Over the last four years, TED has evolved from a 1,000-person conference to something much larger ... TED Talks have been viewed more than 400 million times worldwide, and are available in 80 languages, thanks to volunteer translators. And over the last two years, more than 1000 independently organized "TEDx" events have been held worldwide, in 100 countries and 50 languages. What's enabled this growth? The cross-cultural, cross-generational appeal of TED's mission ("Ideas worth spreading") and also the philosophy of "radical openness" that's underscores all of TED's initiatives. From the conference to the code, TED has been opening itself up for participation, and this has had a profoundly positive effect on its mission, its scale, and its bottom line. In this presentation, we'll share the details of how TED has opened up, and what this has meant from both a business perspective, a content perspective and a technology perspective. We'll also take a look ahead, with some you-heard-it-first-at-SXSW news.
As Executive Producer of TED Media, June Cohen has been responsible for bringing the legendary TED Conference online, and growing its audience from 1000 attendees to 150 million viewers worldwide. In 2006, she launched TEDTalks, the groundbreaking podcast series that first made the conference talks available to the world, and in 2007, she led the widely acclaimed redesign of TED.com which extended TED's new mission of "Ideas worth spreading". As a result, TEDTalks have now been viewed more than 350 million times worldwide, and have become a powerful new platform for leading thinkers and doers. Cohen also co-produces and co-hosts the annual TED Conference, where she shares the stage with TED Curator Chris Anderson.
In 2009, Cohen and her team launched the TED Open Translation Project, a ground-breaking initiative that allows volunteers worldwide to translate TEDTalks into any language. In the first 18 months, more than 4000 translators have contributed 15,000 translations in 80+ languages. In 2010, she launched the TED Open TV Project, which allows broadcasters worldwide to run TEDTalks free of charge, and build programs around the talks. This "open-source" TV project premiered with a wide range of partners worldwide, including GeoTV in Pakistan, KissTV in East Africa, ManagemenTV in Argentina and LinkTV in the United States, as well as the entire European Broadcasting Union, with its 100 member stations.
Under Cohen's leadership, TED's media initiatives have been covered in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, Wired, Newsweek, Le Monde, Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung and Italy's Coriere della Sere. They've also won a range of industry honors, including 7 Webbies, iTunes Best Podcast of the Year (2006-2010), the Communication Arts Interactive Annual Competition (2007) and the AIGA Annual Design Competition (2009). TED.com has been featured in two major design exhibits, at the London Design Museum and the Denver Art Museum.
Prior to joining TED, Cohen had been at the leading edge of media and technology for 15 years, producing innovative work oft-cited for its influence on the industry. In 1991, she led the Stanford University team that developed the world’s first networked multimedia magazine. It attracted international news coverage as a harbinger of things to come. Then, in 1994, she helped launch HotWired.com, the pioneering website from Wired Magazine, which introduced many of the conventions now commonplace on the web (It was the first website to introduce a membership system, a commenting system, and ad banners). For several years, she wrote "Net Surf," one of the web’s first blogs, and documented such historical moments as the launch of Amazon.com. In 1996, she founded Webmonkey.com, the much-loved developers’ site still used by millions. From 1997-2000, she helped lead HotWired to profitability as VP of Content. June holds a BA from Stanford, where she was Editor in Chief of The Stanford Daily. She lives in New York City.
