TED 2006 - Final thoughts

This year will be remembered as the year that completed the transition of TED's management from Richard Wurman to Chris Anderson.  Richard was the loveable curmudgeon who started the conference and kept it going for 18 years.   While was sometimes accused of abusing his audience with his draconian no-cancellation, no-substitution, no-food policies, his passion and insight drew an incompable group of speakers and participants to "the dinner party he always wanted to have."  Where else could one hear Billy Graham, Deepak Chopra, and the Dalai Lama  talk about religion, Larry Ellison talk about business, Oliver Stone talk about cinema, and Teller talk at all?

Many long term TEDizens were concerned that Chris Anderson's new focus on social and economic problems would rob TED of its magic, but instead it has deepened its meaning.   The presentations and the hallway conversations were as thought-provoking as ever, although there is more emphasis on science and less on entertainment than in the past.  What is new is a sense of community, or as one new participant put it, "belonging to a tribe."  With the new and hopefully continuing participation of Al Gore, TED has the potential to engender a unique collaboration among technologists and communicators that just might help us make progress on some of the most serious problems facing our planet.

Tag:  TED2006