Ideas Worth Spreading

Posted February 27, 2008 at 7:55 pm by Eelco van Beek in General.

That is the aspiration of this year’s invitees of the TED conference in Monterey, California. Great leading figures in technology, entertainment, design, science, art, and business come together to inform, entertain and motivate others present.

The aspiration is clear-cut; with the right mix of people new initiatives arise, which can lead to a better world, interesting product or illuminating mode of thought. At the 2006 TED conference, Al Gore shared with the audience the basics of his now world renowned film An Inconvenient Truth. This year he is once again one of the speakers.

A total of a thousand people are invited to the primary location in California. Another three hundred join live from Aspen in Colorado. The list of participants is very diverse; a lot of CEOs and CTOs of leading software companies, plus renowned people from the medical world, journalism, government, and artists are all present. A minute ago on the street, I bumped into Robin Williams, who, I just noticed on the list, will also be present. Meanwhile, we participants, are offered daily possibilities to run, cycle or join morning sessions with Sri Ravi Shankar.

Why am I here? Last year I enrolled as possible TED participant. My idea worth spreading concerned using simple, logistic solutions in hunger and disaster areas. Nowadays when there is food shortage, often the problem is not the amount of food but timely delivery of food. To a certain degree, automation can lend a hand.

Tomorrow (today) is the kick-off of the conference; at 1.30 pm the first speakers will share their stories. I’ll be in the audience and will report back to you on my experiences of each day here.