TED Raises Curtain on TEDGlobal 2011 Conference, "The Stuff of Life"

NEW YORK, July 11, 2011 -

850 participants
arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland for four-day program featuring 70
talks, performances and cutting-edge technology

TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, opens its
annual Europe-based TEDGlobal conference today in Edinburgh,
Scotland. The conference shares the same format as its twin event
in Long Beach, CA: inspired thinkers and doers from around the
globe take the stage for talks, performances and demonstrations
across dozens of disciplines.  This year’s TEDGlobal
conference theme is “The Stuff of Life.”

The TEDGlobal 2011 conference will gather 850 attendees from
over 30 countries at the Edinburgh International Conference Center
to watch more than 70 main-stage talks and performances from some
of the world’s leading thinkers across a wide range of disciplines,
as well as another 30 or so short talks, demos and less formal TED
University talks.  The conference will be streamed live to
people around the globe, including at independently organized
events affiliated with TED under the TEDx program.

“TEDGlobal combines a cross-section of today’s very best global
thinking, a new class of extraordinary TED Fellows, over 60 TEDx
organizers joining us from all over the world, forward-thinking
brand partners, and, of course, it will feature a surprise or two,”
says TED’s European Director Bruno Giussani, who curated this
week’s conference program.  ”We’re particularly excited about
our speakers, who will celebrate life in all its forms.”

Speakers will cover a wide spectrum of topics, and come from all
continents. A number of innovative technologies will also be
unveiled for the first time at the conference.  TEDGlobal 2011
speakers and performers include:

• Malcom Gladwell, author of “The Tipping Point”
• Danielle de Niese, soprano
• Abraham Verghese, physician and author
• David Adjaye, architect
• Yang Lan, Chinese media entrepreneur
• Bunker Roy, Indian education activist
• Svante Paabo, geneticist
• Thandie Newton, actress
• Pauline Chen, surgeon
• Lee Cronin, chemist

At the conference, TED’s award-winning video team will be
editing talks direct from the stage to share with the world,
through its TEDTalks podcast series, which recently surpassed half
a billion views. TEDGlobal 2011 TEDTalks will begin to appear on
TED.com starting next week and throughout the coming year.

A number of exciting brands and companies have partnered with
TEDGlobal to share ideas and foster an atmosphere of innovation.
 This year’s partners include: Allianz, Arup, Audi, Autodesk,
Baillie Gifford, BlackBerry, Delta, Deutsche Telekom, Dewar’s, the
Dow Chemical Company, frog, GE, Google, Icebreaker, Jawbone, IEC,
Levi’s, Lombard Odier, (RED), Renault-Nissan, Shell, and
Steelcase.

The detailed TEDGlobal program and more information can be found
online here: href="conferences.ted.com/TEDGlobal2011/">conferences.ted.com/TEDGlobal2011/
.

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  href="ted.com/">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 David Cameron. The annual TED
Conference takes place each spring in Long Beach, California, along
with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held
each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

TED’s media initiatives include  href="ted.com/">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  href="twitter.com/TEDTalks">twitter.com/TEDTalks,
or on Facebook at  href="www.facebook.com/TED">www.facebook.com/TED

Contact: Margaret Sullivan, href="mailto:TED@groupsjr.com">TED@groupsjr.com, +1 (646)
519-1350

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