A Bold New Chapter for TED | Chris Anderson in conversation with Jay Herratti and Anna Verghese

thank you everyone for showing up on zero notice it's really quite beautiful and moving to see everyone here uh and to you tuning in um I think this is going to be quite an exciting hour together um you've heard the bones of the announcement I've invited a new steward to present themselves and if the if that happens uh they will get all of Ted the organization conferences the events the brand that like it's a lot um and and the craziness of this comes from my conviction that this is actually the best way to ensure that the future of Ted is much better than even what we've seen before these are early days I think the world needs Ted or Ted in partnership with other things more than ever where we're at such a crucial point in history the stakes could not be higher knowledge insights ideas an attempt to persuade people to be their better selves an attempt to bring people together an attempt to be nonpartisan and to listen to people from all sides hello the world really needs this and I think this is the way of allowing it to happen at much greater scale I'll just I'll say this there's a fundamental problem that we and all other forces out there who are trying to use the internet for good have run into um it starts with a human cognitive bug honestly um bad is interesting good is boring this is how we evolved to pay attention sharp attention to threats that is how we survived and uh but it creates a problem and always has for anyone who wants to purvey useful information stuff that's good you have to fight to do it all of Ted's life we have fought to overcome this problem it was a miracle to us that the first TED Talks went viral that they actually worked online ahead of kitten videos hello it was incredible it was so exciting um and it worked because we fought hard to make boring knowledge which is what TV told us it was at accessible and told in a way that it could Escape out from you know the small world of the speaker out and make it relevant to a bigger audience and it was so exciting to see that happen in the last few years we have faced a new enemy out there I'm going to say why not use the word enemy it's algorithms that were probably created in for good intent but they were created to maximize attention which played right into this human cognitive bug of teaching Millions ions and millions of content providers that the way you get attention is to stoke people's fear to play up threats to show that the other is really dangerous and to create this world this increasingly fractured world where we're all addicted to things that make us angry at one level and which make it incredibly hard to take a deep breath and say okay I'm going to put aside 18 minutes or 15 minutes or six minutes for God's sake to actually learn something and to be inspired to be my better self and everyone you know faces this challenge I face it in my daily life I spend more time Doom scrolling than doing stuff that I know would be better for me we all do it now I'm not prepared and I don't think any of us prepared to seed the future to those algorithms and to that version of humanity we cannot do this there is no future if we do this honestly and there are plenty of people out there with the techniques and the skills to overcome this we've overcome this in many parts of our lives or we learn to be our more you know we give our reflective selves power when it comes to what we eat and how we exerise and so forth like we we can we're capable of winning these battles I look at an organization like Duolingo which just figured out how to do something really good and teach people languages by using some of the tools of addiction and you know like but it does it at scale and it's amazing and there are plenty of things happening in Ted that are really exciting and show Point the pathway to significant growth but for example this there's a TV show that I'm really excited about maybe we can talk there's this but for these things to work it almost certainly will take a level of investment we're up against big forces out there the impact of those

algorithms and every Media company in that you speak to will tell you this is that they have moved attention to the big social media platforms and thereby sucked advertising dollars and sponsorship dollars with them it's made what's left for the rest of us an ever you know thinner feast and so Ted has you we're $100 million a year operation in terms of costs the incredible team some of whom are here and it's great to have you here and the things that we do that's how much it costs a growing portion of that in the last couple years has had to depend on philanthropy the the sort of the easy sort of you know digital Partnerships that we had a decade ago and so it's just got harder and that's that's just a truth of all media so we need if we're going to win this battle and we will or we must we need to bring in um other resources is we need to team up and that's what this is about that this move is an attempt to create exciting new possibilities the what the joyful amazing lesson that we have learned through Ted's history is that it's by letting go that you gain resources I mean tedex to all the Ted xers who are watching the tedex organizers you are extraordinary you are heroes you for some mad reason you are willing to spend months of your year stressed about putting on a Ted event with no money from us um it's incredible that you'll do that and the reason you will do that is because we gave you something that you owned which is the right to do it tedex in your city the response to that has been absolutely astonishing you've multiplied massively the global footprint of Ted um so letting go is counterintuitive for any organization but I'm convinced that it is the key to unlocking possibility so that's what