TEDxProvo is Provo's own TEDx event: a few hours of short talks by local speakers, in front of a small audience, in the historic library building at Academy Square. It is independently organized under a license from TED, the organization behind TED Talks, and it is run by local organizers rather than by TED itself. It made a sold-out debut in 2025 and came back for a second edition the following winter.
For a city with two universities and a steady stream of lectures, forums and firesides, it is a little surprising that Provo had never hosted a TEDx event under its own name before TEDxProvo. BYU has had its own TEDx events over the years, but a TEDx named for the city itself, open to anyone and built around people from the community, was new.
This guide explains what TEDx is and what it is not, how TEDxProvo began, why its seats are limited, what happens on the day, how tickets work, how to find the next event and how to get involved. It draws on TED's own event listing and TEDx rules, the organizers' ticket pages, and coverage of the debut by BYU's student newspaper. Where a year is named, it describes how the event has run, not a promise about the next one.
What TEDx Is, and What It Is Not
TED began as a conference, and TED Talks are the short, polished talks it made famous. TEDx is a separate program. It lets people in communities around the world organize their own TED-style events under a free license from TED. The "x" stands for an independently organized event.
That distinction matters, because it explains almost everything about how TEDxProvo works. TED does not choose the speakers, sell the tickets, book the room or run the day. Local organizers do. TED sets the rules that every TEDx event must follow, licenses the name, and runs the TEDx channel where talks can be published. Every TEDx event is required to say clearly that it is a TEDx event, independently organized, and not a TED event.
The license is local and short-lived by design. Under TED's rules, an organizer must live in the city named in the license, the event must happen in that city, and a license is valid for one year and covers one event. Organizers must apply again for each new event, and a license cannot be handed to someone else. A TEDx name also stays fixed; an event licensed as TEDxProvo must use that full name everywhere.
How TEDxProvo Began
TEDxProvo started small and grew. According to BYU's student newspaper, which covered the debut, the organizers, Connor Hilton and Braeden Palmer, first had something modest in mind: a forum-style evening at their apartment complex. They applied to TEDx for it, and the answer they described was a push to think bigger.
The result was a full TEDx event, produced largely by the organizers and their friends. The paper described a do-it-yourself effort, from 3D-printed signs to friends pressed into service on the audio-visual crew, and one organizer acknowledged it was more work than he had expected.
The debut took place at the Provo City Library on March 15, 2025, and it sold out. Its speakers came from very different corners of the community: a pageant titleholder, a small-business owner, a BYU computer science professor, a social advocate, a language specialist and an ultramarathoner. The organizers said they hoped to make TEDxProvo an annual event, and that the talks would be edited and released by TEDx.
The Second TEDxProvo
The organizers came back the next winter. TED's listing shows the second TEDxProvo on February 21, 2026, running from late morning into the early afternoon, again in Provo, with Hilton as organizer and Palmer as co-organizer. The ticket page placed it in the Nelson Attic, on the top floor of the Provo City Library, and gave the program a single theme, Resonance.
The lineup again mixed backgrounds. TED's listing named an entrepreneur and coach who works on leadership and mental health, a wide receiver from the BYU football team, a plastic surgeon and volunteer, a member of the Utah House of Representatives, and an executive coach who teaches persuasion at BYU's business school. TED's page noted that speaker lineups may not be final, and the organizers' ticket page described a shorter program of three speakers and three topics, so the talks on the day may not have matched the listing exactly.
What did carry over was the shape of the event: a few hours on a weekend, a small room in a historic building, a theme tying the talks together, and speakers drawn from Provo's own mix of students, professors, athletes, business people and public servants.
Why It Is Small, and Why Tickets Go Fast
TEDxProvo is small by design, and TED's rules explain why. A TEDx event can have up to 100 people in its in-person audience. Only organizers who have attended a qualifying TED conference may license an event with a larger audience, and the primary license holder must be the one who meets that requirement.
TED's listing for the 2026 event shows it under the standard format, which is the smaller type of event. For a city Provo's size, with two universities and a large population of students and young professionals, that means demand can easily outrun a room of that size, and the debut sold out.
The practical advice is simple. If you want to go, watch for the ticket announcement and buy early. Waiting until the week of the event is the surest way to miss it.
