Event Recap: TEDxPotomac

Well folks, it’s here – TEDxPotomac. I know when I attended TEDxMidAtlantic I promised a blog post and never came through. So today, I’m blogging at the event. My advance apologies for the note form, and typos, etc. Enjoy!

First up, Bob Corrigan – The science of names. Grasshopper walks into a bar. Bartender says I have a drink named after you. grasshopper says you have a drink named Steve? Spelling – there are 47 ways to spell one type of beetle. Causes a challenge with organizing – need to be able type in any of those and search for any of them. Need context to have meaning. cod = 125 different terms to refer to a cod. Encyclopedia of Life (Corrigan is product manager) must be able to return meaning for any of those terms. When you add a little bit of context to names, you get a little bit of meaning; when you get a lot of context, you get a lot of meaning. (ref Vietnam memorial.)

Next, Berit Oskey, founder of Affinity Labs. “The deep dark secret” -we learned in elementary school not to share so secrets. So why are businesses sharing secrets? Co-opetition. Two competing businesses with different specialties working together on a project. Rewards: make-up artist shares tips and tricks with other artists – feedback on ideas, learns other artists tricks. When partnering 1+1 doesn’t have to equal 2 – go after larger contracts when partnering.

Try a partnership – catalog rewards financial and process
Share services and ideas with competition to come up with best practices
Make co-opetition a habit.

Josh Sundquist – There is nothing greater than to have a teammate that will always standby you. You will never strike out if you keep trying. “OMTOMT” – what is the one more thing you can do one more time? Sometimes the path changes (Josh lost his leg at age 9) – how do you adapt? (Josh became a world class Paralympic skier, best selling author and motivational speaker.)

Craig Newmark – Newmark (founder of Craigslist) believes “trust is the new black”. Background in customer service – Listen to people, do something about it, share the result, repeat. Social media is an example of this – whatever you need to be connected for, with whomever, social media encourages you to share your experiences and results.

Roshini Thinakaran – Find something you are passionate about, follow your passion, and you will achieve success. Fear (example of Afgan women photographers) should not hold you back.

Frances Moore Lappe – 16,000 children today will die of hunger. Who wants that world? No one. So, why are we working together to create that? Human beings are doers; we need to create an evidence based mental map of what we want and, with cooperation we will get there. With new mental map, go from existing scapegoating to group accountability.

Laura Zam – Art can, and should be functional in society. Historically, art was created for arts sake, which is why we now make the distinction between “art” and “design”. Zam wrote a play to bring awareness to genocide; and realized that her play might not be helping, but rather hurting by making her viewers feel more helpless. Used this experience to find fluidity between art and design to make art, make money, make a difference. Called “social entrepreneurship.”

Finishing up lunch now… We’re about to head into this afternoon’s sessions. The themes are urban alchemy and indispensable I/O. Watch live at http://bit.ly/9VMQgF and follow the conversation on Twitter with hash tag #tedxpotomac

Yoko K – creates “organic electronical” music, a combination of sound, design, music. Aspires for her music to be an elixir of harmony. “We are the proof that love does exist across ethnics division” how do you translate that into your own language? Music is a language that transcends languages. As Yoko creates a composition in front of us, she looks like a pianist; her music is a sound like none I have heard before. Amazing.

Neil Takemoto – What place would you be passionate about creating with others in the community? How do you create this? People, planet, profits; crowd sourcing – sourcing the crowd to make places we are passionate about. The Better Block, in Dallas, TX, is an example – crowd sourced the community to make a pedestrian block. What will DC do? Find out at Crowdsourcedc.com

Dr. Shannon Hader – “DCs AIDS Tzar” believes in data, minding the gap (what we know, think we know and want to talk about). 1% of population = CDC definition of HIV epidemic. 3.2% -DC’s HIV population. 4-5% estimate of actual DC population including untested with HIV. Data is power. DC had no data prior to Oct. 2007. With data, myths of young people, gay people, prisoners and poor were disproven. Now we can take actions based on real data that will change the HIV epidemic in DC.

Bjarke Ingals (video)- Amazing ideas in architecture and green building design.

Warren Brown – Founder of CakeLove. “Mixing up life’s ingredients”. Live your life in pursuit of what you love – the voice that makes you want to go. What has priority – Butter, sugar, flour, eggs? The excitement and challenge of this balance of ingredients is what motivates Brown. If you are going to an entrepreneur, you have to be ready to roll with the punches. Listen to what’s inside and what the voices in your head say. Mantra – direct yourself to greatness, answer your calls, and answer to yourself. Who were you as a child before you were distracted by life? Find that happiness again when you are an entrepreneur. It’s blind faith. Follow your passion. Go ahead and make yourself.

Luke Spring – I wish when I was seven I could tap dance for three minutes solo in front of a 400 person audience! Go Luke!

Dr. Gary Wynn – innovations in neuroscience – make humans more human. Rather than treat disease with shock therapy, pills, use waves to treat problems. Non-invasive, more human. How can we capture outgoing brain waves to control movement, etc? With a reader, we have started to be able to capture the thoughts that allow movement to happen outside the body.

Colin Beavan – No Impact Man – Assume you are in charge of the world. Let’s redefine progress. What are we doing here? 2011 will have cooler cell phones ran 2010. Is that progress? Or more of the same? Beavan stepped away from electricity (anti-progress) resulted in getting to know his neighbors, his community, his farmers. Was happier and healthier as a result. Ask – what are we here for? What is the result? Should we do it forever and ever? No Impact Week – one week of no impact on the planet. What would you want to change in your community as a result of this? Better cell phones or better access to drinking water?

Steve Moore – H Street – 1st through 15th – regarded as progressive – Moore asks, “oh really?” Why do we use barb wire to keep people off public spaces on H St? Why for 15 blocks do we not see one flower box? Yet, we go to a shopping center and we see manicured lawns and potted plants. If you go somewhere you want to be, you spend twice as much as stay twice as long. Is refacing the street going to be enough? The elements of experience and place are well understood. Create public art, mentored business, oral histories, pushcarts. Be apart of the change through DCWeek.

Alexandra Cousteau – Politics is the process by which we make decisions. So what does it mean to go “beyond politics?” it means we reimagine our world and we develop a different idea of what is possible. It’s not about saving the whales or the rivers, it’s about saving our way of life.

One final thought after following these recaps…What would your TED Talk be about?