these next few months are I do not know which possibilities will come but I I'm very very excited to find out I think there's a lot that we haven't even thought of ourselves that could happen so now in this time that happens the whole purpose of this is to harvest by opening it up like this we get to hear from you we get to learn the crowd mind of the global Ted Community which is an incredible mind to say well how about doing it this way and that process starts right here this morning this afternoon wherever you are so thank you so much for being part of this let's get the chairs up here and we're going to go into Q&A mode in a minute exciting okay all right so we heard a little bit about maybe the possibility space that Ted finds itself in but I'd love to launch into why now uh was this a decision a middle of the night you know lightball moment a slowly growing realization after 25 years you just ready to throw in the towel uh just give us a bit more of a window into both the decision and the timeline I mean look I've been think about this for a while we've been discussing it for a while you know what would it take to bring in um new resources into Ted so that we can really achieve the big the bigger dream that we want to achieve I think one weird Catalyst honestly was that I published a book um a year ago called infectious generosity which sort of framed the Ted story in like oh my goodness we've discovered this you know idea of radical generosity and it actually works as a as a strategy it's driven every single thing the giving away of content which was a risk at the time is what made Ted what it is today and it followed on with there's lots of other pieces of that but it's really driven everything and so I but unfortunately you may be going well wait a sec isn't there something else you could give away and um and I so that was a catalyst but no it's more um the logic of the moment the upside potential of Ted has never seemed bigger to me and never seemed to matter more and um and so I just think this was the moment yeah and I could just add for that as Chris obviously always sees the big trends in the big picture but we were having conversations about we have big dreams and we know that we can launch new businesses and do more things but now to do that we need resources and growth funds and investment so all that came together

yeah there's a moment to kind of transition Ted to the next phase but also to build up resources so we can do more and I think that's an important distinction because I think Chris in your note you said there's 25 million in the foundation people would think okay that's a pretty decent amount of money you've still clearly got some ideas uh in the pipeline for what Ted could do so maybe you know just talk to us about I feel even with audacious you've kind of witnessed that ability if resources aren't the issue that's I think what you're essentially trying to launch Ted into in this next phase is that right yeah so the structure of Ted is so you've got the Ted Foundation which is a nonprofit um which has $25 million is moves up and down um that owns Ted conferences LLC which is the business unit that runs most of the rest of Ted um and um is 25 a lot well it it is by the standards of many nonprofits but Ted is a100 million a year thing you know during the time of the during the year of the pandemic we lost more than $10 million or of the order $10 million but by slashing costs you can it's one quarter of our one quarter's worth of our cost so I so at least psychologically I think it's hard responsibly um to say there's an investment project that required a $1 million investment you would be very foolish to gamble all of Ted's future on that one project and so it limits what we can do and so you know if we're to make an impact in the world you can't talk in terms of 10 or15 million at some point I think some of the biggest dreams that we have may take many tens of millions of dollars possibly hundreds to actually grow to Global scale and so I just we want to open the door to someone who can help us think bigger that's great so talk to us about the ideal inheritor of Ted you mentioned in your letter to the community that you want someone with both the ideas and the resources the willingness and the capacity what are some of the values that have gotten to head this far and will be critical of the future candidate I mean you want someone who fundamentally cares about the future of the world and everyone in it I me Ted IS F ly Global um it's someone who understands the power of ideas um you know we I mean I deeply believe that the ultimate drivers of History actually isn't politicians it's the innovations that happen among inventors and dreamers and thinkers and writers and Advocates and so forth it's what shaped the current world are the people who innovated social media you know like for better or worse it's the it's um ideas and Innovation is what shapes the future and so someone needs to buy into that and be excited by that of if we can get that right W that that changes everything you know I I hope that they I think just the the Deep idea of Education more generally as a sort of uh as a fundamental force that will shape the future educate Global education if you were knowing what we know now about the world and technology um you wouldn't create a global education system that looked anything like what we currently have we're spending countless billions of dollars in the most absurd ways when there are much better ways we could allow everyone on this planet to have all that they need to know to empower their own lives and their own Futures so I mean someone who is excited by really doing something radical for Global education um Team up with other people out there and providing the kind of skills that could be offered to everyone on this planet that would be an exciting potential partner but the truth is Anna I I don't know and I like it's that there may be better ideas out there but what we do know is that we wouldn't like say there was someone who said oh my god with Ted I could make myself a fortune um uh use that brand you know knowledge is valuable let's make a fortune with it uh that they won't get it good to know um I think also we live in a very polarized difficult times you've taken a very pluralist approach I think to how to use Ted to bridge build I think it's probably important also to just talk about kind of nonpartisanship in this situation like how you thinking about the future owners kind of belief system so it's hard to be nonpartisan what I said at the last Ted was this was

