For the past 30 years, the TED conference has continued to inspire people all over the globe with its “ideas worth spreading.” The 2014 conference relocated from its former location of Long Beach, California, to Vancouver, British Columbia, with TED Active, the satellite conference, being held in Whistler instead of Palm Springs. The main conference was hosted in the Vancouver Convention Centre from March 17-21, 2014.
This year’s conference, simply titled “TED: The Next Chapter,” marks the next chapter not only for the TED conference, but for Vancouver itself. For the first time, secondary schools, post-secondary institutions, libraries, and community centres in Metro Vancouver were granted free access to live webcasting of the conference.
At UBC, a number of locations live-streamed the conference for the UBC community to enjoy for free. The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) oversaw the coordination of the live-stream across campus. In partnership with the UBC Library, UBC IT, and UBC Communications and Marketing, CTLT offered a viewing area with two digital screens on the second floor of the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre for students, faculty, staff, and other members of the UBC community to view the TED conference proceedings. CTLT also helped coordinate live-streaming of the conference to UBC Robson Square.
In addition to these official locations, several other buildings on campus offered live-streaming of the conference, including the Life Sciences Centre, Cecil Green Park Coach House, the Henry Angus Building, the Scarfe Building, and the Walter C. Koerner Library.
Each year, the TED conference features talks from iconic figures in a variety of fields, including technology, entertainment, and design. This year, the list of speakers at the conference included astronaut Chris Hadfield, philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates, and Google CEO Larry Page. The program also consisted of all-stars sessions, which feature favourite returning speakers giving a mix of short talks and updates. The speakers at the all-stars sessions included anthropologist and ethnobotanist Wade Davis, musician Imogen Heap, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.
In addition to the talks, an aerial sculpture created by American artist Janet Echelman was a key feature of the conference. The sculpture was suspended 745 feet in the air between the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel and the convention centre. By day, it blended into the sky, but by night, visitors were able to choreograph the illumination of the structure in real time via their mobile devices. Echelman designed the structure in collaboration with Aaron Koblin, creative director of Data Arts at Google’s Creative Lab. The sculpture, titled “Skies Painted with Unnumbered Sparks,” will be exhibited in other cities after the conference, as an “idea worth spreading.”
Although this year’s conference has come to an end, TED will continue to impact Vancouver and the UBC community. The 2015 conference, Truth and Dare, and its satellite TED Active conference will also be held in Vancouver and Whistler, respectively. Throughout the year, Vancouver also hosts a number of TEDx events, local TED-like experiences organized by communities, organizations, and individuals independent of TED. At UBC, the TEDxTerry Talks, created by the Terry Project, allows students a chance to share ideas with a large audience in a TED-like format.
Since tickets to the TED conference are quite expensive, the ability to access free, live-streaming of the conference on campus was a welcome opportunity for the UBC community. Over a thousand students, staff, and faculty viewed the TED conference at UBC. CTLT will continue to have access to the live-stream footage for another six months, and plans to stream the sessions at various locations on campus for those who missed the live viewing sessions. Stay tuned for more information!