Ed note: This is guest post by Feministing Editor Emeritus Courtney E. Martin

I’ve spent part of my time this fall as part of a team that created TEDxWomen’s third annual gathering. The event is a wild one–a day and half of packed programming in Washington D.C. with over 150 local self-organized events tuning in via live stream from every time zone in the world. That’s 150,000 potential people listening in at any given time.

So, obviously, the planning committee takes our speaker selections experience pretty seriously. We poured over a wide range of possible speakers, trying to discern how each would fit best into the various themed sessions. It’s a complex process–more an art than a science, as one might imagine. This ...