that in in a world where we we really are in danger of becoming just more tribal than ever uh and where people on the other side are sort of hated and distrusted that it puts media any media operation into a bind you have three choices basically one is you can ignore politics allog together and for a lot of Ted's history we've actually tried to do that um I think the world we're in right now it's very hard to do that and feel like you're still covering the things that matter most in the world I mean it's politics is going to play uh an important part so the second choice is to pick aide and that is the easiest way to go that is how a lot of cable channels for example have determined their future their best way of getting viewers pick one side and then you can go all in on the sort of demonizing of the other side and the you know the sort of cheerleading that goes along with that um ultimately that just adds to the fracture uh we are explicitly publicly nonpartisan so I don't think that's an option for us either um and we've definitely been accused of Leaning uh too Progressive by some people over the last few years possibly there's truth to that um what Ted's future is and what I said and it was generally super well received by people is that we are determined to be nonpartisan and to find to be a space where we can give visibility to ideas from multiple parts of the political Spectrum treating people with curiosity and with respect um and carving out a different kind of space that says no to the screaming and that the hatred because I just I get it and there are times when that can be justified but it doesn't take us forward we want to be a place where people can listen to each other and then a magic thing can happen you discover some values in common hey we all care about the future of our children who knew that's exciting so what can we build that would make the future better for them what can we build together and if you can shift the conversation to what can we build together to which which takes Act of imagination and you know picturing of future possibility um but it also takes it starts with a determination to be respectful and to refuse tribalism um I think that's possibly no I think that's an essential role and I think it's something that the world needs there aren't many places where that can happen and I think we need to Double Down On It great so one further question Jay then I'm going to come to you um so we've been witness to some pretty sign significant media platform Acquisitions over the last few years some would argue that some of these have been pretty disastrous for society and certainly for editorial Integrity um what have you learned from watching the media landscape change hands in recent years and what has it clarified for you about how you would like Ted's transition to go Chris um first then yeah I mean look um Acquisitions are often hard um they I mean some work amazingly if you just look at like from a pure business point of view I don't know Facebook acquires Instagram is now far bigger than Facebook um you know these things can work and I think in the modern world scale really matters but you need aligned cultural values I don't think what we're thinking about out here in just in terms of acquisition and certainly we would not be acquired by an entity with for example a strong political uh Viewpoint um I think of this as I mean we're opening the door to possibility and a combination of platforms resources skills um I think there's if you ask the question are there many other people out there who cannot stand the way the world's heading right now and who feel this intense yearning for a better future and for rediscovering the best parts of humanity for helping create the means by which we can spread that discovery of how can we be our better selves not just in one country across countries so forth I think there's a lot of people out there who deeply respond to that and there are a lot of resources out there who people out there with huge resources who actually don't know what to do with them that is a big thing to do mhm um and if there's one thing I've

learned I think we've learned together on at audacious is that if you want to get stuff done and raise money often the best way to do it is not to present a small plan present the biggest dream you can dream of that is what gets people's hearts pumping um so yeah I I don't think we don't think Ted's going to be acquired that's sort of like I feel like that's the in a way the wrong way to think of it yeah no I mean I I agree with you and it's about for me it's also about an entity or combination of people who are really excited to build new things and have a sense for Ted's assets the unique aspects of our business also the unique aspect of our brand and what it stands for the things that we can build and want to build us with us especially around education so talk a little bit more about those assets Jay U Chris mentioned you've been Ted CEO for four years now how would you kind of describe the current state of the organization its Financial Health uh what are the most exciting future opportunities from your