This Week: Live from the TED Conference

Right now, I'm on my way to the TED conference, one of the most renowned events for global thought leaders in the world. For the next five days, I'll be surrounded by new ideas and, frankly, a lot of people who have the power to make those ideas happen.

While TED’s origins go back a long way, it’s only since TED started making its talks available for free to the public in 2006 that it has morphed from a must-attend insiders' event to a true leader in the fight to, as I wrote last year, “make the world safe for smart.”

Since the first videos were posted on TED.com, TED talks have been viewed more than 200 million times. This is no not-fly-by-night video fad. These are intensely intellectual and creative talks meant to prod and stretch the mind into new shapes and modes of thinking.

Over the last year, TED has launched a new program to expand the audience even further, the TEDx program. TEDx gives people around the world the ability to use TED talks as a platform for hosting their own local events. In the first year, 230 events were held in 80 countries. This year, some 350+ are planned.

Yet the main conference, held annually in Long Beach, CA, remains the intellectual mecca and heartbeat of the community. From now until Saturday, I’ll be blogging about the people, ideas and spaces I encounter there. Some of what I'm most excited about includes:

1. The Fellows Program – In its second year, the Fellows program gives 25 new fellows and 20 senior fellows (returning from last year’s fellowship classes) the chance to return to TED. The 25 members of the fellows class are incredibly diverse and wildly talented.

2. The Social Spaces – Believe it or not, I’m perhaps more excited about the series of almost 10 hang-out spots that members of the TED community are hosting. They range from places for the “global soul” to a hub for techies. They haven’t opened yet, but I think that conversations that happen in such meet-ups will be one of the highlights.

3. Unexpected Brilliance – One of the characteristics that seems to shape TED talks -– even online –- is that you can never tell which speakers will pound you in the guts or scream to your soul. I’m obviously looking forward to talks by folks like Bill Gates, and anti-trafficking leader Kevin Bates, but I have literally no idea which of the other talks will grab me.

4. CrossPollination – I love sector-specific events like the Skoll Forum, and I think places with a high density of people in a related field can be magical (hence my move to San Francisco to start a web company). But TED is about the interaction that happens when you get great folks from across sectors and disciplines together. I’ll be doing my best to capture that mood and mode while I’m there all this week, so stay tuned!

Photo Credit: TEDConferences