want to produce them ourselves).
We do a lot of scouting (for ideas). 70 people on the team send in ideas all year long."Réka Artner – Co-Organizer, TEDxVienna
The Lightning Round
Tell us a bit about your background and your TEDx origin story.
She got interested in TEDx after attending a LIVE simulcast in 2012. We hear this a lot, a person attends an event, then steps up the next year to volunteer, and after a period, end up being a co-organizer.
How many TEDx events have you worked with or produced?
TEDxVienna has done 23 events, including Salons and LIVE simulcasts. They produce Adventures and Workshops as well.
What makes your TEDx unique?
They have a 15 person blogging team that posts 3 times a week. They also search for unique historical venues that celebrate the cities beauty and charm.
What’s your Superpower?
Organizing, Collaborating and Curating, with co-organizer Vlad
What was the biggest surprise while working on your event?
The audience reactions to the talks. She thought she knew what would get the applause and was surprised by what actually resonated with the audience.
Every event has its challenges, what was the biggest dragon you had to overcome?
This year it was trickier to finalize speaker issues; Visas, Travel and communication with speakers slowed us down.
What’s one piece of advice you have for veteran organizers? For first-timers?
Give your volunteers very specific jobs - and lots of cookies.
Looking forward to your next event, what excites you the most?
Meeting other TEDx organizers at the workshop and standing behind the stage and peeking at the audience.
What’s a TEDx event that you’d like to attend?
TEDxSaoPaulo
The show is called Hacking the Red Circle, so what's your best hack?
Greet and welcome the guests in line in the morning with coffee and a pastry. (Note: I did this at our event on 11/11 this past year and it was a HUGE success)
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.