The Venue: The Library at Academy Square
Both editions of TEDxProvo have been held at the Provo City Library at Academy Square, 550 North University Avenue. The library occupies the restored Brigham Young Academy building, one of the most recognizable historic buildings in the city, and the setting suits an event about ideas. Our Provo City Library guide covers the building, its history and its programs.
The 2026 event used the Nelson Attic on the library's top floor. A small audience changes the feel of the talks. Speakers are close to the audience, conversations spill into the breaks, and it is easy to find a speaker afterward to ask a question.
The library sits just north of downtown Provo, with Center Street's restaurants a short drive or a longer walk away, which makes it easy to turn a TEDxProvo morning into a day in town.
What Happens at a TEDx Event
A TEDx event follows TED's format, adapted to a local audience. The heart of it is a series of short, prepared talks, each built around a single idea. TED's rules say TEDx talks usually run under 18 minutes, and that many talks are even shorter, with three to nine minutes often ideal for a focused idea. Some formats, such as interviews or dialogues between two speakers, can run longer.
TED's rules also shape what speakers can say. Talks may not carry an inflammatory political or religious agenda or rely on polarizing us-versus-them language, and sponsors are limited to a static slide rather than a commercial. The effect is an event that stays focused on ideas and stories rather than on selling or campaigning.
Between talks there are breaks, and they are part of the point. TEDx events are meant to start conversations in a community, and a small event makes those conversations easy. Bring a notebook, plan to talk with the people seated near you, and expect the conversations to continue after the last speaker leaves the stage.
Tickets, Prices and Policies
Ticket prices vary from event to event. TED's rules allow TEDx organizers to charge an attendance fee, with the price determined by their licensing tier, and they require that all ticket money go to event and operating costs. Ticket money is meant to cover the event, not to turn a profit.
TEDxProvo has sold tickets through Eventbrite, and its 2026 ticket page listed a no-refunds policy. Check the current ticket page before you buy, since policies and prices can change with each event. Because the audience is capped, tickets can sell out quickly, so buy as soon as they go on sale if you are sure you want to go.
How to Find the Next TEDxProvo
TEDxProvo does not have a fixed date, and it cannot, because each event needs its own license. The first two events fell in late winter and early spring, in March and then February, which may suggest a pattern, but the date depends on the organizers renewing their license and booking a room.
The best places to watch are the organizers' own website, which has carried links to tickets and to the debut's videos, TED's list of TEDx events, where each licensed event is posted with its date and format, and Eventbrite, where tickets have been sold. The festivals hub and the festival and celebration finder also carry TEDxProvo among the valley's cultural events.
What TED's Rules Mean for the Audience
Most of TED's rules are written for organizers, but several of them shape the experience of sitting in the audience, and knowing them explains details that can otherwise seem odd.
The in-person audience stays together. TED's rules call for one group of up to 100 attendees at the main venue for the whole event, so an attendee cannot trade places with someone watching elsewhere between sessions. If an event adds a watch party in a separate room or building, that group is capped at 100 as well, and a watch-party ticket can cost no more than half the price of a seat in the main room.
The branding is specific. Every TEDx event must use its full licensed name in all of its materials, and any branded merchandise sold at the event must carry that unique name rather than the generic TEDx logo, with the profits going back into the event. TEDx websites carry a footer line stating that the event is operated under license from TED. These rules are why a program, a shirt or a sign at TEDxProvo always says TEDxProvo, never simply TEDx.
Fundraising is limited. TEDx events may not run separate ticketed fundraisers under the TEDx name or raise money through crowdfunding platforms, so the event lives on ticket sales, sponsors and volunteer work. When you buy a ticket, you are paying for the room, the equipment and the recording that will carry the talks beyond it.
The talks are meant to travel. Photos from the day are released under a Creative Commons license, speakers and organizers may share short clips on social media, and the full talks can be published on the TEDx channel. An audience member at a small TEDx event is, in effect, part of the recording of something intended for a much larger audience, which is part of what makes the room feel different from an ordinary lecture.
