Talent Night

The stage for new, undiscovered Ideas Worth Spreading.

March 6th
Application Opens
April, 30th
Application Deadline
May, 2nd
Shortlist annouced

Start preparing 2 min. video pitch

May, 8th
Workshop I

Provided by our speaker coach Barbara Rogoski

May, 13th
Video Pitch Deadline
May, 25th
10 Finalists chosen
May, 30th
Workshop II

Preparing you for the big night

June, 9th
Talent Night

Park Centraal Amsterdam

What is Talent Night? 

Every year TEDxAmsterdam Women hosts Talent Night where we want to give the stage to individuals with little or no experience in public speaking. Coming from all walks of life they are given the opportunity to present their ideas on stage in 5 minutes. During these 5 minutes they strive to convince the jury and the audience of their TED-worthy speech. The winner will then get the chance to stand on the main TEDxAmsterdam Women stage. Each year Talent Night and Main Event have a theme, where we look for great ideas relating to this year’s theme Decoding the Future.

In addition to the theme we look for talks that touch on one of the TED pillars – Technology, Entertainment, Design, Global Issues, Business / Entrepreneurship, Art & Music, Science or Sustainability. Please note that TEDxAmsterdam Women is a non-commercial, non-political organization, so it is not permitted to refer to a commercial business – there will be no selling from the stage, no political agendas, no proselytizing –  only reliable, good science.

Your idea should be new or surprising. It can challenge a pre-existing belief. Or it can be a great basic idea with a compelling new argument behind it. An idea isn’t just a story or a list of facts. A good idea takes evidence, and observations and draws a larger conclusion. 

Do you have a groundbreaking, heartwarming, or innovative story that you would want to share? Apply for this year’s Talent Night and get a chance to stand on the famous TEDx ‘red dot’. 

Winner Talent Night 2022

On September 30th, 2022 we hosted our fifth edition of Talent Night. Where our 10 finalists presented ideas relating to our 2022 theme: “Press(ing) Issues: fact or fiction” Our winner Malou van den Berg  presented on the Main Stage on the 1st of December 2022. 

WATCH THE LIVESTREAM HERE

Talent Night 2023 - Decoding the future

Our Winners of 2023

Lies Oudemans

Women and finances: gender stereotypes, biases, and barriers to investing for women.

Lauriane Almeda

Black women: Creating new tables in business and flipping the narrative

10 Finalists

Meta Herman de Groot

Secure attachment of children means a safe world for the future
WATCH PITCH

Nadia Dbijou

Introducing The EGG-talk: think about your fertility and possible eggcell-preservation at an earlier age.
WATCH PITCH

Axelle Ahanhanzo

Creating a more inclusive world for girls and women with hidden neurodivergent conditions.
WATCH PITCH
Lyndall Farley

Lyndall Farley

The future of work is rest: rewriting the code for sustainable career success
WATCH PITCH
Lies Oudemans

Lies Oudemans

Women and finances: gender stereotypes, biases, and barriers to investing for women.
WATCH PITCH

Mingli Chung

Business is Energy and your feminine energy is your EDGE.
WATCH PITCH
Wendy Mozes

Wendy Mozes

Aging women in midlife (40+) & perimenopause are often stereotyped in society as ‘past your prime’ and ‘value decrease as a woman’.
WATCH PITCH
Danique Melsen

Danique Melsen

No matter how different you feel from everyone else or how hopeless your situation seems, believe that the impossible is possible.
WATCH PITCH
Sharoma Ramawadh

Sharoma Ramawadh

Sustainability: are we just doing business or do we really mean well with mother Earth?
WATCH PITCH

Lauriane Almeda

Black women: Creating new tables in business and flipping the narrative
WATCH PITCH

20 Short-listed Candidates

Danique Scipio

Transforming sexual trauma into sexual power: a journey of healing and empowerment

Jillian Emanuels

Raising children to see differences instead of similarities with people.

Consuela Esseboom

Intergenerational dialogue

Susana Pedrosa

Premature menopause

Carlotta Eva Westra van Holthe

How to stay emotionally available as a female leader when you grow the hierarchical career ladder and create psychological safety within teams.

Lies Oudemans

Encouraging more women to invest promotes greater gender equality and improves their financial situation by breaking societal codes that limit financial literacy, sustain gender stereotypes and biases, and create barriers to investing for women.

Elena Goldberg (Khokhrina)

Reconnecting humans with wildlife

Paqui Lizana

Through engaging with my grandma Pepa and exploring how new technologies like AI can empower the elderly, I discover a powerful way to preserve and revitalize their memories

Barbara Philipp

My project idea of a feminist viennese coffee house gives feminist and mothers artists a voice to network and offers an interested public and the professional art world a new way to get to know their great artworks and positions.

