TED and the Enlightenment

TED's just hit a billion!  One billion views of those magical talks about big ideas.  In a world characterized by an insatiable appetite for salacious gossip about celebrities, TED talks have been viewed one billion times.  Wow.

TED set out to celebrate Ideas Worth Spreading.  And, as they say on the web site, "an idea, when received by a prepared mind, can have extraordinary impact".

Having just studied the Enlightenment in my World History course on Coursera, this TED milestone really got me thinking.  Everything about TED echoes the intellectual ferment in 18th Century Europe known as the Enlightenment*.

Enlightenment thinkers believed there were natural laws - about science, politics, technology, sociology -  that governed the way the world worked, and that those laws were discoverable by men who were all born with the ability to reason. (It took longer for general acknowledgement that women might also be capable of reason!)  One could/should rely on these natural laws - determined through observation and experimentation - to explain the world rather than relying on religious or classical texts or absolute rulers.  Men should be free and should participate in governing themselves.

Moreover, it was your duty to spread these ideas and influence everyone to live by the tenets discovered. That spread was enabled by the increased availability of books, the establishment of scientific societies, publication of scientific journals, and the collision of ideas and debate in informal settings like coffee houses and salons.  Ideas flowed both geographically - indeed bringing those ideas to other parts of the world was used as a justification for colonization - and vertically through different strata of society with the increase in literacy.  As our professor put it, ideas were packaged up for easy dissemination and thus became commoditized.

TED's dedication to Ideas Worth Spreading is highly evocative of these Enlightenment ideas.   Clearly, there's the dedication to ideas, from all spheres of human endeavour.  And there is a passion to spread those ideas to as many people as possible.  TED.com enabled the spread of those ideas well beyond the confines of the fortunate few who attend TED.  TEDx conferences empowered people who love ideas to create local conferences, and add to the cauldron of ideas that is the TED community.

Bravo TED and Chris Anderson, whose passion is behind this incredible phenomenon known as TED.

*  Here's a link to a description of what Coursera's all about.  And you can look here, here, here and here for my feeble efforts to summarize lectures to help consolidate my own learning.  I'm way behind.

TED 2012

It's that magical time of year.  The balloon is up.  Literally.  There's a big TED balloon floating over the Long Beach Performing Arts Centre. The lamp posts are festooned with TED banners.  The exhibits are open.  The first talks have been delivered.  I'm excited.

Today I joined the eclectic group of people who've put on TEDx conferences around the world.  Most of them are at TED Active, the sister conference in Palm Springs that gets a live feed from Long Beach, and purportedly has a lot more fun than we do!  We had a tour of the many exhibits around the venue.  That was a real treat, because I find there's just never enough time to absorb all the great ideas sprinkled around these exhibits.  It was a tough choice between that and a two-hour master class in Improv, but I think I made the right decision.

TEDx is a fantastic story of innovation, of people starting out with modest ambitions to allow people to host their own TEDx conferences around the world.  They sought the right balance between protecting the brand with rules and guidance, and freedom to let the idea flourish.  Well, it worked beyond their wildest imagination.  In three years:

• 3,500 TEDx conferences - quantity
• 1,000 cities in 128 countries - diversity
• more TEDx talks than from any one TED conference, 10% of TED.com and growing - quality

There's a little green dog tag on our name badges for TEDx organizers, and I must say I'm proud to wear it.

Ideas worth spreading

While in Jaipur we met up for a coffee with a delightful young man, Ajit, who had mounted TEDx Jaipur last year and has another conference being planned for this year. Ajit had been introduced by Becca, who works for TED and is a former MBA student of mine, and co-organizer of a TEDx conference in Toronto last year.

Ajit works in the family business making technology equipment for the dairy industry in India and other southeastern Asian countries. What a delightful young man, full of enthusiasm spreading good ideas, and bringing together people who are interested in ideas. He has some great plans for his conference to keep attendees totally engaged, and some fascinating speakers already lined up. He was keen to hear what I'd learned as curator of TEDxIBYork last year, and we had a lively discussion of what makes for a good TEDx and how to wring the best out of speakers. It was great to hear what he'd learned and how he experience differed a bit between Canada and India.

