TED-Ed Clubs offer students the opportunity to discover, explore, and present their big ideas in the form of short, TED-style talks. Connect Week is a chance for TED-Ed Club Members in different parts of the world to gather together at one time, in one place, to talk about ideas. This global community event is one of the coolest things about being in a TED-Ed Club. The next Connect Week is happening November 2-9. If you’re thinking about starting a TED-Ed Club, join in this Connect Week! For more information, read on. To participate, register here.

Connect Week brings together hundreds of students to talk about ideas in hour-long online video calls hosted by the TED-Ed Team. Each video call is a chance for students in different Clubs to share everything from their favorite video games and holidays to their thoughts on mushroom suits and hoverboards. During a video call, Club Members also share their ideas with each other and give supportive feedback as they prepare to give their talks. You don’t need special software to join — if you have a phone or internet connection, you’re all set. To see what Connect Week is all about, watch this video!

Here are a few ways to make the most of your Connect Week experience:

• Come as you are. Whether you’re thinking about starting a Club or just filled out your End of Cycle survey, Connect Week is great no matter where your Club is in its cycle.
• Get your whole Club involved. The more ideas on a call, the more inspiration we can generate. We’ll also make time to share things like: What do people eat for midnight snacks where you live? What YouTube video is everyone watching right now? What kind of music is your favorite?
• Be prepared to talk. You’ll be chatting with people who may not know very much about where you and your Club Members are coming from, so get ready to share.
• Ask questions on the call. You’ll have lots of expertise available to you, so take advantage of that by making sure you bring ALL your questions about TED-Ed Clubs/TED Talks/and everything else with you!
• Most importantly, talk to each other! The TED-Ed Team will be facilitating these video calls, but we’re going to try to keep our comments to a minimum so you can talk to each other — you are the ones with the best ideas!

So grab your friends and join hundreds of the world’s best and brightest TED-Ed Club Members from around the world in the festivities! We look forward to seeing you here.

Last year, TED-Ed Club Connect Week launched a spontaneous global dance party that began trending in the TED community and hasn’t stopped since! Who knows what 2016 will bring? Connect Week is Jan 19-25: Reserve your spot now! 

Connects are global online meet-ups for TED-Ed Club members from around the world. When you join a Connect, you join an hour-long, real-time dialogue with club members all over the world.

During Connects, club members have the chance to learn and chat about everything from the local favorite midnight snack to the latest trending hashtags. But the main purpose of Connect sessions is to let students share their Big Ideas with each other and trade tips, tricks and supportive feedback as they prepare for their TED-Ed Club Video.

Our last Connect Week of 2015 brought together more than 500 students from over 29 countries. Our goal is to double that number in 2016, and we need your club to help.

Make sure to secure your club’s spot (or let us know you’re opting-out) by FRIDAY JANUARY 8! Sign up here.

If you still need more convincing, check out this video of Connect Weeks past.

More than 10,000 students are now sharing and presenting their ideas in TED-Ed Clubs around the world. Interested in starting a TED-Ed Club at your school? Find out more.

Nesibe Aydın Middle School TED-Ed Club, TURKEY

What happens when students around the world connect online to exchange ideas? Last week, the TED-Ed staff found out. Below, 5 things we learned during TED-Ed Club Connect Week:

CrossRoads Middle School TED-Ed Club, USA; Sparkling Mindz TED-Ed Club, INDIA; Peniel Middle School’s TED-Ed Club, KOREA; W.T. Townshend’s TED-ED Club, CANADA

1. That when you connect TED-Ed Clubs across international boundaries, you wind up with some really cool cross-cultural exchanges. One memory we love: Listening to students in India talk about spices with students in Canada, Korea and the United States.

Asociacion Escuela Lincoln’s TED-Ed Club, ARGENTINA

2. That students everywhere enjoy talking about music, video games and graphic novels. One favorite moment: when students from several TED-Ed Clubs exchanged suggestions about what to listen to and read next.

GEMS Our Own Dubai TED-Ed Club, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

3. That in TED-Ed Clubs all over the world, some of the same topics are coming up and being talked about. From researching endangered species to dealing with depression, these ideas are important to club members of all ages.

The Overseas School of Colombo’s TED-Ed Club, SRI LANKA

4. That some of the best presentation and preparation tips come from TED-Ed Club members. For example: in one Connect, a student who had just presented her talk had a great suggestion for a student who was just about to present a talk: if you’re feeling nervous, take three deep breaths before taking the stage.

Lazuardi TED-Ed Club, INDONESIA

5. That connecting TED-Ed Clubs around the world is one of our favorite weeks of work. Here in the TED-Ed office, we can’t stop talking about how inspiring the student ideas were in all participating clubs — and how much we loved batting back and forth ideas from kids all over the globe.

If you’re a student in a TED-Ed Club, join us for the next TED-Ed Club Connect Week!

TED-Ed Clubs support students in developing 21st century presentation skills — while stimulating and celebrating the creative ideas put forth by students from all over the world. This week, more than 100 TED-Ed Clubs — representing more than 20 countries — are connecting online to share and build on each other’s presentation ideas during hour-long TED-Ed Club Connect sessions. Check out some of our group selfies:

Aviv High School’s TED-Ed Club & The STEM Academy’s TED-Ed Club

Churchville’s TED-Ed Club & EAGLE 7′s TED-Ed Club

Antioch’s TED-Ed Club, NextTier’s TED-Ed Club & Asociacion Escuela Lincoln’s TED-Ed Club

V Liceum’s TED-Ed Club

Owen Intermediate’s TED-Ed Club, Goddard Middle School’s TED-Ed Club & Aptakisic-Tripp’s TED-Ed Club

1st Experimental Primary School’s TED-Ed Club, Nesibe Aydın Middle School’s TED-Ed Club & The Millennium School Surat’s TED-Ed Club