When was the last time you were at a conference when a speaker -- any speaker -- received a standing ovation? Forget the famous or exceptional who receive a standing "O" simply as reward for time served. I mean heartfelt and emotionally charged jump to your feet enthusiasm? The annual TED Conference, which has been the subject of recent features in The New York Times and Business Week, has always featured a handful of standing ovations from its esteemed audience for those few speakers who were truly outstanding among a field of typically outstanding talks.
I have attended twelve TEDs since 1992 (including TED events in Toronto and New York) and I can't recall any past TED that included as many standing ovations as the one just concluded Saturday at the Monterey Conference Center, where the events have been held since founded by Richard Saul Wurman in 1984.
TED was acquired in 2001 by former Future Publishing magazine founder and Oxford graduate Chris Anderson, and profits from TED now flow through his Sapling Foundation "to offer help where it is most needed by leveraging the power of ideas, technology, media and markets." Each year, a TED committee identifies three worthy causes that many TED members also pledge to support with both time and funding.
All but a few of the 45 featured speakers, each of whom received 18 minutes on stage, and 30 three-minute presentations, were given standing ovations. And among those who did not receive a standing ovation, only one, self-proclaimed conjurer and magician James Randi, was undeserving of the TED stage. More than a handful were dazzling in their importance, sincerity and value, including a presentation by former President Bill Clinton announcing a major global commitment of private investment to build a world class health and medical infrastructure in Rwanda; a presentation by famed photojournalist James Nachtway in response to a TED commitment of funding for a confidential privately funded photographic foray into an unannounced territory; and important comments by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former (female) Nigerian Finance Minister who shared a message of hope for Africa that is a must-see (several TED presentations are being made available online and were aired live at Second Life).
Presenters relevant to the media and entertainment community included Sir Richard Branson; gaming pioneer Will Wright (Sims), who shared a first look at his new game, Spore, which is scheduled to be released in September; Lost creator JJ Abrams, who told how his inspiration came from his grandfather and his passion for mystery; and Participant Productions' founder Jeff Skoll (An Inconvenient Truth, Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck), who discussed his success combining entertainment with cause-related passions. Standing ovations were also forthcoming for basketball great Kareem Abdul Jabbar; planetary scientist Carolyn Porco; biologist EO Wilson, who was granted TED funding to expand his study of insects; global health visionary and statistics symbologist Hans Rosling, who stunned the crowd with a sword swallowing feat to end his presentation; author and women's rights activist Isabel Allende; graphic designer John Maeda; Stanford University professor and Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig; Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann; MOMA design curator Paola Antonelli; biologist Paul Ewald; explorer Bill Stone, who is mounting an expedition to the moon; and evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker, among others.
Entertainment is integrated throughout the TED agenda, with most performers also sitting through most of the event. Paul Simon, Tracy Chapman, brilliant singer Raul Midón, poet extraordinaire Rives, and They Might be Giants entertained along with Thomas Dolby and the Jazz Mafia, who performed throughout the event.
Several three minute talks also elicited standing ovations, including an amazing presentation by architect Eric R. Kuhne, whose company has received funding from the Amir of Kuwait to build a 92-square mile city for 700,000 to one million people on the shores of the Euphrates River. The City of Silk, laid out in an Arabic-influenced series of neighborhoods and commerce surrounding parks and walks, will feature the world's first building to top a kilometer in height. The building will include a Jewish temple, a Christian church and a Muslim mosque under a single roof.
Last year, former Vice President Al Gore gave a huge boost to An Inconvenient Truth when Anderson broke his 18-minutes per speaker rule and devoted a full evening to a live presentation by the Vice President. Within days, film producer Lawrence Bender, who joined the Vice President for the full four days of TED, had promises of distribution and marketing support from several private and public sources, including NetFlix and Google. Kleiner Perkins' John Doerr sustained TED's focus on global warming issues this year with an impassioned talk that generated commitments of ongoing support from more than 200 TEDsters. Bender returned this year with several more Hollywood players, including Goldie Hawn, Cameron Diaz, Forest Whitaker and Daryl Hannah. Meg Ryan and Daphne Zuniga returned for their second TED; Zuniga is putting the finishing touches on a documentary she made last year at TED with funding and distribution support from NetFlix.
Simpsons' creator Matt Groening returned for his seventh TED and it was the 12th TED for William Morris Agency executive Paul Bricault, who is also working to increase Hollywood presence at TED. Most of the stars, and business leaders like Google's Sergey Brin, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, and Branson maintained TED etiquette by attending TED sessions and hanging around for networking breaks and informal social networking parties. YouTube's Chad Hurley attended for days one and two of the four days of talks. ABC head of alternative, special and late night programming Andrea Wong was a TED first-timer, joining only a handful of network executives including NBC's Beth Comstock, Cox Enterprises Debbie Ruth (who met her fiancé at last year's TED), A&E's Jim Turner, MTV Network's Fred Graver, and Corus Television's Susan Schaefer. Mediabistro's Laurel Touby was also a TED first-timer and several magazine companies are represented, including Meredith (Heather Perram) and Conde Nast (S.I. Newhouse IV, Blaise Zerega and Ronda Carnegie.)
After Anderson acquired TED from Wurman he quickly changed the vision from an annual gathering of about 450 of Wurman's invited guests (who included the emerging glitterati of Silicon Valley such as Doerr, Bezos, John Warnock and occasionally Bill Gates), who
heard about breakthroughs in Technology, Entertainment and
For next year, Anderson converted TED from a fee-based conference to a multi-thousand dollar tax-deductible membership program that already has a waiting list several hundred deep. Although there is convenience attached to main room access vs. an adjacent simulcast room, there is little hierarchy to involvement and participation at TED. AIDS activists, biologists, inventors, environmentalists, community leaders, educators, business executives, thought leaders and hopeful entrepreneurs interact freely with global leaders, entertainers and many of Silicon Valley's wealthiest entrepreneurs. Only an estimated one-quarter of this year's attendees are holdovers from the Wurman era and several, like RGA's Robert Greenberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, have not returned. Others, like Doerr, Bezos, Jim Young, and Google's Brin and Larry Page, have continued to be active supporters. General Motors, BMW, Lexus and Tesla featured new energy-saving vehicles and major TED sponsors include Steelcase, Sony, Google and BMW.
Rules for speakers are strict. Wurman imposed an impresario-like control over the talks, always overseeing a stage elaborately adorned with Knoll Furniture and Dale Chiluly glass sculptures. Anderson's stage is starkly empty by contrast. Under Wurman, each talk could last no longer than 20 minutes and if anyone in the crowd dare call out in protest when Wurman cut-off an overly wordy speaker, that person might be banished from future TEDs. Other rules included no selling from the stage, no self-promotion, no notes, and every talk had to be created exclusively for TED. The only caveat on subject matter was that the speaker be passionate about the topic. Anderson has maintained, but relaxed, most of the rules and he is more open to audience feedback, even hosting a short "town meeting" on the final day.
Most conferences, even the World Economic Forum at Davos and Herb Allen's Sun Valley retreat are typically more about networking opportunities than about content. At TED, content is truly king, with the audience so enthused, motivated and responsive that networking with fellow TEDsters to discuss the talks and issues is almost essential to avoid total brain overload. The true impact of TED is felt after the event as support is generated for many of the speakers' causes. It's no wonder that hundreds are already on waiting lists for future events, although Anderson remains committed to maintaining the intimacy and cozy environment of the Monterey Conference Center.