Chris Anderson has truly succeeded in his vision of making TED a global community, when you can walk into a foreign country and have instant rapport with someone who shares a passion for expanding their knowledge and impressions of the world and for ideas worth spreading.

Ideas are the New Oil

I spent yesterday high in the mountains outside Palm Springs, at an outdoor event for TEDx organizers, alternately freezing in the early morning desert cold and burning to a crisp in the hot afternoon sun.  Despite unappealing conditions, the enthusiasm of people from around the world discussing what had happened at their TEDxes was infectious.

Two young men from South Korea described the reception to several conferences there.  Someone from Brazil described a meeting in a hotel deep in Amazonia.  Accommodation was augmented by boats in the river, and some people had to come 45 minutes by boat from another hotel.  The art work in the program design from Athens' TEDxAcademy was awesome - all hand done, with delightful doodles on every page.  A description of a TEDx in a women's school in Pakistan that would bring tears to your eyes.  And a story of women at a TEDx in China opening up in a way they never had before.  

 

I was a modest success with my description of how hard it is to get speakers to have practice sessions before their talks - people really related to my characterization of nailing Jello to a tree.  And they loved the photo!

We were broken up into regional groups to discuss how different TEDx organizers could work together better in our regions.  Dan Jacob of TEDxToronto did a great summary of the ideas from Canada, including the idea of rolling TEDxes across Canada as a VIA train made its way across the country.  The iconic symbol of exploration and cross-Canada links, linked with exploration  of ideas at every stop and on the train along the way.  Dan did a great job of the presentation and got the Canadians to do a cheer "The world needs more Canada", which earned remarks from the host "Aren't those Canadians adorable?"

The sum-up of the ideas from the Middle East was amazing.  Building on TED's tagline of Ideas Worth Spreading, their spokesperson said the Middle East was experiencing a Revolution Worth Spreading.  And he coined my favourite phrase of the day Ideas are the New Oil.

International Bus to TEDx Workshop

Before TED 2011 opens on Monday, there was a workshop up in Palm Desert for people who had organized a TEDx event.  It brought together an amazing array of people from all over the world. 

The bus ride from Long Beach, where several of us are staying, was an adventure in itself.  The people broke out like this - a lady from San Francisco who had organized a TEDxYouth conference , a guy from Connecticut who runs a series of TEDx events within Pfizer, the woman who masterminded TEDxAcademy in Athens (named after Plato's Academy), the people who organized TEDxIstanbul, TEDxSantiago and TEDx HongKong, and of course yours truly of TEDxIBYork. 

What I found rather amazing, though, was that there were three Canadians on the bus.  You wouldn't think so from the above description, huh?  Well, Leo from Santiago was a Chilean who took refuge in Canada during the military dictatorship in Chile.  He became a Canadian citizen, before he and his parents returned to Chile where he now lives.  And Jose who runs TEDxHongKong (yup - you got it, Jose from HongKong) was born in Mexico.  He came to Canada and became a citizen and still owns his home in Winnipeg while teaching at unversity in Hong Kong.

At the evening party, Jose and Leo and I got to talking about Canada's cultural mosaic and how proud we all were of that culture.  Leo told a funny story.  When he was living in Montreal, he was a fervent left-winger, having fled a country run by a right-wing dictatorship supported by American imperialists.  His best friend was a Pole who was an ardent rightist, having fled a left-wing dictatorship supported by Russian imperialists.  He believed that only in Canada would they have ended up best friends.

Acclamations for TED, TED.com and TEDx

There have been a couple of articles recently about TED and TEDx that people might find interesting reading.  The New York Times article talks about the incredible spread of TEDx conferences and how TED makes learning exciting.  It's to that thirst for learning that the Times attributes the incredible popularity of the TEDx concept.  The Fast Company article argues that if you were to set out to create the perfect Harvard University today, you might just do it by bringing together great ideas and making them openly available to everyone, which is what TED.com is all about. 

Interesting reading.

