TED Salons

Do you want to attend a TED Salon event? Sign up, select your favorite topics, and tell us a bit more about yourself so that we can invite you to the right events.

All TED Salons are crafted by TED's world-renowned curation team to uncover the world's most innovative ideas.

Many TED Salon events take place at the TED World Theater in New York City. All Salons are free to attend.

Today’s volatile world demands that we do things differently. Those who pay attention to things most people cannot see, engineer ideas that stand out. By combining concepts from different areas, we can create simple and unique solutions to old problems. Unconventional implementation of great ideas are driving the world’s most impactful organizations.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is bringing on a tsunami of change that will dramatically change the ways that we interact with and adapt to technology. How we choose to ride this wave will determine the shape of our future. Will we see this as an opportunity or allow it to become a calamity? Will it unite us to solve our most pressing issues or will it divide us? The aftermath of the next wave depends on us: the tools we utilize, the expertise we tap into, and the heart we bring to the future we build.

Craft, in the timeless, universal sense of making, connects us all. We craft our environments, our tools and toys, our transport and communications -- our world. Designers are pioneering new territories of making, exploring extremes of 3-D printing, engineering, AI, and computation, but also reimagining ways low-tech materials and ancient crafts can ignite solutions to today’s global challenges. TED Salon: Radical Craft will showcase the human ingenuity that is shaping our lives, shining light on the beauty inherent in craftsmanship at its extremes. Join us for an evening with designers, communicators, artists, inventors and storytellers for an inspiring dive into the world radical making.

For many, belonging provides the foundation of all comfort, providing a sense of affiliation, at-oneness with a tribe, a party or a community. So how can those lucky enough to have the privilege of belonging bridge the divide to those who do not, those who might feel less peace and more alienation? In this evening salon, we explore what it means to belong, sharing personal stories from those with first hand experience of undocumented life along with the big data picture of the contemporary phenomenon of global mass migration. Sharing ideas from everything from sociology to business, design to literature, these extraordinary speakers will not only share where they find hope for a more inclusive and welcoming world, they’ll also shine a light on the breakthroughs and ideas that might get us there.

The world is more interconnected than ever before—so why aren't we communicating? The need to bridge political and ideological divides and find common ground for respectful but still passionate discourse feels more urgent than ever. What is the role of data and facts? How do we cope in a world where agenda trumps reason, and where the answer to divergent opinions is to yell FAKE NEWS? Now is the time to examine the rules of genuine human engagement, and to celebrate civility.