TED means Technology, Entertainment and Design
TED is a 4-day annual meeting held in California since 1984. Speakers from all countries inform (and entertain) each other with brief lectures about their expertise. Dozens of speakers will take their turn at a meeting. TED's goal is to give great thinkers and makers a stage to convince the public of their vision. The presentations last up to 18 minutes. The presentations are recorded and are accessible on their website, this way the good ideas about the world have to be disseminated. The presentations themselves are made as accessible as possible, so no heavy theoretical PowerPoint presentations. It is therefore not about the deeper knowledge, but about understanding and awareness of applications that contribute to a better world. The topics are diverse: from environmental pollution to innovative technology, from a better world for wildlife to reducing stress. The idea has now been followed up in other cities such as TEDxAmsterdam (where the ' x ' Dan stat for independently organized TED event).
The 10 most viewed TEDtalks [YouTube] 70DEC2B0568B5469 [/youtube]