Making a Morning of It
A TEDxProvo program runs a few hours, which leaves room to make a day of it downtown. The library itself is worth time before or after the talks. It is open to the public, it has a rotating free exhibit space upstairs called The Attic, and its historic halls are one of the best indoor walks in the city on a cold day. The library has on-site parking, which makes it one of the easier downtown venues to reach.
Afterward, Center Street is a short drive south, with enough restaurants for any group; our Center Street dining guide sorts them by occasion. A group that attended together will have plenty to argue about over lunch, which is exactly what a TEDx event hopes to leave behind.
Watching the Talks Online
If you cannot get a seat, you can still hear the talks. TEDx talks are recorded, edited after the event and, may be published on the TEDx YouTube channel, alongside talks from TEDx events around the world. The TEDxProvo website has linked to the videos from the 2025 debut.
TED's rules also allow speakers and organizers to share short clips of a talk on social media. Photos from TEDx events are released under a Creative Commons license and posted to the event's Flickr account, which is why pictures of TEDx events are often easy to find online.
Speaking at TEDxProvo
Speakers at TEDx events are chosen by the local organizers, not by TED, and each event sets its own process. TEDxProvo's first two lineups mixed well-known local figures with people who are experts in a narrower field.
If you have an idea you think belongs on a TEDxProvo stage, the place to start is the organizers' website and contact channels. Remember TED's rules: a single, focused idea, delivered in well under 18 minutes, without a political or religious agenda.
Speaking at a small TEDx event is also a good first step for local experts who have never given a formal talk. The audience is small, the room is friendly, and the talk may end up online, which is often the goal.
Getting Involved
TEDx events run on volunteers, and TEDxProvo's debut leaned on the organizers' friends for everything from signs to sound. If you have skills in audio, video, design, event planning or hospitality, a small TEDx event is a place where they are genuinely needed. Reach out to the organizers through their website.
Businesses can support TEDx events as sponsors within TED's rules, which call for a static sponsor slide rather than commercials. The rules also bar TEDx events from separate ticketed fundraising events and crowdfunding campaigns, so support comes through tickets, sponsorship and in-kind help.
TEDx Around Utah Valley and the Wasatch Front
TEDxProvo is not the only TEDx event within reach of Provo. BYU has hosted its own TEDx events for years; BYU's student newspaper covered TEDx coming to campus in 2012 and a TEDxBYU at the Covey Center in 2015. University TEDx events are usually organized by students or campus programs and draw from their own communities.
To the north, TEDxSaltLakeCity is one of the region's longest-running TEDx events and announced its 14th annual event for September 26, 2026. It is a longer drive, but it gives Provo residents a second chance at a live TEDx event each year.
How It Compares With Provo's Other Big-Idea Events
Provo has a crowded calendar of talks and lectures, and TEDxProvo fits into it in a particular way. BYU's weekly devotionals and forums are free, large and open to the public, with a religious or academic focus that TEDx does not have. BYU Education Week packs hundreds of classes into a single week each summer. The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival is about stories performed rather than ideas argued.
TEDxProvo is smaller and more intimate than any of them, and it is the only one built around TED's short-talk format and a single theme. Its audience is a cross-section of the community rather than a campus crowd, and its speakers come from across the community.
A Few Practical Tips
Buy tickets as soon as they go on sale; with a small room, waiting is risky. Arrive early to find parking near the library and a seat with a clear view. Bring a notebook, and plan time after the event to talk with other attendees and the speakers.
If you miss the event, look for the talks online once they are released. And if an idea from the stage stays with you, remember that the next TEDxProvo may need speakers, volunteers and sponsors, all of whom come from the community.
The Short Version
TEDxProvo is Provo's independently organized TEDx event, run by local organizers under a license from TED and held at the Provo City Library at Academy Square. It debuted, sold out, in March 2025 and returned in February 2026 with the theme Resonance. TED's rules cap the in-person audience at 100 for events like it, keep talks short and free of political or religious agendas, and require a new license for each event, so dates are not fixed. Watch the organizers' website, TED's event listings and Eventbrite for the next one, and buy tickets early.
Related Guides
- The Provo City Library at Academy Square
- BYU Devotionals and Forums, Explained
- BYU Education Week
- The Timpanogos Storytelling Festival
- Things to Do in Provo
- Festivals and Celebrations in Utah County
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