For the first time I
attended a TEDx event, the one
held in Detroit and hosted by Charlie Wohlborg.
Well done Charlie!
It was my partner’s idea to go. Gary Gabel had called me about it a couple months
ahead of time. Gary is great at these
types of things. Actually, I knew he had
presented at TEDx Detroit
previously. What I did not know was that
he was their very first presenter. Way
to go Gary!
This is a site and a blog about long range,
strategic thinking. There were some
incredible examples at the TEDx
conference in Detroit on October 8 this year. If you have not attended
one of these, the way it works is a presenter on some fresh topic will come out
on stage and tell you about a product, an idea, a concept; through a story, a
video, a display or some other way to get their point across. So over the course of a day you have a chance
to see a couple dozen cool ideas.
Among many great presentations and artists, here are the
ones that particularly struck me during the day:
- · Paul Elio showed the Elio car, which will carry two people and get 84 miles to a gallon, at a purchase cost of $6,800. It was rolled out onto the stage!
- · Derek Sivers challenged our assumptions in a presentation on how we are locked into our version of the world. An example of his demonstration is how Japanese addresses are based on block numbers and the order of construction of houses, not streets and sequential address numbers. Doctors in Japan are paid when their patients are healthy, not when they are sick. When you are sick, they have failed at their job.
- · A great talk by Amer Zahr, about life as an Arab American, the bias Arab Americans encounter, how he loves America, but many times America does not love Arab Americans.
- · Cathy Olkin talking about the NASA mission to Pluto and showing Pluto’s heart.
- · Karen Buscemi presenting how Detroit is competing to become a fashion center.
- · Mallory Brown, who I personally know and who is making a difference around the world, made a powerful presentation on how a personal connection to social causes gives donors meaning and how she is doing this around the world.
- · The quickly growing hazard of antibiotic resistant bacteria presented by Dr. Charles Shanley.
And a couple quotes which were funny, true or important for
us all:
- · The ass most need of kicking is the one you are sitting on. Charlie Wohlborg
- · If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your app, you launched too slate. Reed Hoffman
- · Live with your future self in mind. Rita Fields
- · Infuse your creations with emotion. Javeek Badve
The meeting was recorded and well worth watching. Here is a link: http://www.tedxdetroit.com