perspective so everybody here in this room and online they we know we do a lot of things at Ted and often it's complicated to explain all the things that we do various initiatives and programs but in simple terms we have three capabilities that work really beautifully together we create events different events around the world from conferences that are multi-days to short events X events around the globe events with partners and more that we're launching uh every day new Ted NEX as an example and Ted AIS and other new ones more new ones coming soon so the events is one part we have a fantastic media business which I think has one of the most powerful media engines to get ideas put out in the world we take the ideas from our events but also we had other ones we have a growing podcast business uh phenomenal following on social media big communities across the various platform presence on YouTube and all that really puts out the ideas out in the world and then the third uh capability is around education and learning we have programs and products everything from Ted Ed uh creating programs in schools for young uh students all the way to Ted at work which educates people in the workplace all these work together so they feed off of each other they create this beautiful flywheel and I think it's a really unique capabilities there aren't many events out there in the world that also create content that gets spread out everywhere so for us the events in the media business are very well tuned in um there's probably a great opportunity around education and learning for us when I look at the future if you put aside for a second the capabilities that I describ probably the most exciting thing we have is the Ted brand and the Ted brand was actually created with by everybody in this room and everybody on this uh on the live stream because everybody infused meaning into the Ted brand and now it so clearly stands for possibilities for solutions for the future for optimism and for knowledge and so Building Products in education across lifelong learning I think education is going to matter more and we're going to have to constantly get educated I am now probably I need to take a course on how to keep up with AI at my age right so I think there's a lot of opportunity to educate people cross I'm very excited about that and as Chris says um I'd love to have if we have a partner with even more ideas that's even better like think look at Ted and what new ideas uh can we think about we have plenty but we're open to others that's great so Jay you also LED tedex for a number of years um before you became Ted CEO um so I feel like you really get community how General generosity and curiosity and adaptability kind of combine what kind of mindset do you believe um we need to have as a whole Community as we move through this uh change and transition oh yeah well you know it's as you say I when I joined Ted 11 years ago and my first job was uh to lead Ted X which was I because in some ways it was ironic that uh Chris hired me to do that job because when we met I didn't really understand how tedex worked and when I walked into the building and I met with the now head of tedex and I said well we have to make this decision and she said well we should go ask the community and I was like what do you mean go ask it was like this whole notion of oh no we have a community out in the world and we consult with them and we make we involve these decisions and over time what I realized is as I travel the world and through tedex and other communities Ted the Ted brand inspires countless people around the world to do stuff they then in turn create so much imp and beauty and contribute back so much

to Ted um and I often thought how is this working um and so much of it came to me at the end was about love and trust it's people who loved what Ted stood for then they trusted us and then we trusted them so I think in this process maybe love and Trust are good guiding principles it's something that's been guiding us uh it's you know it's pretty scary to go into the unknown I said to Chris was very clear about the fact that he wanted to be very open about this process and do it with the community I was also aware that it might put people in a state of anxiety but if we actually know that we can trust each other I trust that Chris will ultimately make the right decision he will consult with the leadership team of this organization with the staff with members of our community uh and we will find some new steward who has a love and appreciation for what Ted does I think that and also for the fact that Ted is not just a group of 250 people in New York we are actually tens of thousands of people if you get deed you get all of this so I think that's good to know um so you both mentioned that the entire Global TCH Community will have a say in its future what do you mean by that specifically I know there were some tenants that you kind of said about what needs to be true of Ted when it gets uh handed on to the next stward so just a little bit more about how this community can get involved in this decision or contribute to it um starts now I mean it start it starts now look there's no it's it I would like to think that even though I've you know I've been the sole director of the Ted foundation and ultimately could make any decision at Ted every decision that's happened has been happened by conversation you know we we've we've had internal debates and the principle has been best idea wins and um and that that's I think true now I think we we'll I will read you know my email is out there chris. com um I will read every anyone from the community who's got an opinion um um or who's got a few hundred million dollar or whatever you know I I will read every email but it's and it's a mixture of everything and we will share among the leadership team um Lion tree the invest