Von Vaughan Vagaries

Some Contrast

My experience attending TEDxYYC in 2010 had many similarities to 2011 (brilliant speakers, amazing attendees) but it also had quite a few differences.  Most notable I think was the location of the event.  Last year it was held in part of the Karo Group’s offices and the setting was brilliantly intimate (bordering on the cramped).  The committee did a great job of setting up the space as best they could but there were a few hiccups which was natural.  For me though the biggest contrast is just how prescient Twitter has become in the past year, at least to me.  I have live tweeted several events this year which have had a large amount of attendees but not a lot of tweeting.  

Live tweeting is such a double edge sword, you can archive those great nuggets of knowledge the speaker says one moment, but then miss the brilliance of the next moment.  Thankfully, there was a great abundance of Tweeters at the 2011 event, in stark contrast to 2010, and I was able to not feel bad about wanting to be “present” for so many of the great speakers.

Another thing that struck me as odd was how few people were return attendees like myself.  I really thought there would have been more, granted it’s not like I met everyone that came last year but the overwhelming sense I got was that for virtually everyone it was their first.  Several people I know weren’t able to get it off work so didn’t bother attending which is definitely disappointing and had me reflecting on how great it was that I have that flexibility. Here’s hoping I see many of you again next year (or sooner)!  I wonder if having it on a Saturday would make it more or less appealing?

Initial Impressions

Being one of the first to arrive at 11:30 I was pleased there was little line up for @PhilAndSeb’s delightful coffee.  It was with intrigue and a little disappointment that I dove into my water washed Ethiopian coffee that had the right water temperature, the perfect amount of grounds and had been stirred according to spec - plenty of science but where is the art?!

I managed to find several cool kids to chat with before the main doors opened but can definitely identify with @lectio’s tweet of “Plagued by last minute #tedxyyc anxiety. What if I’m not hip enough? What if all the cool kids don’t want to talk to me?” 

All the while I was blown away by The Grand, I had never been in it before as I am not an arts and culture aficionado but I really loved it.  So much more mingling room, mingling room separate from the speaking venue, great vantage points for all attendees to take in the speakers.  Yup, that was a definite win and improvement over last year.

Speakers

Shelley Ambrose did a fine job MCing the event with her non negotiable greet/goodbye handshake.  On a semi-related note as she is the editor of the Walrus magazine - if you want a chance at winning an amazing trip to the Scottish Isles check out http://www.thewalrusadventure.com

As I checked out @Stalman’s excellent Flickr Photostream it felt like it had been weeks since I saw Gary Burns funny/cynical rant on the world RE: Calgary (to be honest I wish the photostream was reversed).  I really identified with this thoughts on +15s, even if I have used them only a handful of times in my 20 years in Calgary and the Shopping Drug Mart in lower Mount Royal.  In an odd turn of events MediumRare just released its second iPhone app for, of all things, the +15 system in Calgary (http://mrare.ca/blog/2011/02/the-calgary-plus-15-map/).  Don’t rag on them too bad though - their first app was a public transit app called Next Stop!

Gary was a great way to ease into the day and managed to get our brains thinking critically without turning his presentation into a big downer - showing how we can work from anger and disappointment.   I am definitely gonna have to track down a copy of Radiant City now.

I loved Steve Fisher’s (@hellofisher) analogy for what he does and paraphrased it as so: “Steve Fischer puts handles on beer jugs, online.”  I was hoping he would spend more time talking about how exactly he does that; it was his UX background that intrigued me.  As I am well aware of the open source movement, regrettably and through no fault of his own, I wasn’t all that affected by his discussion of it.  Thankfully, in the end, his discussion of Motivation 1.0 through 3.0 was definitely something I enjoyed especially asking “Is the ‘Why?’ Enough?”

David Damberger has seen places and done things, impressive for sure.  I know his thoughts on broken aid leading to the need for Failure Reports got many a mind percolating at TEDxYYC.  I was more struck by his use of the word “sexy” - in regards to it being sexier to build a new water pump than to service an old one.  I believe this sexy concept lends itself to all kinds of aid, including social services and disability funding, where presenting the young or cute becomes better fodder for dinner party conversation than the alternative.  Figuring out how to battle this social hangup I think need to be tackled before failure reports of this kind will have much of an impact.

