What's held by motivator -- a TED talk (5)
I believe the answer is:
orate
'talk' is the definition.
(to orate is to give a speech)
'what's held by motivator a ted' is the wordplay.
'what's held by' says the answer is hidden in the clue.
'ORATE' can be found hidden inside 'motivator a ted'.
(Other definitions for orate that I've seen before include "Give speech" , "Deliver a speech" , "Pontificate" , "Speechify" , "Make a pompous speech" .)