TEDxOxford

TED is a global phenomenon that is changing the way the world thinks. Established in 1984 as a nonprofit organization dedicated to discussing the three emerging fields of Technology, Entertainment and Design, it has since emerged as a universal hub of intellectual curiosity. TED facilitates conferences around the world, which bring together incredible people with varying interests, passions and talents, encouraging them to teach each other what they know best. TED is fully multidisciplinary, discussing ideas from all fields and specialities. Their slogan is ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’.

The first TED conference in 1984 saw early demonstrations of the newly released Mac computer and the Sony compact disc. Subsequent TED events have seen Bill Gates exploring alternate energy sources, Jane Goodall explaining what separates us from apes, Bill Clinton deliberating a health care system in Rwanda, Stephen Hawking answering the big questions of the cosmos, Philippe Starck discussing design, Bono calling to action on Africa, and Al Gore giving the talk that spawned ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. Other TED speakers have included David Blaine, J.J. Abrams, Tim Berners-Lee, David Cameron, Karen Armstrong, Stephen Pinker, Elizabeth Gilbert, James Cameron, Jimmy Wales, James Watson, and Peter Gabriel.

TED’s innovative format - ‘18 minutes of inspiration’ - has been revered by all circles; Bruno Giussani, the TEDster who pioneered the concept says that “it’s too short for an academic to do their standard 45-minute presentation and too long to improvise. You have to prepare and have to take a fresh approach”. Since putting their talks online at TED.com, TED has become an internet sensation, with their videos having generated hundreds of millions of views. Recently, a TED application was made for Apple’s and Android’s App Store and was used in the television advertising campaign for Apple’s iPad.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, independently organised TED events. TEDxOxford 2011 was different from other TED and TEDx events in one major way: instead of the conference being exclusively for the leaders of today’s world, the audience consisted of 100 of the world’s most passionate, engaging and innovative youths between the ages 16 and 25: the leaders of tomorrow's world. With an audience filled with such ambition and aspiration, these stimulating talks and discussions truly had the power to change the world. This extraordinary event took place on September 26th 2011 and since then many more TEDxOxford Conferences have taken place.

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