TEDxDubai - Introduction - 10/10/09

Hello, and welcome to this special program called TEDx But what is TED? Well, it started out as an annual conference That brought together leaders from the technology, Entertainment and design industries. A few years ago, We started making TED talks freely available over the internet And to our astonishment, we saw them starting to spread virally To an audience of literally millions, redefining our mission at TED to be simply: Ideas worth spreading. Now, many people experience TED talks alone, sitting at the computer Or perhaps watching them on their cell phone But we think it's sometimes better to watch TED in a group And that's why we launched this TEDx programme So the "x" stands for "independently organized TED event" We, here at TED, actually play no role at all in organizing your event today - other than making our talks freely available. And that's the joy of the programme. It allows organizers who are passionate about TED to share it with their friends, and colleagues, and family, And to put together a programme of their own choosing So, in a moment, you'll be watching a selection of talks put together by your organizer and perhaps afterwards you will be able to engage in creative conversation about them, and what to do with them. So I would like to thank your local organizer for taking TED and sharing it with you And now, on with the show!