Round-up of Wrap-ups

A week after the event at West Vancouver’s Kay Meek Centre, I’m wrapping up my coverage of Ted X Vancouver with a collection of coverage by myself, stranger and my media-making co-conspirators. Per policy, laptops were not allowed in the auditorium but plenty of folks Twittered their #TEDXVan thoughts in realtime to augment the live video stream (which seemed to have a large audience based on the chatter). Additionally, as part of the event media crew, Bob Kronbauer and I provided live-blog-esque coverage of the specific talks (links included below). What follows below are reviews, remarks and documentation of the event by the people who were there in various forms – mostly blogs, videos and photos. Where handy, I’ve included a sample quote or photo to show a bit of the flavour of the artifacts which are arranged in no particular order or selected without any subjective criteria. Did i miss your blog post, photoset, video or slidedeck? Drop a comment below for the record.

Blog Articles

Vancouver is Awesome: Ted X Coverage by Bob Kronbauer

As I said in my introductory post, I’m not here to make light of these important and potentially heavy talks but I’ll definitely be providing a different perspective than one you might not see unless you were here. Heck, even if you were here you might not even take note of it: my blog posts today are going to focus on our presenters shoes. If you watched Nazanin Afshin-Jam‘s talk, she discussed human rights violations, the Stop Child Executions Organization and how “We can be a voice for the voiceless”. Her talk is deep, with some heavy slides, it is revealing and it is inspirational to say the least.  photo by Kris Krug Her shoes reflect the freedoms she talks about, the freedoms and opportunities of living in Canada that she has “never taken for granted” after escaping an oppressive life with her family in Iran. Today Nazanin wears incredibly fashionable, shiny black Burberry pumps that feature a black and white check on the side. She talks about her mother and how a change in government went from her wearing “the latest fashions off of Paris runways” to having to cover her face. Our freedoms, her freedoms, are reflected in her selection of shoes that she has the right to wear today. Her overall message is “Use your blessings to advance humanity in your own way” while not taking your freedoms for granted, and the audience receives it loud and clear.

• Yael Cohen – Fuck Cancer
• Dr John “Jack” Horner – On dinosaurs being large, different and gone
• Kyprios’ (slam) Dunks
• Live Blogging and Shoe Connections
• Greg Power – Storytelling

TedX Vancouver live blog: various by Dave Olson – Also at: TEDXVancouver.com

• Michael Green – Notes on Sustainable Housing
• Josh Fox – Frac’ing, Flaming Water and Banjos

I saw Josh Fox on Jon Stewart’s Daily Show so am a little aware of Gasland – a film about natural gas companies who contract property owners around the US to put pumps on their land. For impoverished folks, this can be a windfall but there are huge consequences with polluted ground water, ill health and all sorts of problems. He was just nominated for an Academy Award, let’s see what Josh Fox has to say. Here he comes… with a banjo! {overdub: “I’m not a pessimist”… says the film.} This is gonna be good! ”It’s gonna be a bit of an adventure today.” says Mr. Fox. Noted.

• Nick Molnar – Make Webs Better
• Underway at TedX Vancouver
• Nardwuar – Courageous, DIY Interviews (Doot Doot)
• Meet your Speakers – Morning Photo Catch-up
• Don Alder and Dr. Seuss’ Guitar
• Tara Mahoney and Fiona Rayher – Youth Media Revolution

Design is Philosophy: TEDX Vancouver 2010: A Lengthy Review by Morten Rand-Hendriksen

…Rayher and Mahoney based their talk on the generational theories of social historians William Strauss and Neil Howe. At the centre of Strauss and Howe’s theory is the recurrent cycles of generations. The basic idea is that each generation takes on one of four archetypes. They are the Prophet generation, the Nomad generation, the Hero generation and the Artist generation. These theories are based on historical analysis of generations past. The last Hero generation (considered to be transformative and world-changing) was the G.I. generation born between 1901 and 1924. That means if the theory is correct, the next Hero generation should be Gen Y. And that was the foundation of Rayher and Mahoney’s talk.

