Kyle Shearer

Architect, Brainstormer, Connector, Designer, Environmentalist, Event planner, Explorer, Foodie, Gay, Idea generator, Inventor, Producer, Project manager, Single, Social entrepreneur, World traveler

Kyle Shearer is Director of Event Operations at TED, where he leads the planning and operational delivery of TED’s flagship conferences and helps shape the experiences that surround them. Since joining TED in 2011, he has brought conferences to life in Long Beach, Vancouver, Edinburgh, Rio, Arusha, Nairobi and beyond. He believes deeply in TED’s mission, its community, and the power of bringing people together around ideas. For Kyle, what happens beyond the stage can matter just as much as what happens on it. The conversation you didn’t expect. The person you might never have met. The idea that follows you home. His approach is to create the conditions for those moments to happen: design with care, sweat the details, and leave enough room for the unexpected. That thinking also shapes his commitment to sustainability and accessibility. Kyle led the development of TED’s conference sustainability program and continues to champion efforts to reduce its environmental impact and advance TED’s climate commitments through the UN Race to Zero. The program has earned industry recognition from both IMEX-EIC and BizBash. He is equally committed to building accessibility into experiences from the beginning, rather than treating it as something to solve at the end. After a decade helping lead TED’s flagship conference in Vancouver, Kyle is now helping lead its move to San Diego and reimagine what comes next. It’s an opportunity to build on what came before, explore what’s possible, and create something new without losing what makes TED feel like TED. Fifteen years in, he still gets a charge every time the doors open. A Canadian based in Vancouver, Kyle is drawn to good design, thoughtful hospitality and discovering new cities, especially the restaurants and unexpected corners that give them their character. The rest of his time goes to his Bernedoodle, Ollie.