The TED Conference touches down in Vancouver in March, and its all-star lineup of speakers was announced on Thursday. The event runs from March 17-21, 2014.
Speakers includes Bill and Melinda Gates, astronaut Chris Hadfield, rock star Sting, and NFL punter, author and activist Chris Kluwe.
It's the 30th anniversary of the TED Conference, which holds TEDx events all around the world but has been stationed in Long Beach, California for the past five years. Its move to Vancouver was a hyped and exciting announcement for British Columbia's largest city.
"We've had five wonderful years in Long Beach, but for the anniversary conference, we want to try a new space," the Conference's website reads. "And we found it in Vancouver, a city that's itself an inspiration – cosmopolitan, energetic, innovative, yet with unrivaled natural beauty, surrounded by mountains and water.
This year's Conference will be held at Vancouver's Convention Centre, which the TED Conference site says "offers both scale and intimacy".
"The recently completed convention center is a truly spectacular meeting space offering limitless possibilities in a beautiful, peaceful corner of the city."
The TED Conference is guaranteed to be held in Vancouver for at least two years.
Tickets to last year's event were limited and expensive, with only 1,400 sold and buyers had to apply, with costs of $7,500, $15,000, and $125,000. This year's event will be limited to 1,200 attendees.
All talks at TED are 18 minutes, and they will be uploaded to the company's YouTube channel afterward.
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