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It's really amazing to be here back in Tokyo.
I was at the first TEDxTokyo.
TEDx – about a year ago, we started this little –
we launched this little experiment at TED, called TEDx,
where x equals independently organized events.
It basically gives anybody, anywhere in the world
the opportunity to host a TED-like event.
Now, the idea for TEDx came from a number of different places.
About 4 years ago, we put TED talks online for free.
About 250 million people have seen TED talks to date.
And, this has really transformed the TED brand.
And another thing that occurred,
that more and more people are coming up to us and asking us
if they can host an official TED conference in their city or their country.
TED team is a very small team and this idea is very hard to scale.
And finally, we at TED really do believe
that sometimes it's better to view TED talks in a group situation
where you can have a conversation around them
rather than a solitary way in front of a computer.
So, it's through the evolution of all these ideas
that this TEDx project emerged.
Now, a year ago there had been a couple of TEDx events,
TEDxUSC, which launched the whole TEDx program,
and a few smaller TEDx events.
Really, TEDxTokyo 2009 was the first TEDx event,
most definitely in Asia and one of the first big TEDx events that were held.
So, what I wanted to do for you now
is just paint a picture of sort of what's transpired in just over a year.
We've had 600 TEDx events to date.
There've been over a 100 TEDx events in Asia.
There are about another 500 plus events planned for this year.
We've had about 40 youth events
and there have been about 100 events on university campuses.
We've had events in 80 countries and 25 different languages.
These events are ranged tremendously in size, shape and format.
We've had one event in a shanty town in Kibera
where the organizer just put a sheet on the wall,
projected some TED talks and invited some people from the local community.
We've had a series of events
that have been hugely ambitious like this event in Tokyo today.
And then, we've had events in little rural villages in southern India
where this particular one woman undergone a tremendous personal journey
to enable this event to happen because the elders of the village
felt really confronted by a conference, really challenged
with the conference about ideas.
So, it's been a really interesting journey
and people come and they say, "What can we do afterwards?
We've met these amazing people we've had this amazing inspiring day."
One of the things I can say to you is – Go out into your community and
into under-privileged communities to schools, and host your own little TEDx event.
It doesn't have to be on the scale. You can just project some TED talks.
And, maybe or maybe not, invite some speakers,
but reach out into your community.
This has been an amazing journey.
And I think, we at TED all feel like it's been truly transformative
and it's been thanks to all of you, the TEDxTokyo community
that has really helped us make it so.
In closing, I just really have to thank Patrick, Todd,
and the whole TEDxTokyo team,
because they really jumped on board this idea
long before it ever was an idea.
They've really been tremendously supportive
of me through this last year,
and they continue to be so. So, thank you.
(Applause)