A convention of geniuses, icons and mavericks is expected to converge in Monterey this week.
The 2007 TED conference -- TED is the acronym for Technology Entertainment Design -- will feature 50 speakers ranging from President Clinton to NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to musician Paul Simon during its run in Monterey beginning Wednesday.
´Instead of a subject-matter theme, we are simply going to put on stage 50 remarkable people... and let them share whatever it is they are passionate about,´ according to promotional material circulated by TED.
The annual TED conference has been held in Monterey since its re-conception in 1990. The 1984 TED featured the unveiling of the Macintosh computer and the Sony compact disc, but the event lost money.
The event now sells out well in advance. Registration for the 2008 conference is already closed. Passes to this year´s conference cost $4,400, but not just anyone with $4,400 can attend.
TED is an invitation-only event, people can apply to be invited and, according to TED officials, ´a wide variety of leading thinkers and doers from all fields of endeavor´ are welcomed.
The lineup this year includes an eclectic array of politicians, authors, artists, venture capitalists, poets, nanotechnologists, musicians and scientists.
They include Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin, musicians Tracy Chapman and They Might Be Giants, famed cave explorer Bill Stone, and author Isabel Allende.
The conference ends on Saturday.
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