I have just returned from visiting a friend who purchased an Associates License for the TED2010 conference in Long Beach, California.
If you are not familiar with TED, please take the opportunity to change that, right now.
TED is an annual, multidisciplinary conference, featuring presenations by luminaries in a wide variety of fields. The name used to stand for Technology, Entertainment, Design, but has since come to just mean TED, as the popularity and scope of the event have expanded.
TED2010 provided the opportunity to hear Bill Gates talk about his new investment in fast breeder reactors, Temple Grandin discuss how autistics see the world, Benoit Mandlebrot describe fractals, and James Cameron tell how the move Titanic was the result of a personal decision he made to find a way to visit the actual shipwreck. That just scratches the surface.
Seeing the world from original perspectives, outside of our own narrow concerns, is essential to both personal and organizational growth. Few opportunities meet this need as well as the TED Conference.
The TED Associate program allows participants to stream the presentations live, over the Internet, in HD. So while none of those gathered in Wichita over the past several days could afford the time to travel to California for a week, we were still able to benefit from the presentations, in the company of others who shared similar interests.
If the idea of TED intrigues you, consider attending the affiliated, but independently organized, TEDxKC event, set to return in August.
Subscribe to this comment's feed
