I’d love to take the day and read the stream, look at all the photos and respond to all of the comments and well wishes, but I need to through myself back into work at Curve.
Thank you to the talented production team who brought it all to life. Thank you to the speakers who bared their souls while sharing their ideas. Thank you to the sponsors who invested in a little rocket fuel for the creators in this great city. But most of all, thanks to the attendees who came with open minds and left with renewed vigor to put their ideas into action.
Let’s all get out there and make it happen. For ourselves. For our families. For our cities. For the world.
There are only three responses I’ve ever heard when asking someone if they’re coming to the TEDxDetroit conference:
“Who’s Ted?”
“FedEx conference?”
“YES! I love TED and I can’t wait for TEDx!”
TED has a legion of fans around the world. TEDtalk videos are some of the most watched videos on the web. TED even gets some screen time in the new Apple iPad ad. But still there are people who haven’t heard of TED or it’s independently produced cousin, TEDx.
You can get the full lowdown on TED and watch thousands of interesting “ideas worth spreading at http://TED.com. But I’d like to answer another common question: “What is TEDxDetroit?”
The short answer is “TEDxDetroit is an event to celebrate ideas, innovations and inspiration in Detroit and Michigan.” Which usually leads to a lot of other questions.
“Is it a business conference?” No, but we highlight many cool business leaders.
“Is it a social media conference?” No, but you’ll find twitter, youtube and flickr ablaze with content during TEDxDetroit.
“Is it a tech conference or an art show?” No, but you’ll find many of the top innovators and artists showing off their latest creations.
Hell, we’re not even sure it is a conference.
It’s most definitely a chance to bring together the thinkers and doers together and share ideas worth spreading. We have four goals with TEDxDetroit:
Bring the “charged particles” together to encourage collaboration, optimism and a sense of what’s possible.
Shine a light on the cool people, places, entrepreneurs, innovations and artists creating in Detroit and Michigan.
Act as a big positive PR event highlighting to the world what IS working in Detroit.
Raise money for charities opening children’s minds with art and technology.
You’re sure to find area’s top creators, catalysts, entrepreneurs, artists, technologists, designers, scientists, and students at TEDxDetroit on Wednesday, September 28th. I sure hope you’ll be one of them.
Photos from our talented Photo Team at TEDxDetroit 2010 including Erin Slayter, Becky Johns, Benjamin Slayter, Mira Uncut and more. See their work at http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=tedxdetroit
8 TEDx events in Michigan this year
Michigan will be home to 7 inspirational and innovative TEDx events in 2011 — 8 if you count our friends to the south in Windsor.
The inaugural TEDxMuskegon will be September 20, 2011
The third TEDxDetroit will be September 28, 2011 (tentative date - website not updated)
The inaugural TEDxWindsorEssex will be in October (website is not live)
The second TEDxFlint will be in October (website not updated)
Please help spread the word to your networks and the public. Let the world know Michigan is home to talented creators, artists, entrepreneurs, designers, geeks, poets, scientists, thinkers and doers.
I wrote this as a love letter to Detroit while planning the first TEDx Detroit conference. It became kind of a manifesto for the event. An ode to the creators and doers that haven’t given up — that will never give up. I love this city. Its people. Its places. Its past. Its promise. Its potential. Detroit is rising. Again.
“We are the X. The multipliers. The catalysts. The connectors. The amplifiers. The idea people who back it up with action. We challenge the status quo. We are creators, artists, entrepreneurs, designers, geeks, poets, scientists, thinkers and doers. We come together to collaborate, to share fresh ideas and to find inspiration. We believe Michigan is a great place to live, work and play. We are optimistic about our future. We believe Detroit’s best days lie ahead. We are the people who are making it happen. We believe that is an idea worth spreading.”
In order to be successful long-term, every company needs to develop a culture of innovation. Make creative destruction part of your DNA. Fabienne Münch is the Director of the Ideation Office at Herman Miller, a design driven company that has the culture and DNA down in spades.
After a thousand years of going around and around in circles, Dawn White pursued a new direction to harvest wind energy. It’s one of the best examples of orthogonal thinking and leap frog innovation. Dawn’s team didn’t try to improve the existing technology. They blew it up and started with a blank sheet.
You’ll be hearing more from Accio Energy. Accio Energy is making distributed wind energy systems scalable, reliable, and affordable with Aerovoltaic energy systems that directly convert wind energy to electricity without any moving parts. On the web at http://accioenergy.com
“Time is our currency” A great story teller with an important message, Dr. Gary Gabel was our first speaker at TEDxDetroit.
A short intro for session one at TEDxDetroit on powering the world’s economy and telling Detroit’s next great story.
Hello, Hello. My name is Charlie. I'm a purveyor of attention.
I hang my hat at a marketing strategy, creative design and social technology firm called Curve Detroit. I'm the curator of TEDxDetroit and help run a social network in Detroit called Motor City Connect.
I love big ideas and big mountains and big sandwiches. I hate poorly designed billboards, speed limits and people who flick cigarette butts out the window. I know a thing or two about advertising, marketing and social media.
I'm on a mission to rekindle the fire in your belly.#makeithappen
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