December: TEDxNewYork salons

I have been attending the Friday TEDxNewYork salons for about a year now. TEDxNewYork is a one-hour long salon in which a group of people watch a TED video, and discuss it afterward. While they're only 1 hour long, and not enough time to really dig into any subject and reflect on it, the salons are a wonderful time to step away from other daily tasks to bask in imagination, and share and discover ideas with a very diverse group of inspiring people.

My friend Chel, who facilitates the salons, was leaving town to join the INK Conference in India as the social media point person, and she asked me to facilitate TEDxNY for three weeks while she was away. I was thrilled for the opportunity, as I love facilitating groups of people with great ideas.

It was my decision as to which videos we'd watch, and this proved to be much more of a challenge than I'd anticipated. Should I think of creating a scope over three weeks, with each talk relating to the next? Should I show videos about issues that are of interest to me, but perhaps not as intriguing to a more diverse audience?

In the end, I chose three talks that had little to do with one another, but that would hopefully provide a good basis for a conversation.

Here are short blogs about each salon:
December 3
December 10
December 17

December 17, 2010: TEDxNewYork salon

I need to look up the talk I showed on this day, because I'm drawing a blank. But the most interesting part of the discussion was not about the talk itself. Deciding to shift the conversation to focus on "dreaming big," I said, "As you know, TED gives away a prize to an extraordinary person who has a dream to change the world. This prize helps that person achieve his or her wish. In the spirit of the holiday season and wishes for the upcoming year, what would you do to help change the world if you were to be awarded a TED prize?"

It was beautiful. We didn't have much time, but here are a few ways that TEDxNY members would help change the world if granted a wish:

Conserve wildlife on the planet
Connect every child in the world to a caring adult
Connecting to our roots and nature (Something about the book "Ishmael")
Develop lifestyle innovation
Share the idea of cosmic consciousness
Start a campaign against rape in Africa
Develop a well-being institute
Inner life
Help bring more money into mass transportation system and arts education
Contribute to child health

December 10, 2010: TEDxNewYork Salon

The second (and by far most popular) talk we watched was Itay Talgam's Lead Like the Great Conductors. Just watch it. This one hit home for me, as I have spent most of my life playing under and watching various conductors, and it made so much sense to think about how we can learn leadership skills from great (or not so great) conductors.
My favorite comment of the day from a regular TEDxNY attendee: "I spent all week at other TEDx events, and I really thought I'd had enough, that I couldn't possibly come today. But this talk has made my entire afternoon, my entire WEEK! There's nothing better than hearing great music in the middle of a Friday afternoon."

I couldn't agree more.

December 3, 2010: TEDxNewYork salon

I had been thinking a lot about entrepreneurship, and the first talk I showed was Cameron Herold's Let's Raise Kids to be Entrepreneurs. Interestingly, many of the people who attended that day were entrepreneurs, and there were some differing opinions among the group about whether people agreed with Cameron Herold or not. What I took away from the discussion was this: it may not make sense to raise all children to become entrepreneurs, but rather, to raise children to develop entrepreneurial skills which they can bring to any profession they end up pursuing.

October Fests: Inspiring networking events

Friday, October 1
TEDxNY at Grey Group
No better way to welcome October than to join a group of great thinkers and leaders at the TEDxNY meeting. Watched Ellen Gustafson's TED talk about FEED, her organization with Lauren Bush to reach children around the world through the sale of their FEED bags. Immensely inspiring, with a riveting conversation that followed about how we can change what our children are eating around the world.
http://www.feedprojects.com/our-mission

Monday, October 4
All for Africa International Palm Out Poverty party at Slate: A wonderful event to benefit All for Africa, which supports economic sustainability in Africa by developing business models for non-profits. John Legend, ?uestlove, Bajah + the Dry Eye Crew and many others were there to sing for and celebrate this important cause.
http://www.allforafrica.org/about/missionhistory/

Wednesday, October 6
Frank's Chop Shop cocktail gathering for a group of many "good brains." Met some fascinating people, including one guy who designed a bartending piano. Check out his website, it's amazing!
http://www.blubee.com/