Ester Bousova

Our society is built for non-neurodivergent people, which makes neurodivergent women suffer on two fronts: gender and neurodiversity.

Axelle Ahanhanzo

Remove barriers and create a more inclusive world for girls and women with hidden neurodivergent conditions, who are often overlooked and underestimated, in order to unlock their potential and empower them to be active contributors to shaping the future.

Lauriane Almeda

Black women: Creating new tables in business and flipping the narrative

Meta Herman de Groot

Secure attachment of children means a safe world for the future

Sharoma Ramawadh

Sustainability: are we just doing business or do we really mean well with mother Earth?

Mingli Chung

Business is Energy and your feminine energy is your EDGE.

Anke Kuik

A filter to empower consumers to make conscious food choices based on AI.

Danique Melsen

No matter how different you feel from everyone else or how hopeless your situation seems, believe that the impossible is possible.

Wendy Mozes

Aging women in midlife (40+) & perimenopause are often stereotyped in society as ‘past your prime’ and ‘value decrease as a woman’.

Nadia Dbijou

Introducing The EGG-talk; the talk you’ll have with your GP when you’re 21 years old, in order for you to think about your child wish, fertility and possible eggcell-preservation at an earlier age.

Lyndall Farley

The future of work is rest: rewriting the code for sustainable career success

Video Pitches

Video Pitches

19 Videos
Play Video

Keep up to date!

Follow us on Instagram @tedxamsterdamwomen to get updates on 2023 Talent Night application dates, ticket sales and more.

Talent Night 2022 highlights

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SEE ALL

Application Tips

  • What’s your idea worth spreading? Develop your idea to be one clear sentence.
  • Answer all the questions included on the application form and make sure they are no longer than 3 sentences. It will help you to focus on your idea and answering the questions should support it.
  • Remember, even if you are telling a personal story – where are you going with it? What’s your idea? How will it inspire others

Tips for a successful TEDx Talk

  • Dream big. Strive to create the best talk you have ever given. Reveal something never seen before. Do something the audience will remember forever. Share an idea that could change the world.
  • Show us the real you. Share your passions, your dreams and also your fears. Be vulnerable. Speak of failure as well as of success and connect with your emotions.
  • Make the complex plain. Don’t try to dazzle intellectually. Don’t speak abstractly. Explain! Give examples. Tell stories. Be specific. And make sure you check your sources and data. Oh and skip any commercial, political or religious agenda.
  • Make the story worth listening to. Connect with your audience, make them laugh! Make them cry! Take them on a journey. And make sure your audience feels motivated or more self-aware after your story.
  • Rehearse and prepare. Don’t read your talk. Notes are fine, if necessary. But rehearse a lot and practice out loud and time it!

FAQ Talent Night

Yes, all applications and pitches need to be done in English.

No, we are happy to welcome all participants regardless of location as long as you currently live in the Netherlands. However, if you are joining us from out of town, please be aware that you are responsible for any associated expenses.

Our team will be looking at all the entries after the deadline and will respond to all applicants by July 24th. If you haven’t heard from us by then it might be because we have the incorrect contact details for you, so please reach out to us at talentnight@tedxamsterdamwomen.nl.

After we have reviewed all initial applications, we will update you via email, if you have been selected to proceed to the video submission round. If you haven’t heard anything by July 24th, please contact us via email. After the round of video submissions all finalists will be contacted individually.

If you missed the deadline but feel passionately about your idea, please reach out to us at talentnight@tedxamsterdamwomen.nl. We’ll evaluate this on a case-by-case basis.

All pitches must be made in person. This is about giving you a stage to convey an idea worth spreading. We think you need to be present in person to connect with the audience and to ensure that your pitch makes the biggest impact. You will perform to a small live  internal audience made up of the TEDxAmsterdamWomen team, representatives of our partners, crew and invited guests.  The public will watch you via a live stream connection.

Yes, but consider refining your original idea or submit something else entirely that will be in line with the theme this year.

Members of TEDxAmsterdamWomen’s curatorial team will be reviewing all applications and videos. In addition, we will post all pitches online via diverse social media channels. The audience will be allowed to select their favourite via public voting on social media. On Talent Night, after hearing all the talks and audience input (public voting will be available), our jury will make a final decision.

We welcome all people regardless of gender identity. TEDxAmsterdamWomen specifically focuses on the unique way in which women and those who identify as women contribute to the world and women’s issues, spoken from the perspective of all genders. We are looking for ideas that reflect this.