Program overview
The best moments at TED have often come from unexpected places. But this year, we're pushing that to an entirely new level. We're staging a global talent search to bring together the most remarkable lineup in TED's history. A series of special TED salons in cities around the world will enable us to discover a broad new array of thinkers and doers. And the best of them will be invited to California in February 2013 to share their work with the world. Welcome to TED2013: The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered.
For TED2013, we're going to leverage TED's expanding footprint to do something special: a worldwide talent search to bring together the most remarkable lineup in TED's history.
From April - June 2012, we will hold special TED events in 14 cities on six continents seeking to uncover new talents, voices and ideas the world needs to hear: emerging trailblazers, under-celebrated sages, hidden geniuses.
As with every TED, we will weave together a potent mix of presentations, covering creativity, invention, business, science and the most pressing global issues. But the way we're doing it represents a leap of ambition, and a commitment to the power of the crowd. We expect that at least half of our line-up will come from this global search. And we will invite you and others around the world to cast your votes on who gets invited!
Anyone can apply to present. But we're especially looking for:
- THE INVENTOR ... sharing an innovation with world-changing potential
- THE TEACHER ... sharing valuable knowledge in a memorable way - to teenagers or adults
- THE PRODIGY ... young talent ready to break out
- THE ARTIST ... who can showcase their work in a compelling, new way (Don't just talk about it. Show us your work!)
- THE PERFORMER ... music, dance, comedy, drama... or something entirely different
- THE SAGE ... wisdom the world needs from those who have learned it the hard way
- THE ENTHUSIAST ... with an infectious passion about a topic they can share
- THE CHANGE-AGENT ... helping shape the world's future with work that matters
- THE STORY-TELLER ... vivid, original, meaningful ... with a talent for connection
- THE SPARK ... with a powerful idea worth spreading
We're betting on this process delivering the most thrilling TED conference in history.
Of course, we will still pull in many well-known speakers the old-fashioned way. And we'll still use all our curatorial instincts to weave the pieces together effectively. But make no mistake. This TED will be special!
The TED2013 experience includes:
- A four-day stage program featuring TED's famous 18-minute talks, plus music, comedy, dance, short talks, video and other surprises.
- TED University: Three sessions where TEDsters share their own expertise, from "How to negotiate a term sheet" to "How to break a board with your bare hands."
- Evening events, art exhibits, tech demos, test drives, and other immersive on-site experiences
- Caffeine-fueled conversation breaks between sessions
- Social Spaces, where you can watch TED in an informal setting -- on couches, beds, beanbag chairs; while blogging, tweeting, eating, networking ...
- The TED Gift Bag
- Online tools for connecting with other attendees, before and after the conference
- TED Book Club mailings