What is “TED”?
TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.
Each March, a carefully curated collection of students, faculty, staff, and alumni take the TEDxUGA stage to share their passions, stories, inspirations, and ideas with the University of Georgia and Athens community. People of all ages and backgrounds come together for an evening dedicated to connecting and sharing in a collective experience. TEDxUGA has become not just a highly anticipated annual event but also a community partner, a part of the UGA curriculum, and a campus movement dedicated to ideas worth spreading. Since 2013, 97 presenters have taken the TEDxUGA stage and their talks have been viewed a collective 2.8 million times.
As the Director of Community Engagement, my job (though multifaceted) was essentially spreading awareness of what TEDxUGA is through social media and other multimedia marketing campaigns. Below are some of examples of the work I completed with them.
Short Documentary
For TEDxUGA 2019: Amplify, The University of Georgia filmed an official highlight video of Malcolm Mitchell and his talk about overcoming adversity during his childhood, as a football player for Georgia Football and the Patriots, and today. This video served as the opening to the TEDxUGA 2020: Next Level promotional campaign. View the video below.
Save the Dates
TEDxUGA represents multiple departments across campus, and we want to make sure that they’re all invited to our event. We personally reach out to every school represented by our speakers and each department that sponsors the event. We include a set number of free tickets for our sponsors via a printed and signed thank-you letter. For the speaker-represented schools, we send out emails letting them know that their faculty member or student is speaking at our upcoming event. We invite them to share the information and registration link with their departments and students.
TEDxUGA 2019: Amplify - front of invitation
TEDxUGA 2019: Amplify - back of invitation
Interview Questionnaire
Because of how diverse and wide-spreading our event is, we get multiple interview and informational inquiries. We created this questionnaire to help provide a better understanding of what TEDxUGA is, and how inquirers can find out more information. This not only helps us save time on our end, but provides clearer direction for those questioning. View the full questionnaire below.
Social Media Advertisements
To spread awareness about our event, we promoted our posts on Facebook and Instagram highlighting specific presenters. This allowed us to target specific demographics that would be interested in learning more about the presenter’s talk. 2019 was the first year we promoted our social media posts and saw a new 45% increase in overall engagement and over 30% increase in attendance at the event. Below are examples of the promoted posts as well as the overall results of the campaign.
Campaign Engagement
“BTS” of the Promoted Posts
To see the social media posts in full, including the graphics and copy, visit here.
