About TED Conferences
TED Conferences bring together a group of industry leaders and impactful people for unique, multi-day experiences dedicated to TED’s global mission of sharing meaningful new ideas.
Attendees have described TED as...
"A journey into the future in the company of those creating it.”
What is a TED Conference?
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design — three broad subject areas that are collectively shaping our world. But a TED conference is broader still, showcasing important research and ideas from all disciplines and exploring how they connect. The goal is to expand the imagination, make unexpected connections, inspire conversation and set the ball in motion for meaningful learning and change.
At a TED Conference you’ll…
Become part of a community
Speakers take the TED stage to share TED Talks in their areas of research and expertise about innovations that matter. But TED isn't a typical conference, and speakers aren’t the only ones with great ideas to share. The community of attendees — scientists, CEOs, designers, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, artists — from all around the world are as extraordinary as the speakers.
TED INSIGHT SERIES EVENTS
TED’s flagship conferences are renowned for bringing together multidisciplinary ideas — spanning science, technology, the arts and human development — on a single stage. Building on this tradition, TED has now expanded to include events that dive deeper into specific topics to provide more focused, actionable insights for audiences passionate about key areas.
The inaugural Insight event, held in 2023, explored artificial intelligence — an area where TED is uniquely positioned to illuminate cutting-edge developments, global perspectives, and the evolving relationship between humanity and technology. In 2025, Sports joined the roster, and in 2026, we’re expanding into new domains such as Food and Space.
Each of these events are curated and organized — often independently — by experienced members of the TED community, in collaboration with TED. Varying in shape, scope and scale, these gatherings represent our evolving approach to spotlighting ideas within distinct areas of interest.
Upcoming events
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TEDAI San Francisco
A two-day TED event in the core of Silicon Valley, exploring the impact and power of AI. Experience TED Talks, insightful fireside chats, experiences, panels and unforgettable side events. TEDAI San Francisco is curated and organized by Sam and Walter de Brouwer, in collaboration with TED.
Join us
Many of our events are made up of a curated audience and include an application process. We read every application and actively seek out new members.
Thank you for supporting TED’s mission
TED is a non-profit and we rely on support from our community to further our goal of making great ideas accessible and helping create a future worth pursuing for all.
When you apply for a TED membership, you’re not just purchasing a conference experience – you’re directly supporting TED’s mission to share powerful ideas with the world.
how your membership supports TED
The impact of a conference membership contribution extends well beyond the conference and helps fund the following initiatives:
Communicating ideas across languages and borders
Policies
Before you apply for conference membership, please familiarize yourself with the registration policies. The specific rules may depend upon the level of membership for an event.
Code of Conduct
All attendees of TED Conferences agree to our Code of Conduct before joining us on site. This helps to create a safe and inclusive environment for all attendees.
Past Conferences
TED began as a small conference in Monterey, California. That single conference has grown into various multi-day annual events, all dedicated to TED’s global mission of researching and sharing meaningful new ideas.
Most conferences are broad in scope, such as our annual TED Conference held in Vancouver, Canada. Occasionally we hold deep-dive conferences more focused on one subject area, such as the Countdown Summit held in Edinburgh, Scotland.