Sponsoring a Spreadsheet = Brilliant.

Patrick Finn’s passion is undeniable and inspiring.  He relates stories of fluff and baskets and convinces us to embrace loving thinking instead of critical thinking.  It was great to see him with more time to talk then he had at Pecha Kucha several months ago and tell more of the story behind what he is up to.  I definitely look forward to seeing what else he has up his sleeve, he is clearly a man with ideas that executes. 

A fairly solemn talk was given by Dr. Megan McElheran that no doubt touched everyone in the audience on some level.  Describing “trauma [as] the great equalizer”, making explicit the importance of pre and post trauma as well as discussing The Happiness Myth she definitely instigated some personal reflection.

The frenetic pace of Dr. Ron Glasberg’s talk often left me a little confused about how to tie it all together.  Surrender to infinity - check…and then?  One slide, 40 concepts - didn’t really make heads or tails out of it although a lot of people seemed to love it.

Jamie Furniss makes a helluva first impression between that red hair and that shirt he was wearing but I’m not sure his ideas of changing garbage collection translate easily to the western world. Yes, we can make it a bit less messy with stream separation as we are already doing (and as a country like Japan does well already) but I think there is a more cultural component that would need to change before we all consider “commodity picking” a potential occupation.  Really is there much difference from the bottle picking so many homeless people partake in?  This is just recycling isn’t it?  The easier solution, vs. changing the view that such acts are “below us,” in the western nations seems to be mechanized separation.  Above all we are talking about consumer waste not industrial waste which as one of his first image shows is a much, much larger concern - would have liked to hear more on that.

I was really excited to hear Kirk Sorensen speak!  I like nuclear energy, and Thorium, well Thorium is just an awesome sounding word.  According to Kirk, Thorium is the holy grail of nuclear energy.  Unfortunately, as is the case when most things are too good to be true, they are too good to be true.   A quick search results in lots of support but also stuff like this:

• http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2008/thorium_unsafe

He would have done all of us a favor by talking about the elephant in the room: cost.  Sounds like the Indians and the Chinese are pursuing Thorium but I am sure that is more of a reflection of their need for nuclear power in general to keep up with rising energy demands.  On a side note I appreciate that a guy who most likely could - doesn’t go by Dr. Kirk Sorenson.

Part rant, part diatribe, Kris Vester didn’t pause as he gave his soliloquy on food production.  Similar to Glasberg’s talk I was lost which was disappointing as I would catch passionate ideas and phrases fleetingly…  A video in the background telling the story of what I assume to be GMOs and the damage farmers have had to their seed banks from “Uni-Farm”esque organizations RE: Monsanto, was a major distraction.  Like white space in design, pauses so often frame up our verbal arguments and a few of those would have been appreciated.

The coolest part of Ruben Nelson’s summation was the story he told of the first time he was in the grand as a small child about the army/navy recruiting musicals that traveled the nation.  Overall, I felt his talk was less memorable than last year, almost pandering to the audience, but I still enjoyed it and felt it was a great way to finish the speeches for the day. 

Conclusion

Wow this thing has taken me way, way, way longer to write than I thought it would so just a few more comments and I gotta get back to work.  A massive thanks to the TEDxYYC committee for putting this great even together and as I said in a previous post I hope you well connected folks will keep the spirit of TEDxYYC alive between now and next year.  The sponsors were great and it was nice to see some of the old ones continue to carry the flag along with new ones stepping up, the event is definitely gaining momentum.  Pulse Studios and Calgary Opera Emerging Artists were a welcome change of pace showcasing just a tiny bit of the great talent in Calgary!

A stellar day having a ton of great conversations!  Last year I met a dozen great people and only one relationship from TEDxYYC really stood the test of time - and it ended up changing the course of my entire year.  This year I met a few more and I can only hope at least one of them changes my course again this year.  I can’t wait for TEDxYYC 2012.