My first TEDx experience is gradually sinking in. The onslaught of ideas was overwhelming! By the time the liquor started flowing I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. Partly from being packed into Austin Music Hall like sardines of innovation; but mostly, from spending all day on the edge of my seat with bated breath.
I must admit expectations were high. My tribe was found when introduced to the talks on TED.com. Therefore, I spent the night prior to the event tossing and turning with anticipation. Starting the morning with Austin orchestral pop collective Mother Falcon helped me tune in for the day and when ringmaster Nancy Giordano mentioned Kurzweil’s law of accelerating returns I knew I was in the right place.
In the spirit of being there Right Now mobile devices were discouraged in the “black box”. Therefore, I was not able to tweet my thoughts. But what follows are excerpts from the frantic scribbles in my notebook.
Sunny Vanderbeck came with a call to action. He stated, “capitalism is dead” and informed us if we want to change the world that is where to start. He supported his model of conscious capitalism with evidence that the best companies to work for perform better. World-class companies profit from passion and purpose. Satori is attained once we realize sustainability is the ultimate competitive advantage.
Gilbert Tuhabonye told a motivational story of how running has been instrumental throughout his life. As a child in Africa he ran two miles in the morning to fetch water and five miles to school. He ran for his life to escape genocide after the Burundian president was killed and his classmates were turned against each other. Now he simply runs for joy and provides inspiration and training for others with his group Gilbert’s Gazelles.
As a farmer I have been concerned with Monsanto’s bad business practices and their effects on heirloom seeds. As a father I have been concerned with the foods we feed our families. Robyn O’Brien’s research really resonated with me. She provided a detailed analysis of the links from the foreign proteins in genetically modified food with allergic reactions and cancer. Her passion to fight the food industry to overcome chemical subsidies and reduce the costs of organics was contagious.
Osama Bedier told an amazing story on how space travel has been limited by the width of two horses asses. He also spoke of the limited amount of changes there have been in the history of payments. Currently he is working on PayPal’s open global payments system and they are seeking to bring digital money to the cloud.
Although I have had few doubts that Austin is the place to be, Sylvia Acevedo supported it with data. As the fastest growing state and with a dramatic increase in children under the age of five Texas is experiencing a baby boom. As services and sales are done in the local language she professed culture is the software of of the 21st century. If the America’s band together combining the English and Spanish markets provides a workforce able to compete with India and China. She incorporated an expression I am familiar with from riding. “Choose your line!” Focusing on where you want to go allows you to be proactive rather than reactive. It made me happy to be here as Texas is the place to change the world.
Filmmaker Gregory Kallenberg briefly discussed his documentary on the natural gas boom at the Haynesville Shale in the backwoods of Louisiana. The project was started about people but ended about energy. He believes our future depends on an open approach and the discovery of the largest natural gas field in the United States should buy us time to further develop solar and wind solutions.
The only panel of the day informed us how AMD is changing education by making it a game, Dell is using ancient materials for modern solutions and telling stories compels others to act.
Slam poet Joaquin Zihuatanejo pumped us back up with some amazing spoken word just before Zen psychotherapist Flint Sparks provided a welcome pause to reflect and connect. Reminding us of the importance of brining relaxation and alertness together and that discipline is remembering what you want.
“From the perspective of a raindrop, there is no such thing as a cloud.” Gary Thompson feels connections should not be by chance. His emotional tales of his wife’s struggle with cancer and a young boys battle with leukemia put faces on his mission to “reweave the fabric of the internet to transform humanity.” He created CLOUD, Inc a non-profit technology standards consortia building contextual markup language (CTML). This new language for the internet seeks to provide personal tags connecting data to everything. It has the potential to reduce redundancy and put information in places where people can make a difference. His vision of the future of the internet is linked people rather than data. Although no small task it is a cause worth fighting for. Click here if you are interested in contributing.
Design critic and UT lecturer Peter Hall discussed maps are created for usability, visualization and art. He illustrated the importance of understanding the intention of the creation process. This allows us to reveal agendas and uncover hidden potential. He encouraged us all to get out and map something as a collective enabling activity.
Author of The Decline of Males, Lionel Tiger is a professor from Rutgers University who coined the term “male bonding.” His insight into the pussification (my term not his) of America was interesting. He indicated that we are not good architects of our own zoo and frankly are doing it wrong. Currently 67% of college graduates are female and 90% of Ritalin is prescribed to males. This is a result of us discouraging boys from being boys. When combined with the promotion of female agendas the results are lesser men. These men are no longer attractive to women who would prefer to raise the next generation themselves. Ultimately, it has created a cycle of secondary effects that can only be reversed by rejecting gender ideology.
Tavo Hellmund, the man bringing Formula 1 racing to Austin was up next. He spoke of judging only by the quality of one’s relationships. And his best advice was to never be careful and always go for the edge.
The last speaker of the day was Dustin Haisler. He is driving government change using the principles of open innovation. The current model of using budget cuts to solve problems only dilutes issues rather than resolving them. Continually cutting every year and expecting things to change is insane. Instead, government entities must leverage constituents and technology allowing citizens to donate ideas for brainstorming, framing and execution that can be turned into actionable solutions. He mentioned successful initiatives like X PRIZE and Oil Cleanup X Challenge. The most obvious way to encourage these activities is by making the process fun. He feels customers and employees do not simply need to participate but must be engaged. Incentives encourage participation even with something as simple as Farmville. He successfully applied a Foursquare mayor model in the Innobucks program in Maynard TX. These seem to be the best way to persuade the behavior of normal people not experts. You simply cannot delegate innovation. It breaks down when it becomes a job description. Although difficult, change must be a shift in culture. Once this has been done the solution is scalable. Dustin concluded with by announcing his company Spigit, Inc. created a forum for TEDxAustin participants and fans to share ideas and continually improve the conference.
I apologize for the length of this post but wanted to share all I could and am glad I got it off my chest. It was an amazing day and I am already looking forward to my next TED experience. RIght Now I would like to thank you for reading this far and the organizers and sponsors who made TEDxAustin possible.