Bank we're working with uh I'm very excited about them they are creative and thoughtful and they understand that this is a it's kind of like a media opportunity like no other there's not much precedent for anything like this but they they kind of uh they love it and and are working with the spirit of that and um so I I don't know how it plays out but we will listen to anyone who's got anything thing to say and try and connect dots and I think if we've been good at anything I mean in a way the whole reason why like a Ted conference is an amazing experience is that you go in for a few days and you hear an idea here that seems to have no connection to this idea here but then the next day you hear something here and you go wait a sec that actually picks up a bit of that and if I next Tuesday have a lunch with that person maybe like every you connect dots and you do something with them and it's a thrilling process and so I I think this is kind of um probably going to be the ultimate dot connecting process and I don't know what those dots are yet but I'm I just because I believe that there are so many people out there who believe in the future of humanity and understand that we we're on a shared Mission here many of us are onun a shed Mission let's join forces and figure out how to do something amazing that's great so may very quickly just for the community as we be as we embark on this process we did set up email Chris by all means he does read all his emails we also have an email called next chapter ted. com and and specifically two areas where I think are important for us to hear from the community at this point Chris in his letter to the community outlined seven questions that we are going to ask potential interested parties uh what is your opinion about those do you think these are the right questions to ask should there be other ones any Nuance around that we do want to hear from the community and of course if you have ideas uh you might not be resource or lead an organization but you might think of somebody send it to us next chapter at ted. com because we do while we are working with a team we'll give them this idea and we'll go explore it those two things would be really helpful at this point um just one more question for me before I open it up um to the audience um so much of Ted's success is

shaped by the 200 plus staff um who work here today and in fact you shared the news with the organization on Monday um how did that go from your perspective um and what is your biggest wish for the staff in this uh rather Lial moment I don't mind you J I was amazed delighted moved by the reaction um because I mean that there's any organization would find this unsettling it's like you don't know who you know is some monster going to come in or what the hell or you know we all going to be fired um people were incredible and the level of um belief in the org and in the process and like I uh love and Trust were the um two emotions that really hit me and I uh I was trying hard not to shut it te honestly it was I found it an absolutely beautiful interaction I agree and the only thing I would add is some one person asked Chris uh hey if we're feeling nervous what advice and he's he reminded us that one of Ted's values is determined optimism so you could get anxious or you could be like this could be great and I think the 20 this is a compliment to Chris but also removing him from this a little bit he his values of being open to possibilities being kind of trusting and determined optimism are actually infused to the 250 people who work here and they received it in a manner that we think about it which is this could this feels like a big change but hey it could be better so absolutely all right we have some uh questions from uh the remote audience um a number of people asked about the future of specific programs uh so tedex Ted Ed Ted fellows what can you share to assure those tuning in representing those communities that these programs will survive and this is for both of you I mean we believe in all of those programs like you know passionately um they all have funding um capability um as things stand anyway um so I mean it's I mean it if you're serious about you know inviting a new steward obviously a new steward may say we want to focus more on that and grow that and you know whatever but I see nothing but upside for them um that yeah I agree and I think uh all the programs that we have are actually interconnected and support each other in very meaningful ways the way I think about it is we are planning to do more not less so who knows I mean of course there's possibilities that some changes will come but we think all the all the teams and communities and programs are here and they make sense and so my guess is that they're here to stay and I would add to that just that I do think that the tedex community I mean you know that there are tens of thousands of people around the world doing tedex we actually don't even know the exact number I don't think we know that there's north of 3,000 events but there's you know some of those have teams that sometimes involve 100 or more volunteers and um it's I think that is a massively uh that's a sort of an asset I don't asset's a very narrow word but I'm going to use it for now it's an asset of Ted that is has huge potential I mean I this is a group of Heroes Global Heroes who are fighting every day to try and spread wisdom knowledge Community locally wow that's absolutely amazing and I think if someone wanted to map a pathway to a better future there is a lot more potentially that we could dream of with uh our tedex partners so I mean I would I would definitely in this whole process would welcome any thoughts from tedex organizers um maybe ask answer this question like what more do you believe you would love to do or could do and and what would you need to do that is it just permission is it resources you know what is it dream this is a moment to dream that'ss great all right I'm going to combine two questions one from Adam uh Ted attendee from California and Dian a Ted XR New York um you listed a wide variety of different options for who might inherit Ted who do you actually want it to be um

