 You know, we launched TED Talks for the World around seven years ago. It seemed like the stupidest idea that anyone had ever had. Essentially that I was putting on tape lectures online. They would sort of look at me with this sort of pity. We felt that the ideas deserved a wider audience than they were getting. And so when we launched TED Talks, our true mission was to figure out how to better spread ideas through the world. What is TED? TED is a conference, sure. But it's more than that. It's an idea. Actually, a collection of ideas. And people. People and ideas. People with ideas. People who are here for a number of days to talk to other people about ideas. Those people also have ideas. And there's people here who help the people with ideas tell their ideas to other people. And we're going to find out what happens when all of those people and all of those ideas get together in one place and start doing things with one another. One of the things we really pride ourselves on is how much effort we put into preparing speakers. So we don't just choose a speaker and put them on stage. We have a very deep editorial process. Very similar to the way an editor and a writer would work together. When you give a talk at TED, there's a very specific format. They want you to tell a story. They want you to engage the audience, which in science is something we don't normally have to do. And so they help us to realize the story and to come up with new imaginative ways that we can tell it. As an engineer and a computer scientist, we don't typically get a lot of training in how do you present yourself and present your work and tell a compelling story. And that's been one of the most awesome things that I've been able to take away from this experience. It's actually extremely difficult. To try and condense a decade's worth of work is actually extremely hard. So we were really trying to make the speakers rock stars. To shoot them with tight shots, with moving cameras, multiple cameras so that we could get a great edit. That's the kind of thing any filmmaker would do. But at the same time, we didn't want it to feel very false. We wanted it to feel authentic and real and intimate. And so there's a balance we're always striking in the filming process. We don't cut out a lot because they sort of bring their own genius, but we do sort of try to make them who they wanted to be when they stepped on stage. You know? So we don't really change them. We try to make them the best them. Things need to have a filmic layer, but less sweeping. To me it's more personal, a little more rough around the edges. It's okay if you get a close up of someone who's not beautiful because keeping it sort of as real and intimate is great because you just want to get out of the way of the idea and let people access that idea with as little barrier, a little film between them and the idea as possible. So what's the biggest challenge at a conference of this size? A lot of it is like the numbers game. We have so many machines down there, so many moving parts that it's kind of a mathematical probability that something's going to fail. So a lot of it is just making sure that we have backup machines, we have backups of backups of backups because this time at the TED conference is so crucial for us. It's when we're getting all of our material that we're going to use to put TED talks out on the internet the rest of the year. So you guys are running Windows? This is all at XP Shop? The Media Cave is the official name for this? It is called the Media Cave. Is there any thought to actually doing a cave-like structure at any point? We thought about it but we found that it was probably going to be too expensive. Too expensive, too time consuming. Yeah. So, okay, and how many people do you have down here? How many works agents, how many people? You can give me rough estimates. I mean we have I think somewhere between 16 to 20 people. After each speaker gives a talk we actually try to turn around their talk by putting them on a thumb drive so that they can actually have a copy of it to review and to make sure they like what they're saying. Okay, so if I'm a speaker and I suck completely I can be like don't put that on line because I hated that. Yes, although in the history of TED I don't think we've ever had a speaker say like please don't put that on line. Oh that's cool. I didn't know that they actually got an option. Big production. A lot of pieces, a lot of moving pieces. It's a bit like a puzzle. A puzzle you've got to put together very carefully or the puzzle could explode and get glass in your eye because the puzzle is made of glass. Did I mention that? The fact that there are limitations here in terms of you're in a space, it's an auditorium, you've got nine cameras, but are you battling the limitations or do you like working within them? I think the limitations are exactly where the creativity starts happening. A lot of the speakers talk about what constrained them actually liberated them. I'm more excited about this TED than I've been in a while and I think it has to do with the worldwide talent search that we did in 14 cities around the world, a kind of open call for speakers, which was very risky. We have 33 speakers here who were chosen from those auditions and they're bringing, they're just people we wouldn't have found any other way. At the heart of every TED talk is a really passionate speaker and I think what the great TED talks tap into is this very primal way of connecting. You know, a single person standing on stage locking eyes with you, telling you what they believe in, can impact you in a way that almost nothing else can.
 You know, we launched TED Talks for the World around seven years ago.
 It seemed like the stupidest idea that anyone had ever had.
 Essentially that I was putting on tape lectures online.
 They would sort of look at me with this sort of pity.
 We felt that the ideas deserved a wider audience than they were getting.
