It appears that this year's TED conference is happening in my wife's hometown -Vancouver, BC. I'd highly recommend going to it if you can.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/02/04/ted-conference-vancouver_n_2616712.html
Some of the best talks from the conference:
http://blog.ted.com/2012/08/21/the-20-most-watched-ted-talks-to-date/