What is TEDxPhoenix?

TEDxPhoenix aims to bring Arizona’s brightest and most innovative thinkers and doers together to help find solutions to the problems faced by our local and global communities.

TEDxPhoenix is a not-for-profit event that is brought to you by an incredible group of volunteers, sponsors, and speakers.

Our first event took place on November 6th, 2009 at the Mesa Arts Center, and we’re aiming to host our second event in November of 2010 — please stay tuned to the blog for the latest news.

Please visit the TEDxPhoenix FAQ page for additional information.

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The Evolution of TEDxPhoenix

To understand TEDxPhoenix, it helps to understand TED. TED was started in 1984 and the abbreviation stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design — three broad subject areas whose convergence has collectively been shaping our lives for over 20 years.

As TED has grown, so too has its focus — in addition to the “T-E-D” in TED, you also have scientists, educators, entrepreneurs, social activists, adventurers, and business leaders sharing their ideas and passions with the world. All knowledge is connected, and TED has become a place where people emerge from their daily routines and open their minds to a whole new world of ideas, possibilities, and inspiration.

In 2001, British publisher Chris Anderson acquired TED from its founder, Richard Saul Wurman. Chris realized that the amazing people at TED were full of inspiration and possibility, and this collective energy could be used to help solve the real problems of the world whether it was the energy crisis, poverty, obesity, fraud, racism, sexism, diminishing forests, vanishing species, epidemics, education… you name it, and there’s someone at TED doing something about it.

In 2006, TED began putting their most inspiring TEDTalks online in the hope of spreading compelling ideas throughout the world. In a five year span, TED grew from something that was only enjoyed by a few hundred people each year, to something that is enjoyed by 300,000 people each day.

In 2009, TED created the TEDx program to help bring the electric atmosphere of TED to cities around the world.

TEDxPhoenix is an independently organized, volunteer run, not-for-profit event. TED actually has little to do with the TEDxPhoenix event; they provide us with an organizer’s toolkit and the TED brand in the form of the TEDx logo, while TEDxPhoenix volunteers organize all aspects of the event from finding speakers and attendees, to raising sponsor money.

The goal of TEDxPhoenix is to bring together a community of Arizona’s brightest and most innovative thinkers who want to play a part in finding real solutions to our local and global problems; in the process, we hope to make our local communities a better place. TEDxPhoenix also plays a part in the global revolution in education that is being made possible by sharing our talks and knowledge with the world via the web.

Ultimately, TEDxPhoenix is being done for passion and for curiosity — we believe that collectively we can shape our future — and we want to provide people with knowledge, a rediscovery of wonder, and a sense of possibility.

We at TEDxPhoenix invite you to join us in making our local and global communities a better place through great ideas worth sharing.

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About TEDx, x=independently organize event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self- organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event.
The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.*

(*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.

TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED

TEDGlobal 2010, “And Now the Good News,” will be held July 13–16, 2010, in Oxford, UK. TED2011, “The Rediscovery of Wonder,” will be held February 21–25, 2011, in Long Beach, California, with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs, California.