17 Friday Aug 2012
I was lucky enough to attend the inaugural TEDxFlourCity event, on June 9th in Rochester, New York. I hope you enjoy the talks as much as I did! Any comments or thoughts are always welcome. More to come!
14 Thursday Jun 2012
Tags
technology, TED, TEDx, tedxchemugriver, tedxflourcity, twitter
This year I had the good fortune to attend two local TEDx conferences. TEDxRochester and TEDxFlourCity. Both events were outstanding and well organized. I walked away impressed by the great people and ideas that Rochester has to offer.
If you are unfamiliar with TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) and the concept of TED it’s well worth your time to explore the TED website. I am constantly learning and inspired by the great speakers that I have found on their website.
Saturday, June 9th, was TEDxFlourCity at the Rochester Academy of Medicine in Rochester, NY. There was a fantastic offering of speakers. It was well planned and organized. The host, Matthew Bukowski, was entertaining and funny. The food was delicious and eclectic, the venue was homey and comfortable.
I could spend time evaluating and summarizing the speakers, but my colleague Amy Bonner (@artwithmsb) did an excellent job of that already in a blog post (TEDxFlourCity). So, I am going to focus on something that I experienced at TEDxFlourCity that was unexpected.
I was alone when I picked my seat in the small auditorium. I sat close to the wall so I could get a good view of the stage. The first speaker, Dan Tylee, used bread as a cultural metaphor for connecting with others. I thought this was a great way to start the conference. He even hid bread in small bags under the seats in the auditorium, a sort of Oprah moment. The idea was to introduce yourself to the people seated around you and “break bread” with them. It was a nice ice breaker. So, being a twitter head, I tweeted:
@teptech
“#tedxflourcity Bread as a metaphor for cultural diversity.”
Then I turned around and “broke bread” with the people sitting around me. The person sitting directly behind me introduced herself as Alicia (@YogAlicia3). The next thing out of her mouth was “are you tweeting”, which I was. She was also live tweeting the conference. Her first tweet was in response to the standard “please turn off your cell phones” request.
@YogAlicia3
“#tedxflourcity Put phones away? Disagree… I promise to keep it quiet, but am planning to stay on Twitter. 
”
So, needless to say we hit if off. We live tweeted the entire day and shared in a conversation with other attendees and people who were unable to attend but were following the conference via the hashtag “#tedxflourcity”.
At one of the breaks, Alicia was asked by the organizers of TEDxChemugRiver in Corning, NY, if we would be willing to attend their conference in November to help with the live twitter stream.
Since then, I have continued to share articles and blog posts with Alicia. I am also following several of the presenters and attendees from the conference. For me the true power of social media and twitter comes from the connections you can make. It can turn a conference with 100 or more people into a personal conversation. Ideas can be shared, connections can be made and conversations can continue in ways that just weren’t possible before.
I have referred back to #TEDxFlourCity several times after the conference. I go there to reflect on the day, to look up information about the speakers, to write this post… The entire conference has been cataloged for anyone who wants to learn about it.
All in all it was a great day! Did I mention that Twitter rocks?
05 Thursday Apr 2012
Posted in TED
This year I attended Tedx Rochester and it was amazing! I know that in the past I have taken for granted all of the awesome happenings that go on, in and around Rochester, NY. However, the TEDx Rochester event was eye opening for me. Dr. Mark Noble’s talk was, in my opinion, the most inspiring. Dr. Noble is a Professor of Genetics and of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Rochester. In his talk he discuses the research his lab is conducting on stem cells and the potential breakthroughs with implications in all areas of epidemiology. Thanks to TEDxRochester publishing all of the videos from the conference I now have a chance to share it with as many people as I can. Clear your schedule, sit down, and take the time to watch his 17 minute presentation. You will not regret it.
Leave a comment and let me know what you think.
15 Tuesday Nov 2011
Posted in TED
Tags
medical research, music, renewable energy, research, TED, TEDx
So, my head is still swimming from my trip to TEDxRochester at Geva Theater. It was the first time I have ever attended a TEDx event and it was a great experience. I am a huge fan of TED Talks, and I frequently comb their website looking for something new to watch. I am a believer in the “Ideas worth spreading” philosophy, which is the TED tagline.If you aren’t familiar with TED, it stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. I won’t get into all the historical particulars, but TED represents more just those three things. For me, as an educator, I find many of the talks inspirational. They have given me a different perspective and appreciation for what is going on in the world. We are so blessed to live in a world with so many brilliant and engaging people who are willing to talk about their passions and share their stories. It is truly inspiring!Back to today. It’s one thing to see the TED Talks online, and completely different to be in the audience. From a professional development perspective, I know that everyone of our faculty would have found at least one of the talks today relevant to their curriculum.The first talk was from college student, Adam Walker. He, and some fellow students are developing a way to give cheap, safe, clean and renewable electricity to rural areas in developing countries. The name of his company is Kosovo Wind Gardens. This talk was a science teachers dream. It had some many cool aspects, from social responsibility to engineering.And so went the rest of the day. The librarians would have appreciated the talk by Andrew Perry, Associate Director of the Writing Center at RIT. The music and band teachers would have enjoyed the talk by Dr. Christopher Azzarra from the Eastman school. The health, science and social scientists would have found the talk by Ashley Aberg engaging and thought provoking. Still more for the science teachers from a group called, Prove Your World.My favorite talk of the day was by Professor Mark Noble from the University of Rochester Medical Center. He talked about the use of stem cells to treat of major diseases. It was nothing short of awe inspiring. Based on the “oohs and aahs” from the crowd, I know they were equally as impressed. The potential implications and the medical benefits he spoke of are truly life altering.
Overall, I was very impressed by the amazing stories and resources Rochester has to offer. I will do my part to spread the word and ideas that I heard today. I will post the link to the talks as soon as they are available.
