Why did TED come to Brighton?

We just brought TED to Brighton. So, how did it go?

I haven’t shared a thing online for about a month. All my attention has been on one project, and on Thursday last week, that project came to life.

Back in July I got an email from Chris Anderson, which simply said “Hi Toby, I have an idea I’d like to run by you…”

Chris was looking to reinvent the famous TED talk format, to show the world what it takes to discover and share ideas, that have the power to change everything.

Not only would this be a new kind of event for the TED/TEDx series, it would also be the main feature of a documentary series that would tell the stories of different speakers, as they go from having an idea, to sharing that idea with the world.

I told him how I thought Brighton could help make that happen, and then we got to work.

What might come out the end of this work was not fully clear (and still is yet to be really seen). But whatever it was, we knew we had less than six months to do it. And it had to be REALLY good.

We quickly kicked off an idea search project. A nationwide pitching competition that lasted four weeks and attracted over 600 applications

And we watched… Every. Single. One.

From that 600, Ten were chosen.

And from then, they were given ONE MONTH to prepare a fully fledged TED talk to give in front of 400+ people at the Brighton Dome.

Plus, all the top brass from TED will be there, and Chris Anderson will be co-hosting.

After an intense month of scripting, editing, rehearsals, workshops and more, last Thursday we took to the stage.

Great events are like Swans 🦢. Elegant and graceful above the surface. Kicking like mad against the current underneath.

Passing to and from backstage, to on-stage, was like stepping between the real world and the upside down.

On stage, the audience is roaring and cheering.

💡The lights bring a new world to life, twinkling with red and white.

💡 Voices cut through the air with pristine and precision.

💡 Thoughts carry across on one person's facial expression, and instantly create lasting emotions with hundreds more.

It's a place of perfection and realness.

Backstage, is a planet of production.

⚡️ Scores of people pacing up and down (especially me), waiting for their next big movement to arrive.

⚡️ Cameras and their pilots darting across from stage left to right.

⚡️ Piles of biscuits and cakes and sandwiches getting ignore because everyone is too nervous to eat.

⚡️ Organisers, producers and hosts frantically scanning pieces of paper to make sure we know EXACTLY what needs to happen next.

...Then one by one, the speakers go up, share their thoughts, and come down.

The first 30 seconds is the hardest bit.

Shortly followed by the 10 minutes of waiting in the wings before-hand, watching the speaker ahead of you smash it… “Oh god, I don’t think I can do that”

 But once you’re up. Once you’ve got that first laugh, or cheer, or ‘ahhh’. You’re off.

 The words come, the stories unravel, and the idea releases itself.

 It’s not your idea anymore. It’s theirs. You just get to point at the bits that YOU find important. And maybe… the audience will find that important too.

But as you share your experiences of that idea…

And as you answer your own questions about that idea…

 …More and more the audience comes to believe.

 They want this to happen now too. They want YOU to win. To succeed.

 And that’s why we do it. To connect people to ideas.

To make the impossible, possible.

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 So, thinking back to July, when Chris came to me with HIS idea, and I said “yeah sure, we can do that”. I now feel like we’ve made it happen.

 We found a place, we found the people and we made it possible.

I am so pleased. And I am so proud.

 Everyone just showed up, and kicked some ass and made the world a better place.

Thank you everyone who bought a ticket and came along. Thank you to everyone who put their idea in the ring.

Thank you to all the teams, volunteers and individuals who made it happen.

Thank you to the speakers who gave it such unwavering depth and unforgettable joy.

Next up: TEDxBrighton, 4th April 2025, tickets on sale now.