Indianapolis leaders are taking their commitment to sports up a notch, teeing up the city for a first-of-its-kind conference focused on growth and innovation in the industry.
TEDSports is expected to draw up to 1,000 executives, educators and trendsetters from across the globe Sept. 9-11. Organizers say it will offer a series of seminars, panels, workshops and curated experiences focusing heavily on charting the future of the sports industry—and, for Indianapolis, creating inroads for future partnerships.
The event is a collaboration among Indiana Sports Corp., Carmel-based strategic planning firm Next Practice Partners and the nonprofit TED organization.
New York-based TED, founded in 1984, has become part of the cultural zeitgeist through not only its eponymous TED Talks but also its corporate-run TED conferences and independent TEDx events that give experts a platform to tackle big ideas and modern challenges through the lens of innovation.
Patrick Talty, president of the Indiana Sports Corp., said the organization sees the TEDSports event as an opportunity to further instill its 2050 Vision strategy. Unveiled last year, it aims to move central Indiana beyond its reputation as a strong host for major events and strengthen its reach in sports technology, businesses and academia, and women’s sports.
“I think this really connects well to the idea that Indiana is creating this global epicenter of sports,” Talty said. “There are big ideas being talked about in Indiana, and if you want to talk about new ideas, different ideas and different perspectives, we want you to think of Indianapolis first. That’s something an event like this brings. It really starts to move that vision forward.”
Monique Ruff-Bell, the chief program and strategy officer for TED, has been in the events industry for 25 years, logging a handful of visits to Indianapolis during that time.
Ruff-Bell said the city’s sports ecosystem fits well with the organization’s ambitions to create an event for the industry that will go beyond a single-year conference.
“In the end, it just made sense to go to Indianapolis, because it offers such a unique convergence of sports organizations, academic institutions, technological innovations and a passionate community,” she said. “We just don’t want this to be a one-off—we want it to grow and thrive.”
Creating connections
TEDSports is being billed as a conference that brings together “the world’s boldest thinkers and changemakers,” with a focus on sharing ideas that set a course for the industry’s future. The first group of speakers is expected to be announced April 1, the same day registration opens for the event.
Ruff-Bell said she’s excited about the lineup of talks planned for the main stage but expects the real value for attendees to come through networking opportunities in workshops and excursions around the city.
“We’re trying to create connections, and that’s where we always come from—creating an environment where there’s this cross-pollination that happens,” she said. “The best thing about [TED conferences] is, you meet people you would have never met in your day-to-day life, who are just doing amazing things. You think the person on the stage is the most amazing, but it is the person that’s sitting right next to you.”
Ruff-Bell said TED’s approach will be similar to the TEDAI events it hosts biennially to address artificial intelligence topics in San Francisco and Vienna. In 2023, the group also hosted a climate-focused Countdown Summit in Detroit and an elections, politics and policy event in New York City.
TEDSports Indianapolis will be run by a group of local volunteers, including Talty and Neelay Bhatt, CEO of Next Practice Partners, as co-chairs of the organizing committee. But unlike traditional TEDx events (which simply license the TED brand and format), the organization’s corporate team will have direct input on various components of the conference, including speakers, panels, workshops and ancillary events.
A global audience
Both Ruff-Bell and Talty directly credited Bhatt for helping to land the event in Indianapolis. Bhatt has organized several TEDx events in central Indiana over the past decade.
Talty said the pursuit of TED involved a trip to Atlanta during its TEDNext event, which gave the sports tourism leader a chance to see one of the events for the first time and provided a small Indianapolis contingent face time with the organization’s leadership.
Bhatt said the event will be critical for helping Indianapolis in its efforts to grow as a major sports business hub.
“These TED events, whether it’s the annual conference or something special like TEDSports,” Bhatt said, “are meant to be engaging not only during the time someone is attending or listening in but far beyond that. They are special because they have practical and applicable lessons. They inspire people.”
The event is also likely to draw a lot of eyes beyond those who attend the Indianapolis event, organizers say. The group’s signature TED Talks exploded in popularity online in 2006. Today, the TED YouTube channel has 25.9 million subscribers, placing it among the 400 largest of the platform’s 51 million channels.
Likewise, the separate TEDx YouTube channel—which shows presentations from its licensed events—has 42.6 million subscribers, making it one of the top 150 channels on the platform.
Bhatt said he believes local organizers and the TED organization will be able to take some lessons from other events that draw a confluence of industry experts, including the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s biennial Global Economic Summit and Elevate Venture’s Rally event, which focuses on highlighting startups and venture capital opportunities.
He said both events are focused on starting conversations, helping participants think about problems in a different way and considering the role Indiana could play in being part of a solution. That, he said, is what he expects will be found with TEDSports, as well.
Next Practice Partners and Indiana Sports Corp. over the past several months have spoken extensively with leaders at the Indianapolis Colts, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and several other key groups in Indianapolis’ sports scene about being involved in the event. Talty said each came on board quickly.
“We felt it was really key to bring the whole community together and to really push this forward on a global stage because this really is a global audience.”
Already, Talty said, organizers have seen “a lot of interest” from local, national and international brands in being tied to the event.
‘That Indy flair’
Mel Raines, CEO of Pacers Sports & Entertainment, said she expects that some prospective TEDSports attendees will be involved—either as fans or on the business side—in the 2025 WNBA All-Star event in July. She said the conference will likely be promoted throughout All-Star weekend, including targeting specific business leaders and innovators.
Hosting a new event “does present an opportunity for us to put our spin on it with our partner in a little bit of a different way,” Raines said. “We’re rolling up our sleeves and coming up with those things now. That’s always been our secret sauce—working with our event partner to enhance what they do and maybe make them rethink how they do it going forward.”
Talty said the idea of hosting the event with the city’s signature care and creativity was a key selling point for TED.
“They are looking for us to put this event on in a unique way, to make it different,” he said. “To give it that Indy flair.”
TED’s Ruff-Bell confirmed that Indianapolis’ approach is a key part of why the city was chosen.
“It’s really important that the local aspect is worked in throughout,” she said. “It would be a disservice for us not to showcase [the city’s culture and sports scene] when that was one of the reasons why we chose to be there. TED has never been about sanitizing anything, and we feel like the best connections come when you put people in different environments to connect. … It’s a pillar for us.”
And local organizers say TEDSports is an opportunity to sell the city as a place to locate.
“We are definitely going to infuse—both quietly and very overtly—how our sports tech space is growing and why businesses should think about headquartering their businesses here,” Talty said. “I think [attendees will] go away just absolutely loving Indianapolis and what we put on here.”
Bhatt said Indianapolis’ “sports ecosystem is the differentiator from any cities around the world.”
“They’re going to remember TEDSports Indianapolis and the role it played in spawning new opportunities and goals for this space,” he said, “then keep the city in mind as they look to grow those ventures.”
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