I’ve just returned from the 25th Anniversary TED Conference (Ideas Worth Spreading) in Long Beach, California. For the non-cognoscenti, TED stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design” and involves 4 days of presentations from leaders, and I mean leaders, in those fields. Presenters this year included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Daniel Liebskin and lots of giants whose qualification is that they are really good at something, they are eloquent in telling stories or describing it, and they are passionate about their topic. They’re not selling, they’re sharing. This is the big Daddy of a whole genre of meetings it has spawned: Idea City, Aspen Idea Festival, Business Innovation Factory, PopTech, etc. The founder of TED is Richard Saul Wurman, an architect by training who now calls himself an “Information Architect” (he’s authored a book of that name along with 100s of others that focus on creating understanding in many different areas Air Jordan 13 Retro. Google his name). Wurman called it his personal dinner party. The audience is more important than the speakers. And the breaks are nice and long so the participants can really engage.
I’ve gone to quite a few, and the format has changed a bit, but the principle is the same; bringing awesomely knowledgeable, eloquent and passionate people together can stimulate and inspire participants. It can truly raise the bar new balance 642. Many leading companies send some executives to attend (it costs 6 grand, there were 1600 people and it’s mostly sold out for next year). Some innovative companies are creating their own versions internally.
There are some interesting lessons here in this time of great stress and trauma cheap trainers nike air max. We will solve these problems. But we will do it with great and innovative collaboration with people who are stimulated and inspired