"Technology, Entertainment and Design", TED as most of us know it,  is one of the most popular conferences of the tech world. The three decade old conference is nothing short of a Davos meet up.

But what's the real inspirational thing about this conference that we as Small Businesses should be taking note of?

Their revenue mode is probably the best aspect that has set a precedent for most businesses across the globe.

Founded in 1984, the conference gathers annually at Long Beach, California with its parallel version-TEDActive being held in Palm Springs. Minor events also take place in Europe and Asia as well. At the heart of the TED gathering is to usher the typical Silicon Valley values of "Ideas worth spreading".

The TED2013 kickstarted on Tuesday at Long Beach with lots of new changes since Chris Anderson has taken over the mantle. Here are some interesting factoids about TED that you might not know.


2. The main source of their revenue is this stand-alone conference. In 2012, they generated $45.1 million of which $27.75 million from the conference.

3. TED conferences charge a standard entry fee of $7500. For most of us wanting to attend the talk sessions this is an impossible amount to shell out, but it happens to be one of the main sources to raise funds for TED's other activities.

4. From 2014, TED will change its three decade old venue to Vancouver, British Columbia - "most eco-friendly meeting venue".

5. As the trend has been over the years, the collective speaker-presentations last for a full 18 minutes. However, this time around there will be more shorter presentations of 3 minute long.

6. No computers or laptops are allowed inside the auditorium. Organisers believe in promoting old style note taking as audiences listen more attentively. Its best not to do the sneak peek act here as the talk venue has 8 HD cameras installed inside.

7. Every guest speaker is given a copy of "TED Commandments" that includes "dream Big", "no selling from the stage", "make complex plain".

8. Seeing the popularity of the conference, the organization held a American Idol-like talent search in 14 countries to expand its  new speaker list to 80 this year.

9. The audience rate has also seen a boost this year, numbering 1400 represenatatives from 50 nations.

10.The mix of popular personalities and successful real-life entrepreneurs is going to be the pattern. The roster includes a 15 year old  inventor, a yo-yo champion, an undercover journalist, archery bow designer besides eminent names like rockstar Bono, LinkedIn influence speaker Nilofer Merchant, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, artist Liu Bolin among others.

11. TED's global presence has been possible due to its wide-range translation across 95 global languages. Nearly 9,000 volunteers actively help in translating these TED talks annually.

12. The theme of this year's conference is  "The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered".

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