Greetings from TED 2007

I know it's been a while since my last post ... trust me when I write that there are many things going on in my life at the moment which have created a To Do list whose item number is beyond count.  Will have more details about all that shortly.

In the meantime, I am in Monterey, California for TED 2007.  For those that may not recall, I was supposed to attend my first TED a year ago, when other events obviously prevented me from making it.  I was floored by the generous response that Chris Anderson and the TED team made at that time, and was overjoyed to be able to meet Chris in person last night at the Welcome Party and thank him directly. 

Summing up my first full day of TED is done as follows:

Coolest.

Conference.

Ever.

Personal highlights on Day One were:

• Carolyn Porco, who opened TED 2007 with astonishing images such as this one from the ongoing Cassini Mission.
• Singer, songwriter and guitarist (and to label him as just those three seems completely unfair given the range he demonstrated live) Raul Midon.
• The visual presentation of economic and standard of living (e.g., health, environment) data by Hans Rosling, some of which can be seen here.  As for the sword swallowing ...
• The Flight Patterns work of Aaron Koblin, on display as we took our seats in the Main Hall.

One criticism is the largesse and general excess of the TED Gift Bags.  And bag is not the right term here, as the schwag came in a large shopping bag and a suitcase.We are fortunate for all of the companies that want us to try their products and services, and Tom Rielly has clearly put in a great deal of effort to foster all of these relationships.  That being said, I wonder how many of these suitcases are going to end up in landfills, along with at least some of the content inside.  In the spirit of constructive feedback, my two cents would be to line up the gifts as a buffet, and allow TEDsters to move down a line, filling bags with the items that each is interested in.  Ideally, most TEDsters would bring their own bag for this exercise ... but for those that do not, bags would be provided of course.  And my faith in the goodness of human nature compels me to believe that each TEDster would know to take only one of each item ... but controls could easily be put in place if greed became an issue.  For those that are curious as to what could possible fill a suitcase, please check out the picture on my Flickr stream here, where additional pictures from the conference are posted.

As I told some colleagues and friends yesterday, TED 2007 is proving to be one of those experiences that inspires me to feel blessed and fortunate.  Fortunate to be invited, fortunate to be able to participate.  Mind expanding and life changing.

Technorati Tags: TED, TED2007, conferences, schwag

Comments

[Dean]

But why not put the suitcases up for auction for charity on Ebay like the NSPCC did for their charity auction.

There must be some people out their willing to bid on unique one of a kind gifts.

I dare you to forgo your suitcase and put it up for auction on Ebay to see the benefits it can bring to a charity in your local area.

[Sydney Johntson]

Keep up the good resource. Best greetings to all!

Sell things on eBay