What is TEDx?: Lara Stein at TEDxUSC

Lara Stein is Director of Licensing for TED. During her short talk at TEDxUSC 2010, Stein captures the spirit of TEDx and offers special thanks to USC for piloting the first TEDx program, TEDxUSC, in 2009.

(Applause)

Thank you.

I can't tell you how incredible it is
to be here today, at the 2nd TEDxUSC event.

It was just a year ago that TED launched
this little experiment called TEDx,

where x equals independently
organized events,

and it basically gives anybody,
anywhere in the world

the opportunity
to host a TED-like event.

Now as these said, this idea's
been brewing for sometime at TED.

The idea came from
a number of different places.

Firstly, about 4 years ago,
we put TED talks online for free.

Up until then, the TED conference had been
an exclusive conference

that a few people
went to.

About 230 million people
have seen TED talks to date,

which has transformed
the TED brand.

More and more people were
coming up to us and asking us

if they could hold an official
TED conference in their city or country.

And, that idea was
very hard to scale.

Finally, as we thought through it

we really felt that TED talks
are sometimes better to view in a group

where you could have
a discussion around them

rather than in a solitary way
in front of your computer.

So, it was the converging of these ideas
out of which the TEDx concept arose.

So, a year ago, there had been
one TEDx event and that was TEDxUSC.

(Applause)

So, what I wanted
to do for you now is

just paint a brief picture
of what has transpired over the last year

since the first TEDx event at USC
happened.

Basically, we've had
500 TEDx events.

We have 500 more planned
for this year.

TEDx events have been held
in 70 countries in 37 different languages.

We've had TEDx events
on a 100 different campuses,

over 100 more planned
for the rest of this year.

And approximately about 50,000 people
have attended TEDx events.

These TEDx events
don't all look like this.

They've taken on very different sizes
and shapes and formats,

we've had everything from an incredible event
that happened

in one of the largest shanty towns in the world,
where the organizer put a sheet on the wall

projected some TED talks,
and invited some speakers.

To a TEDxKids event at SMU
where 300 kids from schools

throughout the Dallas Fort Worth area
attended.

To an incredible event that happened
in Dubai. That was like a day at TED.

To a little event that happened
in a village in sourthern India

where the organizer had to go through
this amazing personal journey

and fight with the elders of the village
to allow them to hold the TEDx event

because they felt really threatened
about a conference that was about ideas.

So, we're on this amazing journey together,

and we at TED believe that
it'll be transformative

and it's thanks to you USC,

and Christina and her team
that have made this possible.

And in closing,
I just want to say

a lot of people
come up to me and they say

"We've had this amazing experience,
we've shared some good ideas, we've been inspired.

It's been incredible.
What can we do now?"

So, I challenge all of you
to go off into your communities,

into under-privileged neighborhoods,
to schools, to libraries,

and hold a little TEDx event,
show some TED talks,

have a discussion arond them,
and help us spread ideas worth spreading.

I just wanted to end one last time by saying
thank you to USC for having the trust

and jumping on board this journey
before the journey had even began.

Thank you.