Chris Anderson is an American businessman who is best known as the curator of the annual TED (technology, entertainment, design) conference, where people on the conference list can share their ideas. Chris is also a regular TED host.
Those who have heard the inspiring stories of the conference participants become regular spectators of this amazing event, because unique ideas are voiced and unique people speak at it.
Biography
Anderson was born in Pakistan in 1957 to English subjects. His father was an eye surgeon and at the same time a missionary - Christian evangelist. He ran a mobile hospital in rural Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. Chris also has two sisters - the older and the younger.
The childhood of the future entrepreneur was spent in eastern countries. When it came time to go to school, his parents first sent him to the Woodstock School in the Himalayan Massouri Mountains in India, and then he moved to the Monkton Combe boarding school, already in England.
Chris received his higher education at the University of Oxford. He first became interested in physics, and then moved to the Faculty of Philosophy, and also studied economics and politics. He received his diploma in these subjects in 1978.
Career
Anderson began his career in journalism, working for newspapers and radio. He prepared and hosted a world news service in the Seychelles - a pirate radio station.
Returning to the UK in 1984, Anderson became interested in the idea of introducing home computers into the everyday life of ordinary people. So he became editor of the first two English computer magazines: Personal Computer Games and Zzap! 64.
A year later, he founded Future Publishing, which published computer magazines. In this case, Anderson invested all his funds and took out a loan of $ 25,000. Initially, the new company focused on specialized computer publishing, but later expanded to other areas: music, video games, technology, and design. The magazines were very popular: their circulation doubled annually.
In 1994, Anderson moved to the United States. There he started building websites, developed Imagine Media, published Business 2.0 magazines, and created the popular video game user site IGN. Anderson eventually merged Imagine and Future, forming a company in 1999 called Future US. In total, he published and maintained 150 magazines and websites and employed 2,000 people.
This was already a significant ideological and financial success, and since 1999 the company's shares have been listed on the London Stock Exchange.
However, Chris was constantly occupied with questions about finding new ways to solve complex global problems through the use of media, technology, entrepreneurship and ideas. And he decided to find the answer to these questions at the TED conference.
Anderson created The Sapling Foundation, a non-profit foundation, and through it acquired the TED conference. And he began organizing the annual tech, entertainment and design luminaries in Monterey, California. Since 2009, it has been held in Long Beach, California.
This work took a lot of time and effort, required a certain amount of creativity and a large contribution of finances. So Anderson left Future to work only at TED.
He expanded the scope of the conference to cover all topics including science, culture, academia, business and key global issues. He added a fellowship program, which now has about 400 alumni. He also established the TED Award, which provides recipients with $ 1 million to support their "one desire to change the world."
In 2006, TED experimented with publishing some of its talks online. Their viral success prompted Anderson to develop the organization as a global media initiative dedicated to "ideas worth spreading." In June 2015, the organization published its 2000th report on the Internet.
Through a related project, they have been translated into over 100 languages with the help of thousands of volunteers from all over the world. So the number of conference viewers has grown to about one billion views a year.
Continuing the strategy of "radical openness", Anderson came up with the idea in 2009 - to conduct TEDx. It goes like this: The main TED organization provides free licenses to local organizers who want to organize their own TED-like events. Speakers are required to speak free of charge, and events must be non-profit, with talks streamed by TED via Commons Media.
The idea generated a lot of interest and over 10,000 events were held in various locations, creating an archive of 100,000 TEDx talks.
Three years later, the TED-Ed program was launched. It offers free instructional videos and tools for students and teachers.
In May 2016, Anderson published a book called TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking, which offers tips and tricks for public speaking. Here Chris has detailed how to speak at a conference to impress and get your message across. The book became a New York Times bestseller.
In April 2018, Anderson announced a major update to the TED award called Bold Project. He seeks to raise significant funding for daring projects that work for charity.
Personal life
Chris Anderson was married twice: his first wife Lucy Evans bore him three daughters: Zoya, Elizabeth and Anna. When their daughters grew up, Chris and Lucy divorced.
In 2008, Anderson married Jacqueline Novogratz. She is the founder and CEO of Acumen, an organization that pioneered social investment.
