Sharing ideas …in the Athens of the North
Athens of old was at one time the capital of the ancient world and an amazingly vibrant nest of learning, ideas and knowledge.
The Athens of the North, as Edinburgh is sometimes known, lived up to its nickname in July this year when it hosted TEDGlobal, a conference whose very straight forward aim is to share great ideas. TED as you may know by now (as I do make regular references to it) stands for technology, entertainment and design. It was the brain child of a clever Philadelphian who realised in the early eighties that technology hardly ever spoke to entertainment and they both never spoke to design. Richard Saul Wurman is an architect who had the insight to try and “make information easily understandable”. He is no longer associated with the Sapling Foundation which owns TED but is one of the forces behind TEDMED.
Making information easily understandable is one of the main aims of the TED Conferences and the week long conference at the Edinburgh International Convention Centre certainly tried to do that. Talks on the theme of “the stuff of life” took us from beginnings to the dark side via medical, scientific, and artistic experiments which all went to prove that in life there is indeed much stuff and much to say about it.
What is perhaps so unique about TED Conferences, be they independently organised TED-like experiences that come under the logo TEDx (see TEDxMIA), or Chris Anderson and Bruno Giussani – TED Curator run events, is the skill with which each speaker has been trained to present his idea.
At TED one doesn’t really go into the details of one’s career, nor of one’s job. It is a totally non transactional, purely idea based conversation platform where a conductor like Charles Hazlewood can expound his theory on trust and a swiss “jetman” like Yves Rossy can explain how to build a flying machine. Speakers mingle with attendees. Ideas are exchanged both online and off. Conversations are sparked at 8am or 2am…And the icing on the cake is that all of the talks presented at the conference are then put online so that you, me and anyone who wants to can download them, listen, watch and share what are often brilliantly simple explanations of amazingly complicated theories or ideas.
Edinburgh has always been a seat of learning. I am not going to list how many awe inspiring Scots trod these cobbled streets. However, I cannot resist feeling a little proud that TED has found a new home here in the Athens of the North. Thank you Chris, Bruno and the whole team!
For ideas worth sharing, let your fingers do the walking: ted.com
