“Is it rational that anyone should be afraid of doing the work they felt they were put on this earth to do?” — Elizabeth Gilbert
I’ve been addicted to TEDTalks for over a year now. I stumbled upon an enthralling speech by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, and I was instantly hooked. I’ve spent many hours watching them, shared them with friends, and have actually had to restrain myself from not sharing every single one on my Facebook wall. I equate it to those moments in college when you know your professor is sharing something that is going to forever change the way you see the world.
When it was first started in 1984, TED consisted of conferences centered around three words: Technology, Entertainment, Design. As time went on, the subjects have expanded and have really become limitless. Gilbert, for example, was talking about a major case of writer’s block and the path that led her out of it. Initially these conferences were only for the “cool kids” who were invited to them, but that began to change when TED started posting speeches on the internet. TED started getting asked to have their conferences all over the world, which was simply not possible, so the TEDx program was born, enabling local communities to hold their own conferences using TED sanctioned guidelines. Many of these talks can also be found online on the TED site or YouTube.
There might be a TEDx happening near you, or maybe you can start one in your community. I’m lucky that Dave & Jenny Casey have started one here in Orlando. There will be a big conference in November and a smaller event will take place. The smaller events might include a live speaker, but always include viewing of a handful of TEDTalks.
Saturday I made my way to a building I’d never been in, but passed many times on Orange Avenue in the very heart of downtown. It’s one of our cooler buildings and I later learned it was built in 1923 as the Angelbilt Hotel, which explains why the doorhandles are giant A’s. I was greeted in the lobby by Jenny who had to use a keycard to get me up to CoLab where the meeting was being held. CoLab turned out to be its own slice of coolness; I’ll let you explore their site to learn why.
Once we were all gathered, there were seven of us in total. There I was in a new-to-me building, in the offices of a business I’d never hear of, with six people who I just met and we were about to do something I normally only do alone. I had found my people, I was coming out as a TEDster — it was almost as exciting as coming out gay, except this time I wasn’t disappointing my dad.
Here are links to the TEDTalks we watched in the order we watched them in, so you can pretend like you were there with us:
TEDx Introduction
TED curator Chris Anderson gives a brief introduction and welcome to TEDx.
Derek Sivers: How to start a movement
I love this video. A cute dissection of what it takes to create a movement. Interesting how that second person is the most crucial turning point in the process.
William Kamkwamba: How I harnessed the wind
After seeing this TEDTalk, I read his book, which I reviewed for SSTW. Kamkwamba is an unassuming charmer, and his story is inspiring.
Sebastian Wernicke: Lies, damned lies and statstics
If you’re new to TEDTalks, this one might not be funny, so come back to it one day. You will laugh, trust me.
Carolyn Porco: Fly me to the moons of Saturn
I’ll be honest, I couldn’t completely follow everything she was saying here. That’s unusual for a TEDTalk though, usually the information is broken down in a palatable way. Where Porco is concerned, it could just be me.
Julia Sweeney has “The Talk”
Glen Lubbert, president of mojointerative, has been to several TED conferences (he even has the opening music as his ringtone!) and shared with us that this moment was actually impromptu. Sweeney just had this story to tell and wanted to share it. It’s hilarious, you’ll see.
Peter Diamandis: Stephen Hawkings hits zero g
A fun story about how Stephen Hawkings got the next best thing to his dream of going into space – he got to experience zero gravity instead.
After the videos we spent time socializing, talking about our favorite TEDTalks, chatting about plans for the November conference, and really whatever came up. It was exhilarating being in a room with people who are excited about ideas in general and there’s nothing like a TEDTalk to get the synapses firing. Walking home, I was talking to my other half Brendan on the phone and he said he could tell I was excited because I wasn’t bothering to breathe.
If you’re in Orlando and you’d like to be part of future gathering, the best thing to do is to “like” TEDxOrlando on Facebook. There is a gathering tentatively planned for August that will more than likely include a live speaker in addition to the videos. I hope to see you there.
