TED: Ideas worth spreading!

What is TED?
TED stands for Technology Entertainment Design, it holds an annual conference previously held in Monterey, California, USA but as of 2009 will be held in Long Beach, California, USA. It defines its mission as "ideas worth spreading", and selected talks given at TED are available free on its website.
It was started in 1984,

What topics do their talks involve?
They cover almost all topics under the sky; science, arts, design, politics, culture, business, global issues, technology, and entertainment.

Who were/are their famous speakers?
Their speakers include former US president Bill Clinton, Nobel laureates James D. Watson, Murray Gell-Mann, Al Gore, internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, notable architect and urbanism critic James Howard Kunstler and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

How do I join them?
Well its quite expensive and their membership fee is around $6,000 annually.

Do they reward the speakers?
TED Prize was introduced in 2005. Each year, three individuals are each given $100,000 and granted a "wish to change the world", which they unveil at TED.

How do I apply to join their conference?
Visit the following link - http://www.ted.com/pages/view/id/72

So what do I get out of this?
Of late they have opened their talks, videos free to the public, they are often inspiring, contains views entirely different from a common mans perspective, educative and really spurs anything hidden within...

Any alternate conferences?
Those who can't afford the $6,000 price tag for TED's excellent adventure have an alternate for the first time this year with a parallel conference called BIL, which will be held near the conference center housing TED. BIL is an open-ended gathering designed to complement TED, and begins just after the closing beach party that ends TED on Saturday.
BIL: Biologic. Illuminating. Logic,Biologic. Illuminating. Logic,Benevolence. Inspiration. Level,Bilateral. Ingenious. Luminary,Biologic. Ingenious. Life..........................

Site Address:
http://www.ted.com/

Blog Address:
http://blog.ted.com/

Talks (free):
http://www.ted.com/talks

To subscribe to TEDTalks video:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/tedtalks_video

BIL:
http://bilconference.com/

Wikipedia Info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TED_(conference)

m.I.m