"I'm very happy Philly has a TEDx," says Richard Saul Wurman. Based in Rhode Island but Philly-born, he's one of the founders of TED (he sold it, or almost all of it, in 2002). "I'm also surprised Philadelphia is just now having one. Sometimes the train to the Main Line runs late."
The movement named TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) started in 1984. TEDs are big multidisciplinary gatherings featuring short talks (20 minutes max) by world thought leaders: Past speakers have included Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, primate scientist Jane Goodall, innovator Sir Richard Branson, animal-care theorist Temple Grandin, economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and author Isabel Allende.
A mostly leaderless, do-it-yourself aggregation of fresh thinkers, TED has become an Internet phenomenon and a cultural force. TED talks become podcasts on Ted.com, and millions have downloaded them - more than 10 million so far.
TEDx, an offshoot of TED, takes it local, takes it smaller. Independently organized, TEDx meetings - there will be more than 1,500 in the next 12 months worldwide, according to Wurman - bring in local schools, businesses, designers, scientists, performers. TEDx meetings took place this fall in Phoenixville, at the University of Pennsylvania, and at Pennsylvania State University.
And now it's Philly's turn. Stanford Thompson, professional trumpeter and director of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's Tune Up Philly program, will speak. So will Evan Malone, a businessman and leader in the "maker movement" in everything from electronics to metalworking.
Other speakers include engineer and educator Simon Hauger, urban photographer Zoe Strauss, chef Michael Solomonov, filmmaker Tanya Hamilton, poet/performance artist Ursula Rucker, and urbanologist Nic Esposito.
