Live from TED2018 TED Conferences

Go behind the scenes at TED2018 on Facebook and Instagram

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This week at TED2018, use Facebook and Instagram to look backstage at the conference and explore the ideas coming out of the conference. In our Facebook Live studio, host Manoush Zomorodi will interview speakers and attendees live through the week. Here, host Manoush Zomorodi, right, interviews comedian and activist Travon Free; watch that interview. Photo: Jason Redmond / TED

This year, TED is using Facebook and Instagram to give our online audience behind-the-scenes access to the ideas we’re discussing at TED2018: The Age of Amazement.

New for 2018, our online community will be able to join the conference via the Facebook Watch show TED: Backstage Pass. Throughout the week, we’ll offer exclusive interviews, live TED Talks, behind-the-scenes photos, and more. This will give fans unprecedented access to the conference from the comfort of their own homes, live as it happens.

For the first time ever, we will be livestreaming a full session of TED Talks, live from the stage in Vancouver, exclusively for the Facebook audience. During the livestream on April 11, we will reveal the first seven ideas selected by our newest initiative, The Audacious Project. Collectively, the projects will receive $250 million in funding. People can livestream the session exclusively on Facebook Watch and sign up for a reminder to watch it here.

We will be hosting Facebook Watch Parties for the livestream in three of our largest TED community Facebook Groups, enabling our global communities of TED-Ed Innovative Educators, TED Translators, and TEDx organizers to watch the sessions together in real time and discuss how their communities can help support the ideas.

This year, we’ve also built a Facebook Live studio, in partnership with Marriott Hotels, that will feature a week’s worth of interviews, hosted by Manoush Zomorodi, TED speaker and host of the Note to Self podcast. We’ll have conversations with Parkland teacher Diane Wolk-Rogers; comedian and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee writer Travon FreeHidden Figures producer Mimi Valdes; TED Fellow and “mad scientist” Andrew Pelling, who makes prosthetic body parts out of fruits and vegetables; influence expert Jon Levy; video genius Dylan Marron; and bail reformer Robin Steinberg. Viewers watching from home can check out all of the interviews live on Facebook Watch.

You can also follow TED2018 on Instagram. We hosted an Instagram #Empty at the Vancouver Art Museum, with a private tour of the Takashi Murakami exhibit hosted by the curator, along with influencers and special guests. We’re also leading an Instagram bike tour of local landmarks in gorgeous springtime Vancouver, including five public art installations. Watch the #TED2018 hashtag for images.

We’re excited that Facebook and Instagram are creating opportunities for us to open up the TED conference to our online audience, bringing them into the discussions and making our year-round audience a vital part of this once-a-year experience.