Our next speaker for TEDx is golden

The next speaker we’ve confirmed is Rob McEwen. On the face of it, Rob is a ‘business’ speaker. After all, he's Chair and CEO of US Gold and Lexam Explorations. He famously ran Goldcorp , one of the most stunning successes in Canadian business. During his time at the helm, Gold Corp's market capitalization went from $50M to $10B. He was named by Canadian Business magazine as Canada's Most Innovative CEO in 2006 and made Fast Company magazine's The Fast 50 Champion of Innovation list. In June 2007, he was named to the Order of Canada.

Like the very best of business people, he's used his money for good. His largest contribution has been in establishing the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine at the Toronto General Hospital, helping maintain Toronto’s global leadership in stem cell research.

So, Rob certainly has the credentials to count as a business speaker. But I see him in a different light. To me, he represents the best i n creative and innovative thinking, and the courage to try something entirely new. The way he made Gold Corp successful was by defying the 'known' truths of how you run a mining company. He exploited the power of the Internet and collaborative cross-industry creativity to reach for success. When I find my students languishing in the doldrums of thinking the same old way about problems, I evoke McEwen's experience to jolt them into letting go of what they 'know' and striking out with contrarian thinking.

When you set up a program like this one for TEDxIBYork, you have to reach beyond your own limited experience, so you ask lots of people for their opinion about who would be a great, not a good, speaker. Rob was described as charismatic by many of the people I polled. I've wanted to hear Rob speak for a long time; I can't wait to see him on our TEDxIBYork stage.

TEDx - Our Next Speaker is Going to Get Us Moving

Canadians sometimes bemoan the lack of innovative spirit in this country. Every once in a while we see a talented individual that proves the exception.

Ben Gulak, a native of Milton just outside Toronto, is such a young man. Ben’s the inventor of the UNO electric bicycle shown on the right.

Fired by a passion to provide more eco-friendly urban transportation, he created the ever-so-cool UNO electric bike. He survived trial by fire on Canada’s Dragon’s Den TV program to gain investment from the curmudgeon investors there. He hit the front page of Popular Science as one of the Top 10 Inventions of the year. His prowess has led him to be chosen three times to represent Canada at the International Science and Engineering Fair and he’s a winner of the prestigious National Collegiate of Inventors and Innovators Alliance Award. In other words, he was off to a good start as an inventor.

But Ben doesn’t rest on his laurels. His next invention is the Shredder all terrain vehicle, described on Ben’s site as “an adrenaline pumpin’, mean lookin’ board that takes off-road riding experience into a whole new realm”. Not only is it usable as a platform for extreme sports, it is also offered as a first response vehicle for soldiers in crisis situations.

Somehow Ben finds time within all this invention stuff to pursue his studies at MIT, where he’s a sophomore. And a few other interesting activities here and there. When I talked to this charming young man he was just leaving to visit the Singularity University, an interdisciplinary university working to stimulate groundbreaking, disruptive thinking and solutions aimed at solving some of the planet’s most pressing challenges. Sounds as if that’s a great place for Ben to be!

I just know Ben is going to inspire the attendees at TEDx. Ben will also be offering a chance for attendees to test-ride both the UNO and the Shredder. We’ll open up registration for this bonus experience shortly before the conference and I know that will be one of the hottest tickets in town!

Weird Animal Sex

You’re going to love our next TEDx speaker! Pat Senson spent eight years behind the scenes at CBC’s wonderful science program Quirks and Quarks, where his work won many awards. A biologist and journalist by trade, he knows a great story when he hears it – and he knows how to tell it as well.

And tell it he does in his book exploring the more bizarre behaviours of animals – Nasty, Brutish and Short: The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Animal Sex and Other Weird Behaviour. This book has all the ingredients of a popular novel – conflict, intrigue and sex – yet it’s E Rated (E for educational).

I heard Pat interviewed on the radio about this book and I just knew we had to have him at TEDx. We've all seen lots of movies where 'boy meets girl, boy chases girl, boy gets girl', with all the trials and tribulations along the way. But you ain't't heard nuthin' yet! Wait until you hear Pat unfold this tale as transposed to a certain species of spiders!

In his spare time, Pat participates in amateur theatre and I think the audience is going to love him. It’s getting exciting to see a mix of topics and speakers emerging for our program.

