Was gonna use this time to gather my thoughts, and I probably will shortly, but the inauguration of Air Canada's new on-board wifi service lets me riff through 600 or so gathered pieces of email, and get my main "adjunct" learning from the conference also known as "Brain Camp" off my chest, and onto you.
TED has expanded its conference roots into an international brand, a juggernaut of hope, awe-inspiring ideas and mass do-goodism. And despite the Starbucks-like viral proliferation of smaller live TEDx events all over the world, the fact is that more people will see it via a screen than will ever experience it live. To wit:
- There's the real-time simulcast of the annual event to an enthusiastic crowd of 500 in Palm Springs.
- There's the hundreds of thousands of "associate" members watching live on the Internet.
- And then there are the millions upon millions who fervently watch a growing library of TED talks on TED.com and YouTube.
So here's my point:
For all intents and purposes, TED has become a broadcast entity
...albeit one that just so happens to have a live event as its core.
And as a broadcast product, it has to think and act more like one. In other words, its stage set--while breathtaking live--is inefficient and sometimes visually jarring to a viewer. Shots of some of today's greatest minds and thinkers were marred by music stands, keyboards or other "to be used next" stage elements seemingly sticking out of their heads. Many times, close-ups of their heady theories and break-through ideas were disturbed by cameramen or other backstage workers in action behind them. And don't get me started on the side shots or reverse shots, the latter which was always dominated by the red radiation of the countdown clock.
Add to this a slide clicker that was faulty to a four-day fault and other tech glitches that are acceptable at a Kiwanis Club or Hotel Ballroom sales meeting, but not at the world's pre-eminent gathering of the hipster elite.
The solution? TED needs a crack artistic director
...sort of like what I do at Just For Laughs every summer. But better ;)
This person should go about hiring an equally-crack live TV director, someone who has cut his or her teeth on sports, awards shows, concerts or other large-scale, large-audience events.
Next stop: a production designer who thinks TV first, and fits those thoughts into a live setting. I learned so much from Akira (Leo) Yoshimura, a Saturday Night Live set designer, when he did this work for our HBO and Showtime shows in the '90s.
IDEASWORTHWATCHING
We had a lot in common with TED--essentially, one pacing, talking head after another on stage--and Leo introduced stunning and relevant background flats (that could be flown or rolled on stage) that ensured each mid, tight and long shot of a performer was properly framed as a solid visual. No "bars thru heads." Not only did these add an element of branding and personalization to each performer, but they camouflaged all the dirty work and set-up going on throughout the rest of the stage.
After that, find an equally-good lighting director to minimize shadows and ensure props and faces pop. And finally, introduce a discreet TelePrompTer to minimize host use of clipboards and floppy key rings of index cards. At this level of event, there should be no fumbling with notes. This may alter the somewhat "loose" on-stage spirit of Chris Anderson and other TED hosts, but if you can have a countdown clock, you can have a TelePrompTer.
I really dug my TED experience. I learned a lot and met an international datebook of interesting people and potential collaborators.
But as TED grows, the more public its audience gets. And the public can be way more demanding and fickle than the elite.
I think it's time for TED to head this public off at the pass and ramp up the production values. It doesn't have to be Hollywood, but the International Republic of TED needs to play to the screen-viewing masses with a little more screen-friendly pizzazz.
The ideas worth spreading have to be ideas worth watching.