Event Review: TED and TEDx

If you’re new here, creating better connections is the most important thing for us at Expeeriences. We create and curate simple yet meaningful ways to connect with people, and we’re always on the lookout for companies with the same goals in mind.

That’s what brought us to take a closer look at TED and TEDx events. While creating better connections isn’t the ultimate end goal for TED, the organization is passionate about spreading good ideas, and they have successfully built a community of people who are equally passionate. TED event-goers engage with each other both online and offline at conferences.

TED hosts an annual conference in Vancouver as well as several other conferences around the world throughout the year. If you’re interested in learning more about TED, you’ve come to the right place.

The history

The first-ever TED conference occurred in 1984 when founders Richard Saul Wurman and Harry Marks decided to hold a conference centered around three ideas: Technology, Entertainment, and Design (that’s what TED stands for). The pair originally planned for the conference to be a one-off, but it went so well that they knew it could turn into something bigger.

The first TED conference featured a talk by the mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot, a 3-D graphics demonstration, and a demo of the then-new compact disk, among other things. Although the line-up was on point, the cost the founders a pretty penny and the pair wasn’t able to try again until 1990. By this time, the rest of the world had started to become just as interested in technology as Wurman and Marks, and the 1990 conference in Monterey, California was a hit.

In the beginning, the conference was invite-only which also added to its allure for most attendees. As the years went on, more speakers from different fields such a theology, philosophy, business, and music were also invited to give presentations.

In 2000, the entrepreneur Chris Anderson approached Wurman to talk about the future of TED. The two struck a deal and in 2001, Anderson’s nonprofit organization, the Sapling Foundation, took control of the conference with Anderson at the head.

Since Anderson has taken control of TED, the organization has expanded greatly. The first expansion was the TEDGlobal conference which is held in various places around the world. Then, in 2006, TED began to release its conferences online. By 2012, TED videos had been viewed by over a billion people.

The concept

According to its website, TED’s mission is to “spread ideas.” It’s clear from reading the site that TED is passionate about spreading good ideas in order to make a change in people’s lives. Their hope is that if they can positively influence just one person, that one person could go on to positively change the world.

TED isn’t just TED and TEDx conferences. Since Anderson acquired the company, several new related projects have emerged such as TEDGlobal, TED Fellows, TED Women, and TED-Ed. TED Global events celebrate innovations and creativity found all over the world. TED Fellows is a program in which young people are invited to participate in a TED event free of charge. TED Women is focused on women’s issues and TED-Ed is a YouTube channel that offers free educational videos.

The difference between TED and TEDx

Some of you may be wondering the difference between a TED conference and a TEDx conference, and rightfully so! To put things simply, TED exists at a global level while TEDx exists at a local level.

TEDx events will usually welcome community leaders to speak and the conference itself is more focused on local issues. These events are also run by the community leaders themselves. TED conferences will focus more on universal issues that can impact people all over the world, and the officially TED conference occurs once a year in Vancouver.

The line-up

The speakers at any TED or TEDx vary each year. Past speakers at the TED conference have included Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall, Elon Musk, J.J Abrams, and Madeleine Albright. The speakers tend to be fairly well known (at least in their fields), but speaking spots aren’t reserved for celebrities. The diversity of their speakers is one of the reasons people love their content.

TED began as a conference that focused on technology, entertainment, and design, and since then has branched out widely. If you can think of a subject, chances are there’s a TED “talk” for that.

The set-up

TED and TEDx speakers are only allowed to speak for 18-minutes making the talks easy to digest. A conference usually takes place across several days and features numerous speakers, performances, and demonstrations.

If you’d like to attend a TED event, you should be prepared to fill out an application and to pay an extremely high price tag. The price of these events is one of the major criticisms against TED. TED is a nonprofit organization, but they charge people upwards of $5,000 to attend their conferences, and the speakers do not get paid. Critics wonder, where does all of that money go?

Again, according to the TED website, money earned from ticket sales goes into helping make TED talk videos available for free to the masses, help with the TED Fellow and TED-Ed programs, as well as mobile app development.

Our verdict

We’re pretty much split down the middle here at Expeeriences when it comes to our opinion on TED. Some members of our team love what they do, while others aren’t so crazy about it. I asked around to get the scoop from both sides.

Those of us who like TED and TEDx say that the general idea behind the organization is what makes it interesting. The fact that most TED content is released online for free is also an advantage. Sharing ideas with those who wouldn’t normally be able to hear them is something that we can really get behind. Personally, I love watching talks from some of my favorite authors in particular. In some sense, it makes me feel closer to my literary.

Those of us who aren’t crazy about TED say that while the general idea behind the organization is great, the execution is lacking. Are the speakers that TED invites actually groundbreaking or world-changing? My coworkers say that while TED talks can be interesting, they probably won’t go on to change the world. One coworker humorously compared a TED talk to “intellectual take out” *insert LOL here.*

Another criticism that I think we can all agree on is the exorbitant price tag of attending a TED conference. To be frank, an average American probably can’t afford the $5,000 price tag. There is even the ridiculous “patron” ticket which will get you into the conference for 5 years — if you’re willing to pay $250,000. The fact that speakers are not paid for their work is also something we find disheartening.

Like with anything, TED boasts plenty of pros and cons. Perhaps if TED better their speaker selection and lowered their price tag for their live events, we’d be more apt to be completely on board.

This year, in the face of the global pandemic, the annual TED conference will take place from May 18-July 10, 2020. The major differences? Instead of a 5-day conference, TED will be releasing new videos Monday-Friday for 8 weeks. There will also be no in-person attendees allowed. It will be interesting to see how these changes will affect the event.

Originally published at https://expeeriences.com on May 27, 2020.