History of TED

TED was born in 1984 out of Richard Saul Wurman's observation of a powerful convergence among three fields: technology, entertainment and design. The first TED, which he co-founded with Harry Marks, included a demo of the compact disc, the e-book and cutting-edge 3D graphics from Lucasfilm, while mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot demonstrated how to map coastlines using his developing theory of fractal geometry.

But despite a stellar lineup, the event lost money, and it was six years before Wurman and Marks tried again. This time, in 1990, the world was ready. The TED Conference became an annual event in Monterey, California, attracting a growing and influential audience from many different disciplines united by their curiosity and open-mindedness — and also by their shared discovery of an exciting secret. (Back then, TED was an invitation-only event. It is not now — you're welcome and encouraged to apply to attend.)

Meanwhile the roster of presenters broadened to include scientists, philosophers, musicians, business and religious leaders, philanthropists and many others. For many attendees, TED became one of the intellectual and emotional highlights of the year. That was certainly true for media entrepreneur Chris Anderson, who met with Wurman in 2000 to discuss the conference's future. A deal was struck, and in 2001, Anderson’s nonprofit Sapling Foundation acquired TED, and Anderson became its Curator.

In taking the conference nonprofit, Anderson stood by the principles that made TED great: the inspired format, the breadth of content, the commitment to seek out the most interesting people on Earth and let them communicate their passion. It soon became clear that the ideas and inspiration generated at TED should have an impact well outside the city limits of Monterey.

Accordingly, the years 2001–2006 saw three major additions to the TED family:

• a sister conference, TEDGlobal, held in locations around the world
• the TED Prize, which granted its winners one wish to change the world, and would eventually evolve into the Audacious Project.
• and TED Talks, audio and video podcast content from the TED stage, are released free online.

The first TED Talks were posted online on June 27, 2006. By September, they had reached more than one million views. TED Talks proved so popular that in 2007, TED's website was relaunched around them, giving a global audience free access to some of the world's greatest thinkers, leaders and teachers.

In 2008, in part thanks to new awareness created by TED Talks, we launched TEDActive, a simulcast version of the springtime TED Conference, allowing more people to attend at a lower price. By 2009, the number of TED Talk views had grown to 100 million views, making Internet heroes out of speakers like Jill Bolte Taylor and Sir Ken Robinson.

In that same year, the TED Fellows program was launched to bring up-and-coming innovators from around the globe to the conference for free. The same year saw the creation of TEDx, a radical opening up of the TED format to local, independently organized events. Around the same time, we embarked on the TED Translator program, creating the infrastructure for TED Talks to be translated into 115 languages.

In March 2012, TED-Ed was launched, creating short video lessons aimed at educators, and April 2012 saw the debut of TED Radio Hour, a partnership that brings ideas and stories from TED Talks to public radio listeners. All of these projects aim to create ever greater access to ideas, for free.

In the fall of 2012, TED Talks celebrated its one billionth video view. As TED Talks continue to be watched around the world, with an average of 17 new page views a second, TED conferences and events continue to inspire, motivate and thrill attendees. In 2014, the annual TED Conference celebrated its 30th anniversary in Vancouver, Canada. The theme of this milestone conference: "The Next Chapter," both a reflection on developments of the past 30 years as well as a look at what's ahead.

Launched in 2018, the Audacious Project, has helped catalyze more than $3 billion in funding for projects that seek to make the world more beautiful, sustainable and just. In 2020, TED launched Countdown, an initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis and mobilize a movement for a net-zero future, and in 2023 TED launched TED Democracy to spark a new kind of conversation focused on realistic pathways towards a more vibrant and equitable future.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024, TED ushered in a new chapter and a new tagline: Ideas Change Everything to reflect the evolution of the organization towards ideas that inspire positive action to improve ourselves and the world.

That same year, TED launched the TEDNext conference in Atlanta, a vibrant exploration of what’s next, propelling future you to drive change, from personal to global. TEDNext marks an expansion of the TEDWomen mission, embracing new ideas and fresh voices from all communities to engage and inspire emerging leaders.