TEDxTokyo 2009

TEDxTokyo’s May 22 launch event at Miraikan had a noble start, a flash of magic, and the assembled minds and passions of over two hundred global thought leaders from more than twenty countries. Thousands more followed the event virtually via the live stream or tracked the proceedings through Twitter.

In the spirit of the main TED conference, TEDxTokyo 2009 challenged some of the world’s most prolific thinkers and doers to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less. They delivered! HRH Princess Takamado’s eloquent and heartfelt keynote set the mood for twenty-three speakers from Japan and elsewhere to share their compelling visions and stories. A few of them are listed below; you can see the full lineup on the TEDxTokyo 2009 Speaker Bios page.

LIVE MEDIA BROADENS OUR COMMUNITY

Over a thousand people wanted to be part of TEDxTokyo 2009. However, with room for only two hundred onsite attendees, the TEDxTokyo crew knew it had to formulate a way to give the outside world access to the event. We subsequently created a virtual window enabling anyone, anywhere, to join the conversation and help spread ideas far beyond Tokyo. As a result TEDxTokyo 2009 achived the following:

3500+ people watched our two live feeds, experiencing all the action onstage for every session.

‘TEDxTokyo’ claimed the #2 (Twitter account), #5 (YouTube account), and #6 (Flickr account) spots on Google

500+ tweeters followed our live bloggers in English and Japanese. All the buzz made “#TEDxTokyo” the #3 Twitter trend globally.

327+ photographs were captured and uploaded throughout the day, including shots taken backstage, onstage, offstage, at the TEDxTokyo seaside BBQ, and during the dinner reception and conversation breaks.

PARTICIPANTS SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS

The two-hundred handpicked participants who shared the inaugural TEDxTokyo experience are pretty amazing folks in their own right, and are wielding their talents and influence to create a better, more sustainable future. Their comments will give you a sense of what TEDxTokyo’s launch day was like:

“It was awesome and shattered many people’s expectations, especially people who are quite familiar with TED and have been following the videos.”

“Where else could you have princesses, magicians and the rest, all on the same stage, with the audience experiencing all kinds of different emotions!”

“The biggest thing I came away with was the feeling that I can make a bigger difference in both my life and the rest of the world! Truly inspirational!”

You can read more participant feedback here.

TEDxTokyo organizers Todd Porter and Patrick Newell and their team of over fifty dedicated volunteers took the curiosity and excitement about TED to the next level, opening conversations about how we can create a sustainable future for Japan and the rest of the planet. The volunteer crew helped craft various aspects of the launch event, including the TEDxTokyo website, translations, filming, tweets and choreography for all of the day’s activities.

The TEDTalks presentations shown at TEDxTokyo are available here.