RickChung.com: Massive TEDxVancouver 2010 Wrap Up: The Fine Line

I had some great conversations with the likes of Dave Olsen from HootSuite as well as photographer and event organizer Kris Krüg (pictued above eating pizza) in addition to music writer Mikala T. from Backstage Rider, Ariane Colenbrander, Kelsey Dundon, Kimli Welsh, travel journalist Robin Esrock, and many others.

photo Rick Chung

The music by Don Alder and rapper Kyprios was impressive. Alder’s cool guitar stylings set a vibrant mood in the auditorium, while Kyprios’ intense rhymes rocked the crowd. His rap on racism and stereotypes set off a few alarms with its fowl, blunt language that surely rangled some, but its artistic merit and value were clear. At the end of the night, the two collaborated on a rather amusing freestyle guitar and rap jam session that was pretty cool.

Beyond Robson: TEDxVancouver by Darko Sikman

As the day went on we saw a wide array of speakers from Yael Cohen, young founder of F**k Cancer to Dr John “Jack” Horner, one of the best-known paleontologists in the United States. Vancouver celebrity interviewer Nardwuar did what I’m sure is TED’s first stage dive into the crowd at the end of his speech and managed to crowd surf all the way to the top of the auditorium. During the breaks the speakers and the attendees mingled and new friendships and future collaborations were born.

delicious juice dot com: Right Said Ted by Kimli

The Good:

• Registration was a breeze
• Dr. Jack Horner‘s talk on dinosaurs
• The idea behind Yael Cohen‘s “Fuck Cancer” movement
• Watching Mike Rowe‘s talk from TED2009
• What I saw of Devdutt Pattanaik‘s talk from TEDIndia 2009 that included a simple, two word phrase that could quite seriously inspire me to do great things: “BE SPECTACULAR”
• Don Alder‘s incredible guitar playing
• Nazanin Afshin-Jam‘s talk about the atrocities that go on in her homeland of Iran and how we can help
• Josh, who brought me some desperately needed Diet Coke at 2:30 – he is the best
• Greg Power‘s talk on Storytelling

Product with Purpose: Water Bottles from China by Denise Taschereau/fairware

Take Tedx Vancouver for example, last year FIJI water sponsored the event, and had their product out for grabs. From what I heard organizers got grief about it (refer back to the Story of Bottled Waterif you’re still wondering why). In making products to change behavior, cool helps – if people like the product, they use it  (we thought we’d do glass because it’s unique and different, just like Tedx even though rumor has it that glass has a bigger footprint than steel).

photo: Jeremy Lim

Wendy Hartley Digital: TEDxVancouver 2010

My final thoughts: While I was there and on my way home, I thought of all of the many individuals I know who would benefit from sharing ideas at this event. Real thought-leaders when it comes to environmental change especially. Many of my Main Street neighbours and people like Lorne Craig from Green Briefs http://unicyclecreative.com/, Clay Yandle from Sharkbite Art & Design www.sharkbite.ca and Clint Mahlman, Senior VP of London Drugs www.greendeal.ca.  So many of us are working toward the same goal particularly when it comes to sustainability. It will be great to see TED grow so change can.

Vancouver Observer: Ideas on the move at TEDx Vancouver by Pravin Pillay

Jeet-Kei Leung, spoke on Transformational Festivals, and the new evolutionary culture that they have spawned. Across the Pacific North West and down to San Francisco, people have been gathering in the wilderness to dance, celebrate and deepen their connection with nature and themselves. Temporary Autonomous Zones are generated through events like Burning Man in the Nevada desert and BC’s own Intention. People are seeking ways to evolve themselves in community through unbridled artistic creativity and workshops ranging from permaculture to meditation.  The industrial mind-set has imbedded the idea that change must be hard and painful. However, Jeet-Kei reminds us that joy and celebration are innate to our humanity. Learning through community amongst fellow creatives is another way to transform one’s world and, perhaps more importantly, oneself.