 And so when we launched TED Talks, our true mission was to figure out how to better spread
 ideas through the world.
 What is TED?
 TED is a conference, sure.
 But it's more than that.
 It's an idea.
 Actually, a collection of ideas.
 And people.
 People and ideas.
 People with ideas.
 People who are here for a number of days to talk to other people about ideas.
 Those people also have ideas.
 And there's people here who help the people with ideas tell their ideas to other people.
 And we're going to find out what happens when all of those people and all of those ideas
 get together in one place and start doing things with one another.
 One of the things we really pride ourselves on is how much effort we put into preparing
 speakers.
 So we don't just choose a speaker and put them on stage.
 We have a very deep editorial process.
 Very similar to the way an editor and a writer would work together.
 When you give a talk at TED, there's a very specific format.
 They want you to tell a story.
 They want you to engage the audience, which in science is something we don't normally
 have to do.
 And so they help us to realize the story and to come up with new imaginative ways that
 we can tell it.
 As an engineer and a computer scientist, we don't typically get a lot of training in how
 do you present yourself and present your work and tell a compelling story.
 And that's been one of the most awesome things that I've been able to take away from this
 experience.
 It's actually extremely difficult.
 To try and condense a decade's worth of work is actually extremely hard.
 So we were really trying to make the speakers rock stars.
 To shoot them with tight shots, with moving cameras, multiple cameras so that we could
 get a great edit.
 That's the kind of thing any filmmaker would do.
 But at the same time, we didn't want it to feel very false.
 We wanted it to feel authentic and real and intimate.
 And so there's a balance we're always striking in the filming process.
 We don't cut out a lot because they sort of bring their own genius, but we do sort of
 try to make them who they wanted to be when they stepped on stage.
 You know?
 So we don't really change them.
 We try to make them the best them.
 Things need to have a filmic layer, but less sweeping.
 To me it's more personal, a little more rough around the edges.
 It's okay if you get a close up of someone who's not beautiful because keeping it sort
 of as real and intimate is great because you just want to get out of the way of the idea
 and let people access that idea with as little barrier, a little film between them and the
 idea as possible.
 So what's the biggest challenge at a conference of this size?
 A lot of it is like the numbers game.
 We have so many machines down there, so many moving parts that it's kind of a mathematical
 probability that something's going to fail.
 So a lot of it is just making sure that we have backup machines, we have backups of backups
 of backups because this time at the TED conference is so crucial for us.
 It's when we're getting all of our material that we're going to use to put TED talks out
 on the internet the rest of the year.
 So you guys are running Windows?
 This is all at XP Shop?
 The Media Cave is the official name for this?
 It is called the Media Cave.
 Is there any thought to actually doing a cave-like structure at any point?
 We thought about it but we found that it was probably going to be too expensive.
 Too expensive, too time consuming.
 Yeah.
 So, okay, and how many people do you have down here?
 How many works agents, how many people?
 You can give me rough estimates.
 I mean we have I think somewhere between 16 to 20 people.
 After each speaker gives a talk we actually try to turn around their talk by putting them
 on a thumb drive so that they can actually have a copy of it to review and to make sure
 they like what they're saying.
 Okay, so if I'm a speaker and I suck completely I can be like don't put that on line because
 I hated that.
 Yes, although in the history of TED I don't think we've ever had a speaker say like please
 don't put that on line.
 Oh that's cool.
 I didn't know that they actually got an option.
 Big production.
 A lot of pieces, a lot of moving pieces.
 It's a bit like a puzzle.
 A puzzle you've got to put together very carefully or the puzzle could explode and get glass
 in your eye because the puzzle is made of glass.
 Did I mention that?
 The fact that there are limitations here in terms of you're in a space, it's an auditorium,
 you've got nine cameras, but are you battling the limitations or do you like working within
 them?
 I think the limitations are exactly where the creativity starts happening.
 A lot of the speakers talk about what constrained them actually liberated them.
 I'm more excited about this TED than I've been in a while and I think it has to do with
 the worldwide talent search that we did in 14 cities around the world, a kind of open
 call for speakers, which was very risky.
 We have 33 speakers here who were chosen from those auditions and they're bringing, they're
 just people we wouldn't have found any other way.
 At the heart of every TED talk is a really passionate speaker and I think what the great
 TED talks tap into is this very primal way of connecting.
 You know, a single person standing on stage locking eyes with you, telling you what they
 believe in, can impact you in a way that almost nothing else can.