David Wiggs, organizer of the TEDx Bellingham event, which happened last November, was introduced by Debbie Ahl. TED was founded in 1984 as a forum to share innovative new ideas. In 1990, TED became an annual conference. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. “TED Talks” have become very popular. TED speakers must comply with many rules. Speakers get no more than eighteen minutes; they can’t use notes; and they must tell a story.
The annual conference came to be viewed as elitist (only 800 attendees at a cost of $6,000 each). So, in 2006, to break down the barriers, the TED organization put all the TED Talks online. TED Talks have been viewed over one billion times. There used to be 800 people per year who attended the TED conference; now, one million people view TED Talks each day.
In 2008, the TED organization took another step to spread its goal of disseminating inspiring and innovative ideas: it gave individuals the right to use the TED brand to put on TED conferences of their own. The “x” in TEDx denotes an independently organized event. Currently, over 1,200 cities have hosted TEDx events. TEDx organizers must apply for a (free) license to use the TED brand, and must follow rules laid out by the TED organization in order to ensure that the TEDx events represent the ideals and standards of the original.
David was inspired to organize TEDx Bellingham because he was so impressed with Bellingham’s citizens and wanted to shine a light on them. The eighteen speakers at the original TEDx Bellingham event have been viewed online over 90,000 times. David is already working on the next TEDx Bellingham event, which will take place in the first quarter of 2015. TEDx Bellingham is all volunteer-run, and for the original event there were fifteen members of the core team, with thirty volunteers participating the day of the event. David encouraged Club members to explore TED Talks online and assured Club members that there is something for everyone. David also said he’d love to have Club members become involved in TEDx Bellingham in anticipation of the next event. David then led an interesting question and answer session.
Tim Fisher was our lucky raffle winner.
