What a nonprofit events group can teach business
一个非盈利组织可以教会企业什么
Nov 3rd 2012 | from the print edition
WHEN it started in 1984, the TED【1】 conference (an abbreviation of “Technology, Entertainment, Design”) brought together a few hundred people in California. It has since grown into a global craze. It will soon pass a milestone: the one-billionth download of an online TED speaker video.
How did it get so popular? The internet played an important role. So did social media. But part of the success is the result of untraditional management. Instead of controlling the most valuable parts of the business, the group took the riskier path of opening them up to everyone. The method may hold lessons for other companies.
In 2009, as it was becoming well known, TED decided that, instead of managing its brand more tightly as conventional wisdom instructs, it would create a free licence for others to host local conferences, called TEDx. Now, six or seven TEDx events are held every day. These events seem to add to the lustre of the main conferences, rather than dilute them. The talks are also posted online free, with little advertising. By not milking things, TED has inspired people to contribute to it for nothing: 8,000 volunteers have translated subtitles for thousands of videos into more than 90 languages. And by getting consumers to do things for nothing, TED has managed to innovate with fewer resources.
All this requires establishing a community of users and accepting some loss of control. Such tactics might not work for, say, Coca-Cola or Intel. Yet they may work for others. A kitchenware-maker might want to create a place on its website for amateur chefs to show off their skills and recipes, for example, or a sporting-goods firm could encourage local tournaments with its brand.
To critics, TED is emblematic of a world of short attention spans【2】 and passive entertainment. To satirists, it is smug and self-important: the Onion【3】 parodies it with video talks such as: “Compost-Fuelled Cars: Wouldn’t That Be Great?”【4】 But to supporters, TED has inspired millions to pursue lifelong learning. And for business, it shows what is sometimes possible by taking what is valuable and giving it away.