where do you believe Ted belongs I'd love to hear more about this because maybe by sharing it you can Inspire the audience to make it reality hold um I am also scared of the unpredictability of billionaires and we all are how can we make sure that Ted will stay as a nonprofit after it's transferred to an extremely uh rich person how can we prevent a culture and uh journalism oligarchy sorry I this is why good it's a good it's a good question um billionaires the hated billionaires one let so I'll just I'll say one thing first just about the audacious project um which Anna and I have been you know building for the last um 10 years now I guess um the audacious project uh invites any anyone who is a dreamer for change typically someone running a you know like a social entrepreneur say what is your biggest dream what could you do if Money Was No Object um that the ideas they come up with can take your breath away when you distill those we distill from hundreds down to 10 we have a retreat once a year that is basically attended by billionaires um and in the course of two and a half days we get to see these billionaires in action and what you see are people on fire to try to figure out how to use their resources for maximum good it's like I I part of me just wishes that everyone could actually see that process CU billionaires I mean to some extent deservedly have a terrible wrap and I don't I'm not saying that um some iones and in their worst moments do terrible things they do um but I can promise you because I've seen it up close we've that some billionaires um are deeply want to figure out how to use their resources to make a better future they want to give back they know they've been lucky and some billionaires have absolutely unique skills besides money and that you know they are bold they are big thinkers uh and so forth so don't don't be that scared of them um they that there is a pathway there and there may be they may be an essential part of the pathway to obtaining the resources that we need to you know to be great who so so yeah billionaire philanthropists who possibly in combination um are absolutely one possibility and uh and I think um and obviously it's going to be really important to figure out how that doesn't go wrong and because there are multiple ways that this could go I don't we don't have like here you know here's a written legal Constitution that will prevent anything going wrong we don't have that yeah we may need to create something um depending on how things go but we you know there will be trust and love but there will also be verification and um you know I mean you know we're going to do our damst to be very smart about this and to get something up set up that maximizes possibility but there are plenty of other things that could happen I mean I know for a fact that you know there are giant media companies out there who some of the people leading those companies have that they really want to contribute to a better future um it's not just about making money and I think Ted might be very exciting to some of them in theory universities have a mission to spread knowledge um some universities have ungodly amounts of money sitting there uh idling away when it could actually be doing something radical for the world's future I'm terrified of bureaucracy and of slowness of decision- making and so forth and so that might that may be a big obstacle and that's but if you could find someone Dynamic um or a group who was Dynamic from a big university who wanted to expand their mission to let's say for one of a better term free education for the world we' listen we should listen and that could be amazing the Global Tech Community you know there's lots of resources in this community there are new ways of creating structures you know the challenge with the with governance structures or something like

I mentioned in the note the possibility of a dow distributed autonomous organization um they don't have a very big proven track record yet of how you manage collaboration in an efficient way governance is hard but um on the other hand there are millions of people out around the world who believe in Ted and who would love to see it again just maybe someone can come up with the structure that pulls together a bunch of people and that could happen um I I don't want to restrict the possibility I want to be that there may be much better ideas out there than anything we've thought of I think just starting from the point of view of here is a brand that a lot of people around the world Trust and Believe in as a as a good way of inspiring them to inspiring and empowering them to be their best selves what could you what could we do with that so we should be open but um uh I don't I don't I genuinely don't know and I'm excited to find out and conversely we don't have any shareholders you can say no I think that's also really important to it's not you know it's not who's the highest bidder 100% not and based on what you've shared about the values of this person I would presume that an EV entrepreneur turned media platform owner that is upending the government right now he would not be potential buyer of T you're correct great just wanted to make that clear um okay um any questions in the audience forget the mic around um uh so you're obviously the uh Steve Jobs of Ted and uh there was a time in history when Steve Jobs left Apple but then he came back um so I'm I'm looking for what's the mechanism if we in the community say this new guy who's running Ted is driving it in the wrong direction and