For the second year in a row, there will be no TEDxNaperville conference this fall, putting the long-term future of the event into question.
In a newsletter last week, TEDxNaperville announced it would not be hosting its signature annual conference this year. A changing leadership team behind the event, a loss in sponsorships and rising costs after the COVID-19 pandemic were all factors in the decision, TEDxNaperville founder, curator and executive director Arthur Zards said Monday.
“It’s just the time and effort to put on the event is significant,” he said.
Asked if he could see the conference returning again, Zards said, “You know, I don’t know.”
Launched in 2010, TEDxNaperville for years had attracted hundreds of people to town to hear from and interact with local figures of note ranging from astronauts and artists to doctors and musicians.
TEDxNaperville is a local version of events like it held across the globe. Independently run and organized, TEDx events — as had been the case for Zards’ installation — feature live speakers and recorded talks. They operate under a free license granted by the nonprofit TED, which has a long list of programs and initiatives all focused on a central mission to discover and spread ideas. TED talks receive billions of views on YouTube.
To date, more than 13,000 TEDx events have been held in 150 different countries, according to its website.
Changes to TEDxNaperville have been building for some time now. In 2020, its annual conference went virtual amid the pandemic. For the next two years, the event returned to in-person but in a smaller, more conversational format.
Then almost exactly a year ago, TEDxNaperville put out a newsletter similar to the one last week announcing there would be no 2023 conference. At that time, however, the TEDxNaperville team teased a bigger, reimagined version of the event instead.
Those plans did not come to fruition. Ultimately, they just ended up not being feasible, Zards said.
“We actually wanted to do a bigger scale event, but it’s the time and effort,” he said.
At this point, a fresh restart is what TEDxNaperville needs, Zards said.
“We kind of have to start rebuilding from scratch again because before COVID we were doing great. We were scaling bigger and bigger and bigger, but COVID just kind of gave us a good old smackdown, as you can imagine,” he said.
Before the pandemic, Zards was one of a 12-person TEDxNaperville leadership team. An all volunteer-based operation, an additional 75 volunteers would provide extra support the day of their annual conference to ensure it ran smoothly. These days, though, Zards is the only person behind TEDxNaperville.
“So right now, it’s just me (who) is the main team lead. We’re looking at building up a team again. …So that’s where we’re at. It’s a start from scratch,” he said.
Team changes were compounded by financial challenges brought on during and after the pandemic. TEDxNaperville relies on sponsorships to maintain its programming. Prior to COVID, TEDxNaperville had at least two or three dozen small to large sponsors at any one time, Zards said. But sponsors have been lost in recent years. Add post-pandemic, the price tag to run an event like TEDxNaperville’s fall conference is steep, he said.
“With the costs, with inflation, with scale, everything is more expensive now. … It’s like running a large business, running the event. And we can’t survive on ticket sales alone,” Zards said. “We need outside financial assistance.”
Despite the difficulties, Zards stressed this isn’t the end of TEDxNaperville completely. He wants to keep the spirit of the operation he started 15 years ago going, even if it isn’t with a big fall speaking series. For the time being, Zards plans to host quarterly “salon” speaking events with 15 to 20 guests listening to a guest speaker.
Salons will be offered on an in-person and virtual basis. In October, TEDxNaperville will be hosting a virtual salon centered on artificial intelligence.
“There’s too many brilliant people doing amazing things in (Naperville) that have to have a voice,” Zards said. “So TEDxNaperville will continue to run on some level.”
As for the future of TEDxNaperville’s signature conference, Zards said, “I don’t want it to just go away, (but) more people (need) to join the leadership team and financial partnerships.”
“I do miss the large-scale events. … With the right people, with the right group or organization, I would still love to continue because it was exciting when we hosted big events.”
