Vancouver, BC: The TED Conference – one of the world’s most prestigious events – is coming to Canada. In 2014, this massive meeting of global minds will take place in Vancouver, BC. Whistler, BC will host TEDActive concurrently.
Canada is delighted to welcome TED. Its annual conference attracts some of the world’s most influential people in business, the arts, sciences, academia and philanthropy. TED Talks – videos of talks given at the conference – are published at TED.com, where more than 1,400 of them have already been viewed over one billion times.
TED selected Vancouver for its 30th anniversary conference after surveying a number of possible cities. Chris Anderson, TED’s Curator, called Vancouver “one of the world’s greatest cities, combining a thriving culture of innovation with glorious nature.” TED has committed to host its conference in this West Coast city in March 2014, with possible extensions. The conference attracts upwards of 1,300 delegates annually.
A consortium of tourism partners, led by the Canadian Tourism Commission, Tourism Vancouver and theVancouver Convention Centre, supported by the Vancouver Hotel Destination Association, will welcome the conference to Vancouver. The city was an outstanding host for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games and recognized globally for its unparalleled beauty, the superb quality of its venues, hotels and infrastructure and its welcoming citizens.
The LEED® Platinum-certified Vancouver Convention Centre’s unconventional design, flexible function space, and waterfront setting, coupled with the proximity of world-class hotels, will offer an intimate and inspirational setting to engage delegates.
In hosting TED 2014 in Vancouver, Canada can highlight the country’s innovation and intellectual capital. The arrival of the conference reiterates the extended power of tourism and confirms Canada globally as a great place to visit, to do business and to invest.
TED is built around inspiration from the world’s most inventive thinkers, creating a community of people eager for new ideas and experiences to engage with. This aligns closely with Canada’s tourism brand: “Canada. Keep Exploring.”
Meetings, conventions and incentive travel attract close to two million visitors each year to Canada with total spending of $1.7 billion – almost 24% of all money spent by inbound overnight travellers. Canada is the #1 location for outbound meetings business from the US, bringing in about $1.4 billion.
