NET EFFECT OF TED
A GIANT ART
installation made up of soft netting soars above the Vancouver Convention centre where the TED conference is slated to begin next week. About 1,200 of the world’s most infl uential people will attend.
TED, that grail of thought- provoking conventions that will draw 1,200 of the brightest minds in the world, opens Monday in Vancouver.
Work is well underway converting the Vancouver Convention Centre into the kind of cosy incubation chamber that the conference organizers had been used to providing in Long Beach, Calif., home of TED for the past five years.
Vancouver is an old hand at major conventions and public gatherings. It held the grand- daddy of them all, the Winter Olympics, in 2010, and watched as its streets were jammed with red- mitten- clad people.
But TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design, is nothing like that, at least in size. The folks who have signed up for the $ 7,500- apiece tickets are among the most influential and well- heeled in the world. Venture capitalists, philanthropists, scientists, architects, engineers, professionals — the conference attracts the upper echelon of those at the crossroads of their fields.
While the Canadian Tourism Commission and Tourism Vancouver estimate conference attendees will drop more than $ 4.5 million into the Vancouver economy in direct and indirect spending during the five- day event, that’s not really the way they want to measure the potential for success.
“What our theory is that when these world billionaires, philanthropists, engineers and scientists come and see Canada, they will have a very warm view of what it offers as a business community,” said Greg Klassen, the senior vice- president of marketing for the tourism commission. It is the inevitable side deals between visitors and local businesses in B. C. and Canada’s growing tech and green sectors that will be the gravy.
“Yes, we have at the minimum two years, with 1,200 delegates a year eating at restaurants and staying in our hotels,” Klassen said. “But to call that an economic impact on our country and city based purely on the investment they will make next week is too trite. It is the long- term impact we are looking at.”
Rick Antonson, Tourism Vancouver’s president, said bringing TED to Vancouver is about more than direct spending in the local economy.
“A gathering like this becomes a profound catalyst. There is a really interesting social alloy at play here. Much, much good can come out of it,” he said. “Trying to measure it with a simple cash register ring is wrong. This is about social, technological and entertainment change.”
Last year, when TED signalled its intention to leave Long Beach, it approached the tourism commission and Tourism Vancouver. Negotiations for a minimum two- year deal were so secret that not even Mayor Gregor Robertson was consulted.
As part of the deal, the Vancouver Destination Hotels Association, the tourism commission and Tourism Vancouver agreed to underwrite part of the cost of relocating TED, including helping with the specially designed stages.
Klassen won’t reveal the cost of the deal, but said taxpayers are not at risk. He compared it to the kinds of partnership deals tourism associations sometimes offer to lure important events away from international competitors.
“What we paid them was to partner with them. And what we got was that we can call ourselves TED host country and TED host city,” Klassen said. “We’ve stamped that on all of our collateral, so that when we are in international markets trying to bring in conventions and meetings to Canada we start by saying ‘ we are the ones who brought TED to Canada. If we can do TED, the world’s coolest conference, we can do your conference.’”
Earlier this week, the first outward sign that TED is coming was the installation in front of the convention centre of a huge aerial piece of art by Janet Echelman, titled Skies Painted With Unnumbered Sparks. Strung between the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel and the convention centre, the 227- metre piece will be lit on Saturday night.
Behind the scenes, however, construction is well advanced on the main stage and seating in a massive amphitheatre designed by New York architect David Rockwell.
Chris Anderson, TED’s curator, credited Vancouver architect Michael Green’s TED Talk on tall wood skyscrapers with giving him the idea for the all- wood stage and seating. Green is also helping to build a smaller all- wood secondary stage where 50 returning “all- star” speakers as well as TED fellows or junior speakers will make presentations.
The stages will be finished by Sunday. The closed- door event runs Monday to Friday. A simulcast version called TEDActive is also operating in Whistler.
However, for the first time in its history, TED has also agreed to provide a free live broadcast of its talks to schools, universities, community centres and libraries. It also is feeding a jumbotron screen on the outside of BC Place at Terry Fox Plaza.