You never know when or where you can live in your perfect world. To me it was on Saturday in Renfrew-Collingwood in East Vancouver. That was the day TED came to town.
No, not THE TED. He sent his smaller, independent sister, TEDx.
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| My friend Maya and I...off we go! |
'Ideas worth spreading' are always ideas worth listening to, either on Netflix, YouTube or as listener during a real live event!
I kissed husband and kids goodbye and with a heavy heart (don't believe every word I am writing) I swapped the soccer field with Windermere College in Renfrew-Collingwood.
The topic for this local event was
FROM FAR TO HERE!
Until Saturday TED to me was all about talking, listening, sharing, being wowed, moved, knocked off my socks, entertained, laughing and never about...food!!
Even before the first speaker spoke I sent this SMS to my husband:
You should see the breakfast buffet!
After the first round of speakers I sent him this picture:
Yes, I am one sad person, talking about the food and not about the speakers. So, let's start all over again:
The day began with a breakfast buffet (cakes, muffins, coffee, juices), continued with mid morning snacks (bagels, cream cheese, muffins), was split in half with lunch (soup, salad and bread)
afternoon snacks,
and ended with... an open bar!
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| Courtesy of OKANAGAN CRUSH PAD |
Can you read why I am so excited?
One look at the well laid out table, one bite into anything really and I rose into "foodsie" heaven!
Why am I so impressed by this whole food-buffet- scenario? Because I never expected it! During our breaks I spoke to as many attendees as possible. We didn't agree on 'who the best speaker was', we all agreed on one thing though: The food was fabulicious, amazing, varied and nutritious!!!
Furthermore, the whole organisation was mind blowing (signs everywhere to lead the way to the washrooms. Happy, friendly faces everywhere to show you the way in case you missed the signs!).
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Now that you know TEDx was supremely well organised with lots of free food and a free bar, it is time to tell you about the real essence of this day:
How would you interpret FROM FAR TO HERE?
Here are 16 different interpretations of the 14 speakers (plus two non-verbal acts) :
If you are of First Nations origin you may choose to dance your way into our hearts in colourful costumes.
You can dance, talk, mime and have a ball telling your personal story about living your own dream and not your parents dream. I haven't seen anybody who does it as elegant and effortless as
Dianna David does!
Have the balls to follow your Dreams! Do you?
Elastica girl (aka Tuedon Ariri, a contortion performer) gave us an eyeful into our human capacity to bend, twist, stretch and contort...our body beyond the possible! Tuedon didn't talk, she pretzeled herself up!
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| The Slam Poet, the attendee & pretzel girl! |
Music is always a perfect medium to get your message across and to interact with the audience. One of Rup Sidhu's (www.rupsidhu.com) program's is dedicated to bring hip hop workshops into schools, prisons and rural communities.
You may use poetry to get your emotional message across:
From self abusive "Stinking Thinking" to self love and self help as Bully Doctor
Dr. Valerie Mason-John did; her link is here.
Poet Bertha Clark also used poetry to save herself, and her son. She used "Battle of the Poets" to keep herself and her son sane during his 22 year long prison sentence ( this is a poet writing competition between her and her son).
A different form of poetry is Slam Poetry. It sounds like speed rapping a poem - do you know what I mean? Miss Siling Zhang blew me away, I have never heard anything like it!
Young Miss Ann Makosinski, a high school student who won the Google Science Fair this year in her category. One smart cookie this lady is: She explained to us why and how she invented her winning flashlight that runs on the heat of the human hand. And, she was the only one who used her cue cards- excellent!
If you are a professional, you may use your profession as the springboard to deliver your message:
Lawyer Andrew Pilliar wants to bring access to justice for everybody who needs it- 'cause not everybody can afford a high priced lawyer.
The IT professional who wants us to ask the more meaningful question of WHY instead of the dumbing question of HOW when we are purchasing a new electronic device. The question we should be asking is WHY is this better and why does this device lasts longer? Bruce McKinlay spoke about Slow Technology: Be a Better User
The mother of two who wants us to focus more on telling our children to have super sex instead of having safe sex, Mrs. Marnie Goldenberg.
Marnie, as a mother of three I have no problem with your idea. Of course I want my children to have super sex! To educate my teenager about having safe sex is one thing, to wish him super sex is another! It;s the in - between I am worried about: I need to encourage him to have lots of sex... before he can have super sex! As you know, only practice makes perfect!
Do you see my dilemma?
The CEO with his dreadlocks (how cool!!!!)
Michael Fergusson who finally opened my eyes about why my sons prefer building villages with minecraft than mowing the lawn in our backyard. Sorry Michael, I know your message was so much more important - to me, this was important.
Caroline MacGillivray the creator of Beautynight, offers makeovers to the underprivileged, poor women in Vancouver. (What an awesome idea!!!).
We listened to Carmen Rosen a local artist who narrated through her struggle and fight to bring the local ravine back to life.
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| We walked to the ravine in the afternoon |
And these last two I am not sure about! To this day I am not sure about what their message was and what they wanted me to discover:
Sorry Stephanie Lim, what is it exactly you wanted me to eat, not to eat or know about locally grown food? Please check her link- I am sure you can figure it out!
And last but not least we had Jerry Ewen whose message I am also not quite sure about either. It was something about being playful.... sorry Jerry, my mind must have been on the open bar!
All this was well presented in a playful manner by our hosts Brian Adler and Lindsay Smith.
What did I make of all this?
This TEDx event nourished my senses and filled my tummy.
For nine hours I was able to live in my perfect, well organized, politically correct, well presented world.
CHEERS to you all at TEDx.
Life is easy if you know where to find your perfect world!
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