Well, today I got to attend a TED conference myself, right here in Albany. At least, it was a TEDx conference, which is an independently organised smaller version of the original (and unlike the "real" TED, the ticket didn't cost thousands of dollars).
It was fun. Twelve live presentations on a variety of topics, interspersed with videos of talks from TED events elsewhere. Each talk was no more than 18 minutes long. It was a bit like going to the gym and trying out all the machines (I imagine), except just using your brain. Some were more taxing than others, some more inspiring than others - but I expect everyone present responded differently to each speaker. In the course of a day we covered such topics as The Death of Copyright, The Only Constant is Change, Mycobond (a biodegradable alternative to polystyrene) and How to Have a 32-year Honeymoon. To name but a few.
My personal favourite was EJ Krans of the Capital District Community Gardens project, talking with infectious enthusiasm about the Veggie Mobile, a mobile greengrocer van that brings low-priced fresh produce to underserved neighbourhoods.
My favourite video (not entirely representative of the genre) was this one. It's quite short. I hope it makes you laugh, too.
I dunno
ReplyDeleteI am a big TYED fan
but,,
this local edition seemed weak on speakers and overall, pretty lame
Well, horses for courses. I didn't like all the speakers, but I took away enough from the event that I felt it was worthwhile, and after all the ticket price was relatively low so I wasn't expecting Bill Clinton.
ReplyDeleteIt'll be interesting to see how it develops in future years. What sort of speakers would you have liked to have seen - maybe you could give some useful input to the organisers?