1. TED Conference
#1 Technology Industry Event
California/Vancouver
The insanely popular California gathering draws big names and big thinkers in its namesake categories technology, entertainment, and design, and it spawned a new event format with its 18-minute talks. The pricey event typically sells out a year in advance, and tickets will be even harder to come by next year, when it downsizes from 1,400 to 1,200 attendees. For the 30th anniversary in 2014, the TED conference moves from Long Beach, California, to Vancouver, with parallel event TEDActive meeting in Whistler, British Columbia. With a theme of “the Next Chapter,” the conference will debut other changes, including a custom theater that organizers envision as “designed to maximize the impact of talks, permitting multiple configurations for sitting, listening, and connecting with audience members, speakers, and performers.” Next: March 17-21, 2014