It's great to be here today.
This is actually the second TEDxBoston I've been privileged to attend.
It's actually the third annual TEDxBoston.
It was one of the very first TEDx events –
two years ago - which happen anywhere in the world.
It's sort of incredible that the TED team and I are constantly in awe
of what has taken place over the last two years
and of these incredible teams of volunteers like this incredible TEDxBoston team
that is putting on events like this one here today.
So, I wanted to show you a few of the statistics.
These are some of the numbers.
While it launched just under two and half years ago,
we've had almost 2,000 events around the world.
We have another 1,000 plus TEDx events planned
in over 104 countries and in 46 languages.
So, while the statistics are amazing, we do analyze and share them.
What me and my team have become more and more obsessed by
are these human stories, the memes, the themes, the connections
and the projects that are emerging from these amazing TEDx events
that are happening sometimes 5, 10 times a day
around the world and live streaming.
It's sort of a truly spectacular thing to think of,
that you are part of this amazing global,
and I like to call it, a tribe of interconnectivity.
Around ideas, people are motivated
just by passion and ideas, but nothing else.
So, I'd encourage you –
actually we have a blog, where we're trying to capture
some of these stories,
to go to the TEDx blog and read some of the stories happening
from a shanty town in Kibera to a floating hotel
in the middle of Amazon forest.
If you have any of your own stories that've emerged from TEDxBoston,
please consider contributing your story
to this global picture of story tellings around ideas.
And so, I wanna just play a quick video
that sort of gives you a slightly deeper picture
of what has transpired over the last few years.
(Music)
(Applause)
(Music)
(Women sing)
[42 Languages]
[96 Countries]
[1403 Past Events]
[812 Upcoming Events]
TEDxAmazônia was set in a place where life's a bountiful,
hoping that ideas would blossom in the heart and mind of each attendee
and then be seeded around the globe.
Over 700 people from 70 countries
gathered in the Floating Auditorium surrounded by alligators,
during the worst Amazon drought in the past 100 years.
Every day I meet people
whose lives, jobs, and companies were transformed by these events.
I can't really believe that it only took 18 months
for all those 55 TEDx events to take place in such a small country
like South Korea.
It was almost like a wildfire.
It's been giving hope to people, making them cry, and making them laugh
and making them inspired and excited.
I can't really wait to see what's going to be happening this year too.
I started TEDxChange
because there are phenomenal people doing great work across the globe,
and so often, we don't get the change to hear from them.
TEDxChange gives us a platform so that we hear all of those voices.
It's amazing to watch this global conversation
happening at the local level
where real solutions are actually taking place.
TEDxYouthDay, 60 events, [unclear] around the world
over a period of 24 hours.
These events – all have one common goal
to ignite new ideas in the minds of the world's future leaders.
I really enjoyed the fact that TEDxAmsterdam is not just an event.
It's really safe to call it a movement.
There are almost 5,000 people
who care what's on the program, who want to be involved
and who would try and see how they can help
the ideas of our speakers even further.
(Music)
Lara Stein: As you go through today, you're all an incredible group of people
that is interconnected to these other groups around the world
that believe the power of ideas can change the world.
I just want to take this opportunity again
to thank to TEDxBoston team
for this amazing job that they've done.
Thank you.
(Applause)