TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design, may not need much introduction in most parts of the world but what it represents and how it works remains little known to the majority of people in Taiwan. Thanks to a group of devoted young locals, TED events are now available in Taiwan, showcasing brilliant ideas across every discipline.
Operated by the private nonprofit Sapling Foundation, TED holds three yearly conferences in California’s Long Beach and Palm Springs, and Edinburgh, Scotland. Speakers, including some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers such as former U.S. President Bill Clinton and acclaimed physicist Stephen Hawking, are given a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging way they can. Talks are also streamed live online.
“This immersive environment allows attendees and speakers from vastly different fields to cross-fertilize and draw inspiration from unlikely places,” according to the TED website.
Conference tickets can cost up to US$7,500 each depending on the type of event and membership—a mind-boggling price that has been criticized as elitist. But since June 2006, more than 900 TED talks have been made available online for free viewing, sharing and reposting.
In the spirit of “ideas worth spreading,” the TED website says: “We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.”
To further expand the mission, TED launched the TEDx program in 2009, offering “communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at a local level” and enabling people outside the U.S. to take part. TEDx events are organized independently of the parent foundation under an open licensing program.
It was under this plan that Jason Hsu founded TEDxTaipei in March of the same year, the second of its kind in Asia after Tokyo.
“TEDxTaipei is a platform for taking Taiwan’s stories to the world and introducing great global ideas to Taiwan,” Hsu told Taiwan Today June 11. “Our goals include disseminating extraordinary insights and putting them into action, as well as establishing a digital database using new media to house valuable ideas and make them available anytime, anywhere.”
Hsu, 32, has been an editor for Taiwan News, a trainer at Nike Inc., an entrepreneur in San Francisco, and a volunteer for UNESCO’s sustainable development program in the mainland Chinese city of Xi-an. He now serves as curator of TEDxTaipei and TEDx ambassador for Asia, responsible for helping expand the program in the region.
Deeply inspired by TED conferences, Hsu used the TED format as a model to found The Big Question Conference in 2008 before the TEDx open licensing program was available.
“BQ established itself as a Taiwan version of TED conferences,” Hsu said. “It is an annual open forum that brings together professionals from different fields to confront issues of today and tomorrow.”
The first BQ event was a success, with eight speakers and 300 participants, according to Hsu. When the opportunity to establish a real TED branch came along he jumped right on it.
“It was very difficult for us in the beginning to find sponsors for TEDxTaipei because very few people knew about TED,” he said. “We had to do it in a grass-roots way by holding small events on a monthly basis and introducing what TED is and what these events are about.”
His tireless efforts, aided by some key players in the creative and cultural industry, finally paid off when the first official TEDxTaipei event took place October 2009 in Taipei City, featuring eight speakers and attracting an audience of 200.
Through word of mouth and Web 2.0 mediums such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, things started taking off the following year. The 2010 function drew 600 people, and more than 20,000 viewers tuned in online for a series of talks by 26 speakers from Japan, the Netherlands, Taiwan and the U.S.
In 2011, under the theme “Big Hopes for the Next 10 Years,” 25 speakers from 11 Asian cities, including Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo, shared their views at the annual event.
Audiences at TEDxTaipei are composed primarily of company executives and professionals looking for inspiration from great ideas and an opportunity to network with people from all walks of life, while the rest are university students and members of nongovernmental or nonprofit organizations, Hsu said.
“I think a lot of people who are attracted to us are conscious and mindful individuals who care about the land, about what happens here, and they choose what they listen to, and what ideas to take in, very carefully.”
The selection of speakers, according to Hsu, is the most interesting part of his job since it is a process of choosing the most intriguing stories.
“A common misunderstanding is that you have to be somebody to become a TED speaker, but the truth is that it is the other way around,” Hsu said. “It is because they have ideas to share that they are granted the stage.”
At TEDxTaipei events, only 10 percent of the speakers are celebrities, while most are what Hsu called “true storytellers.” They may not be famous but are dedicated to what they do and deserve a chance to be heard, he said.
Examples include Hsieh Ying-chun, an architect who has been committed to reconstruction work in remote areas since the magnitude-7.3 earthquake of 1999 devastated Taiwan and left tens of thousands of people homeless. Another is Lai Ching-song, who has a master’s degree in environmental law but decided to become a farmer in pursuit of a simpler and more down-to-earth lifestyle in Yilan County.
Young speakers are also key to TEDxTaipei events, said Hsu, who sees them as rising stars representing Taiwan’s prospects.
“This is really what I devote my time to, discovering Taiwan’s future,” he said. “Being able to express yourself and have the confidence to tell the world why something matters to you is a great skill to have.”
Hsu searches for people under 25 who are doing remarkable things or have great ideas worthy of recognition, and then teaches them the best way to present their stories so as to inspire the audience.
This year’s TEDxTaipei, set for Sept. 29-30 in Taipei City under the theme “The Future is Now,” will be the largest ever, with a lineup of 36 speakers including John Hardy, founder of the pioneering Green School in Bali, Indonesia.
Looking ahead, Hsu said he hopes to have more like-minded people join the five full-time staff at TEDxTaipei and work to spread more good ideas. Anyone who has a point of view, the ability to question and does not take things for granted is welcome, he added.
The kind of passion that Hsu and his colleagues demonstrate is exactly what makes the TEDx experience so special and fascinating, and why the program has become such a success worldwide.
Since the launch of TEDx in 2009, more than 4,300 events have been held in 1,200 cities in 133 different countries. (THN)
Write to Rachel Chan at ccchan@mofa.gov.tw