06 March 2007

TED2007: pre-conference impressions

Minus one (day). TED2007 starts tomorrow Wednesday. The whole team is in Monterey getting things ready. Here a few impressions of today, starting with the preparation of the main stage:

Just outside, tech and decoration materials are being delivered:

Speakers' pictures are ready to be hung on the walls:

The simulcast room is being assembled:

In a separate room, the "gift bags" for the 1200 attendees are filled and stockpiled:

So we're almost ready to go:

There has been some news coverage of TED lately. One month ago CBS put online a 10-minutes video report on TED, who attends and what's discussed. This week's BusinessWeek has a story headlined "Forget Davos. I'm booked up for TED", while yesterday's New York Times describes "Where artists and investors plot to save the world". While both articles say great things about TED and compare it favorably to the Davos World Economic Forum however, it's worth pointing out that they almost contradict each other. BusinessWeek quotes a former attendee suggesting that TED has become mainly about connections with celebrities; the NY Times writes that TED is now mainly a do-good gathering discussing "photographs of genocide victims, environmentally sustainable AIDS clinics and water-purification systems".

Between glam celebrities and genocide victims, the truth is that the actual content -- the speakers and the ideas -- at TED this year promises to be more interesting than ever.

I will try to liveblog it starting tomorrow, with highlights on the TEDblog and full content on LunchOverIP. We are also planning to have daily summary podcasts. Other bloggers will be writing/podcasting from TED: check out in particular Ethan Zuckerman and Tom Guarriello. If you're blogging from the conference, leave a comment with your URL here: I will be composing a list of TED bloggers and publish it.

Posted by Bruno Giussani | Permalink | | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)