TEDx - another great speaker confirmed!

I’m pleased to announce a second wonderful speaker for our November 11 TEDx conference. I met Juliana Rotisch at TED2010 in California. By total coincidence, I ended up sitting at a dinner table with her and some other TED Fellows, and was completely captivated by her sparkling personality and her story.

Juliana is a native of Kenya and a co-founder of Ushahidi. Born during the post-election violence in Kenya in 2008, Ushahidi is a web based reporting system that utilises crowd sourced data to formulate visual map information of a crisis on a real-time basis. Ushahidi is versatile in allowing users to input data through SMS, through video MMS on a smart phone, or through a computer – basically any connected digital device. In the Kenyan scenario it was used to map out incidents of violence and this information has played a crucial role in the continuing justice and reconciliation process in Kenya. Ushahidi then grew to be a generic open source incident reporting platform that has been successfully deployed in various situations such as the Haiti and Chile earthquakes, the Palestine conflict crisis, the heavy snow crisis in Washington, and the recent oil spillage crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. As a Program Director for Ushahidi Juliana manages projects and aids in the development, testing and deployment of the Ushahidi platform.

Juliana is an experienced public speaker and she also likes to talk about the vitality of technology in Africa. It was a tough choice, but Ushahidi is such a compelling story that I think that’s the topic she’ll address. I can’t wait to see Juliana again in November and to get an update on where Ushahidi is being deployed.

TEDx has its first confirmed speaker

It's been fun talking to potential speakers for our TEDx conference. It continues to amaze me how many people are addicted TEDsters through the TED.com web site. Who would have thought that a conference (and a very expensive one at that) could give away its product and still continue to flourish? Yet, by providing greater access to its content, TED has simply increased its popularity and brand identity. It’s yet another example of offering free content on the Internet and thus enhancing brand rather diminishing value.

This familiarity and respect has made the job of the Program Committee easier. Success came early with the confirmation of our first speaker, Anita McGahan. I first heard Anita speak at a Rotman event, and she wowed me with the clarity and power of her presentation. Anita is a respected professor at the Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto, where she teaches the mandatory strategy course to all first-year students – a critical assignment in shaping Canada’s future business leaders.

But Anita goes way beyond teaching traditional business concepts. She opens students’ eyes to wicked problems of the world. Wikipedia defines a wicked problem as ‘a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. Moreover, because of complex interdependencies, the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems’.

Three of the problems Anita speaks on are the End of Oil, Global Health or Worldwide Migration to Cities. I want to hear them all – it’s like standing in front of a yummy smorgasbord and trying to decide which items you want to sample.

Anita has incredible credentials. She is a Senior Associate at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard University and the Senior Economist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health. She’s graced the staff of McKinsey and Morgan Stanley. She’s been a faculty member at Boston University and Harvard Business School. It was quite the coup for U of T to attract Anita McGahan, and a great feather in our cap to attract her to TEDx.

TEDx

Like TED.com, the TEDx concept was developed to increase access to Ideas Worth Spreading. And like TED.com, it's been wildly successful, with hundreds of TEDx events planned and held.

What's unique about TEDxIB@York on November 11, 2010 is the fact that half the 400-500 attendees will be drawn from the 3,000 schools around the world running the International Baccalaureate Diploma program. This IB program for the last two years of high school develops graduates who are 'citizens of the world'. TEDsters have remarked in the past how nice it would be to have more young people at TED; this is a great opportunity to mingle with a fascinating group of bright, engaged, young people.

The York School, which runs the IB program, is where this idea originated, and they will host an enriching and enjoyable York Day program for the students the day before TEDx. IB schools can also participate via livestreaming of the event.

The venue will be the Ontario Science Centre, which has a perfect auditorium - room for almost 500 people yet with an intimate feel because of how close the seats are to the stage. It also means that our after-party can be staged among the exhibits at the Centre. Such a stimulating environment for our party makes me nostalgic for those TED parties at the Monterey. Aah....

We are just starting to recruit speakers, and I'll post as we confirm them. As Program Chair, I'm already buzzed about the program that's shaping up. Stay tuned.