TED Unveils TED2011 Speakers Program

Four-day stage program features 18-minute talks, music, comedy, dance, short talks, video and other surprises

NEW YORK, January 10, 2011 - TED, the nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, announces today its
speaker line-up for TED2011, the organization's flagship conference. This
year's program includes a range of explorers, storytellers, photographers,
scientific pioneers, visionaries and provocateurs from all parts of the globe
– and for the first time, features sessions curated by innovators Bill Gates
and Juan Enriquez. Themed "The Rediscovery of Wonder," TED2011 will take
place from February 28 through March 4 in Long Beach, CA.

"For 2011, we've assembled a cast of characters capable of stirring the
imagination as never before," says TED Curator Chris Anderson. "With the help
of innovative guest curators, we've assembled a program that will awe
attendees and remote audiences alike. And we won't be forgetting the other,
harder-edged meaning of wonder — where "I wonder" equals "I ponder." We'll
be adding in strong servings of thoughtful insight, so that the possibilities
we dream of are anchored in reality."

The TED2011 speakers program:

    Session 1: Monumental
    Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler, Puppeteers
    David Brooks, Columnist
    Indra Nooyi, Chair and CEO, PepsiCo
    Eric Whitacre, Composer, Conductor

    Session 2: Majestic
    Paul Nicklen, Polar photographer
    Sarah Marquis, Explorer
    Bobby McFerrin, Musician

    Session 3: Mindblowing
    Carlo Ratti, Architect and Engineer
    Aaron Koblin, Data artist
    Homaro Cantu, Chef
    Antony Hegarty, Musician, Visual artist

    Session 4: Worlds Imagined
    Morgan Spurlock, Filmmaker
    Beatrice Coron, Papercutter artist
    Julie Taymor, Director, Designer

    Session 5: Deep Mystery
    Deb Roy, Cognitive scientist
    Felisa Wolfe-Simon, Geobiochemist
    Antonio Damasio Neuroscientist
    Maya Beiser, Cellist

    Session 6: Knowledge Revolution - Curated and hosted by Bill Gates
    David Christian, Historian
    Amina Ibrahim, Educator
    Salman Khan, Educator
    Bruce Aylward, Epidemiologist

    Session 7: Radical Collaboration
    Edith Widder, Biologist, Conservationist
    JR, Street artist

    Session 8: Invention & Consequence
    Edward Tenner, Historian of technology and culture
    Dennis Hong, Roboticist
    Bill Ford, Executive chair, Ford Motor Co.

    Session 9: Threads of Discovery - Curated and hosted by Juan Enriquez
    Ed Boyden, Neuroengineer
    Fiorenzo Omenetto, Biomedical engineer
    Janet Echelman, Artist
    Christina Lampe-Onnerud, Energy expert
    Anthony Atala, Surgeon
    George Daley, Hematologist

    Session 10: Tales of Enchantment
    Shea Hembrey, Artist and curator
    Sarah Kay, Poet
    Sunni Brown, Visualizer and gamestorming
    Kate Hartman, Artist and technologist
    Jason Mraz, Musician

    Session 11: The Echo of Time
    Jack Horner, Dinosaur digger
    Rajesh Rao, Computational neuroscientist
    Harvey Fineberg, Health policy expert
    Stanley McChrystal, Military leader

    Session 12: Only if. If only.
    Kathryn Schulz, Wrongologist
    John Hunter, Educator
    Roger Ebert, Film critic and blogger

The complete list of speakers can be found online here
(conferences.ted.com/TED2011/program/guide.php).

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 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 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
www.facebook.com/TED

Contact: Margaret Sullivan, ted@groupsjr.com, +1-646-833-0205

Margaret Sullivan, ted at groupsjr.com, +1-646-833-0205