If you think robots are designed by engineers only, think again. Dr. Guy Hoffman is variously a musician, academic, animator and teacher. And his TED talk on robots in October 2013 in Jaffa, possibly turned him into the world's only roboticist superstar.

Hundreds of influential Israeli women met at the TEDxTelAvivWomen event, one of more than 200 around the world, to discuss women's role in shaping the world, as well as the many barriers that remain.

When it comes to conveying great ideas in simple, riveting terms, few do it as well as TED. After being held exclusively in the US for years, the TED organization has gone global, making Israel its first international destination.