we all want you back maybe after a year or two years you'll you have come to some realization oh this could be Ted on a much bigger scale would you consider coming back and a new guy or gal or whoever uh it CH to be or entity or don't actually think of myself as leaving um I I'm basically offering the keys to someone else but Ted has always operated on the basis of best idea wins you know when a group of people who share you know dream together that is that can be what happens so I guess my hope is that I would stay as an adviser or on the board or involved and I can sometimes be persuasive and say you know like what if we did this um so I I don't think it's about me going to next and then coming back and you know whatever no no anyone else in the audience pass the mic hello just to put you on the spot for a moment we saw in the evolution of Ted that we first had you know ideas worth spreading and then we moved into ideas change everything and I know there are massive teams of marketers and branding experts that create these taglines but if you had to off where you are right now how are you thinking about phase three how could you simply Define what is possible for us in terms of what that next tagline might look like I mean I do think ideas change everything is um is powerful um the re the reason um we went with that was to State very clearly you know in a world of all these other um meme memes that are being spread you know um Doom scrolling or whatever that ideas are worth investing your time in that you can have a few moments of satisfying pleasure doing this but if you actually want to impact the future of your life in the world get involved in ideas they're powerful man they're really they will so I think on any scenario I'm happy with that as a tagline I mean you could picture teaming up with people who just believe in trying to build a better future for Humanity and you know may maybe you know it can change but

depending on who the new partner partners are um we'll see but uh I ideas change everything is great and by the way you know in the um in the TV show that we're working on that the power of those words I think will be more evident than ever and um so I'm I'm very happy with that as a mission statement just a couple of fun facts to add first of all I don't know if you know that the head Scott dich was the head of the branding agency that worked with us on the brand refresh is sitting right next to you so he's partially and through his generosity uh through his generosity of the Ted Community also uh did a lot of uh pro bono work with us so thanks you Scott also that that brand refresh just happened we did it for our 40th anniversary and our thoughts were already Brewing about this we need to usher in a new era for Ted and that ideas change everything is very suitable we think for the next decade or two uh and is beautifully positioning us to think bigger to understand why this really matters double down on it and bringing a partner that really cares about it not just about virality it's not just about clicks one extra view it is about doing things that are really meaningful so that moment was so quintessentially Ted I just uh any other questions from the audience yes so Chris you began and said something really powerful about the journey in media and how media's change has impacted Ted and I'd love if you would just talk a little bit more particularly about the next partner owner whatever it's going to end up being and how they're bringing New Vision about the community piece of connection because social media is at the core of part of this problem and I was delighted that you said it the way did I mean I don't know what they'll bring because I don't know who they are yet um if you want if part of we should talk in a minute about convening and the actual physical you know that role of TCH I think that's incredibly important as well but just sticking with the media piece for a bit um you know distribution re really matters um in so there are people who could team up with us and could give us for example worldwide distribution in terms of streaming in terms of TV you know whatever um that would be amazing and I think we might surprise and Delight them with what we have to offer like I think there is there is so much starting with the community of amazing speakers and ideas that we have those can be turned into media assets that look not necessarily just like TED talks but like but go much deeper and um you know reveal powerful ideas in a way that will work for a media company globally but what with you know the exact set of resources they have there's many different forms that comes in and the other thing that will make a huge difference is literally just you know Financial investment instead of developing some of the stuff so it doesn't have to be a media company or whatever but um but I think me media distribution will be a big part of it um but without the algorithmic well not without that algorithm like an algorithm if if if the social media networks had said here's our algorithm we want content that helps people become their best selves and so that when they spend half an hour on our platform they will say thank God I spent that half hour that was so great as opposed to spending half an hour and then hating themselves and hating other people you know like those Al those algorithms could be written and could be built um so it's not about an algorithm per I me we're going to we're entering a future where algorithms are going to be ever more powerful what we need to do collectively is persuade the powerful platforms to change the poison that they're unintentionally putting out there and to invest in helping people become their best selves all right so uh if you can pass the mic to one final question whoever wants to take it in the audience oh there we go very hey guys I hate to be a wet blanket but as a journalist I do want to ask we're in the lovely phase of possibilities and thinking about these things but what if there isn't a gal or guy or entity that steps forward I want to ask about a timeline um what do you see in terms of

