The theme of this year’s TEDxEton, the first ever TEDx event to be held at Eton College, is Anticipate. Eton College is an institution deeply rooted in tradition; Etonians are, for example, famous for their Victorian uniforms and unusual sports which no other schools play. However, it is the balance between commitment to tradition and eagerness for reinvention that allowed this school to not only
survive for 577 years, but thrive and become one of the best academic institutions in the world. The ability to anticipate developments in the wider world - from globalisation allowing millions of students all over the world to study abroad, to the rise of technology, increasing demand for completely new and different skill sets - has allowed Eton to adapt, evolve and improve. We believe this ability to anticipate the future is more relevant now than ever before. The world is changing at a pace unimaginable only a decade ago: look no further than the extraordinary political changes happening all across the Western world. The countries, the organisations and the people who will not be able to adapt to this world will not be able to succeed in it. We believe that by bringing TEDx, a collection on independently organised events which build the largest modern repository of human vision, to Eton, we can help our school and its students and teachers, as well as all our attendees and viewers worldwide, to anticipate the world's future and, as a result, shape their own future and the futures of people around them. We believe that by our speakers sharing their perspective on the future of their fields, they will help us establish TEDxEton as the symbol of Eton’s anticipation of the future - this is our philosophy.