shortterm longterm if things don't pop into your inbox if things if no one shows up plan B is that I will we will create a board for the Ted foundation and invite in people invite a group of people to put in resources on any scenario I think Ted needs a a significant injection of funds so that we can dream big we can dream we can be the thing that the world needs us to be and um and we may you know I think having weirdly the very visibility of this process increases the chances of us being able to do that if I was just to go out and raise money people say yeah but doing it this way conversations are going to be had with a bunch of different people and I think um you know I think excitement will be spread so that that I guess is is Plan B that what's joyful about this is that there's no crisis you know there's no cash flow emergency there's no outside shareholders saying resign not at all there's all there is opportunity there's an incredible team here some of them in this room right now so much talent so much so many ideas we just need some more fuel to do that to take on the very challenging forces that are out there in the world right now so one way or another something magical is going to happen yeah and maybe just to add Manu a little bit of just sharing how this evolved so originally when we first started having this conversation plan a was to create a board that Chris would build and bring people in and that was kind of like the obvious thing to do then once he started thinking about oh what if we actually opened it up to possibility and really explored what could be plan a then became Plan B right so but I I'm not I have trust that the process is going to work because it's going to be great no matter what we if we have a great entity or individual stepping forward we'll do that if not we'll build a great board uh our business is growing it continues to grow this year we have an incredible plan for 25 we're doing more things we're growing 10% on the revenues side so everything feels really good it's it's stable and it's growing and from there we can really see who comes in and what we can dream from there great thank you man one final question from Global audience is there uh giu from Milan Italy is there a possibility of a not us-based future for Ted absolutely I mean it Ted isn't a us thing it's a global thing it's for the world ideas are for everyone um the conference started in America where many of our staff are American and we're based here but many of our staff aren't American and um and tedex is already a global phenomenon we've had many events outside the US um I I'm we're open to Big Ideas from anywhere great especially if they're in Milan all right so we're going to wrap up here uh one final question for you Chris about Legacy um you're inching towards 70 you have plenty more years ahead of you uh but as you look back at your time at Ted what are you most proud of and what do you most hope will be your legacy well first of all if you believe Ray kwell if I can just survive another six years I'll live forever you know it's like longevity lift off um I mean I'm most proud of this just stumbling on this idea of letting go that is the it's been the most amazing thing that has made all of this possible when I I bought Ted as a sort of shivering semi-broken failed entrepreneur who you know I thought he was a business God and then discovered I was crap because the dot crisis blew up my company and I was it was horrible and it was like it was I need somewhere to go and lick my wounds and to and these seem like awfully nice people and um and how incredible to get a chance just to live in the world of ideas and so forth and and oh maybe there is a bit of inspiration here that could do some good things in the world and so it started off very um low ambition I didn't know what it was going to lead to it felt like there was something here because of there was so much passion at Ted so much inspiration it felt like there was a flame there that wanted to burn brighter but I didn't know how and um and so

it was this discovery that you know you let go of stuff and holy crap that actually worked we gave away our best stuff and it didn't destroy the conference it actually made more people want to come to the conference wow this community is deeply generous at heart they didn't blame us for giving away their content so that they now had wasted their money they said thank you because now we can share this with our friends and family that was incredible and seeing that happen again with um with I mean it really with Ted Ed and fellows in a way and with and then Ted x uh in the most astonishing way um and all that led to audacious was in its own way an out an outspread of of that so this idea that um so that's what I'd say the idea of strategic generosity it's like it's not Sunday school generosity goody two shoes it's like we're in a connected world people have generosity in them if you can trigger it Ripple effects at astonishing scale can happen so that that I guess would would be it and I just you I feel so lucky that you know we hit on that and it happened it was a collective thing from the people who are around at every stage who were excited by doing that yeah well take your flowers Chris there'll be plenty of moments for further gratitude and thanks but on behalf of Jay the audience uh the staff um I want to deeply express my gratitude for your stewardship of Ted these past 25 years you have an unparalleled ability to catalyze generosity Wonder curiosity and it has been one of the most powerful experiences to be witness to that these past 17 11 many years