It was a mob scene, but a lot more Minnesotans were wishing they could have gotten this hot ticket, it turned out. Screw the Fair, this was the place to be in St. Paul last night. There was nothing on a stick — in fact, no eats or drinks at all that I ever saw (more on that later). But it was the first time any TED event had graced our town — and it was freeee! — so it was a no-brainer that demand for seats would exceed supply.
TEDxTC, organized by local sponsors, was held last evening at the Science Museum of Minnesota in downtown St. Paul, from 7:00 till something approaching 10:00, I suspect. (I bailed early.) The very nice theater-style auditorium could only hold about 280, and it was indeed maxed out. Those of us who saw the somewhat obscure promotion for this event back in mid-August, and signed up, even got a special followup email on August 26, begging us to please let them know if we could not attend, because the waiting list was already up to 221! That was a sure-fire way, of course, to get everyone registered to be certain to show up, knowing they had something so many others wanted. And they got that ticket for absolutely nothing, just by responding to an email. Such a deal. 
TED originally stood for “Tech, Entertainment, and Design” when the conference series was launched in the 1980s. But, several years ago, the organization began positioning its events (including the pricey national conferences) with the tagline, “Ideas Worth Spreading.” How’s that for a broad-reaching mission, huh? And now they’ve essentially gone worldwide by letting local volunteers and sponsors roll their own mini TED events. (Quite the franchise, this TED thing.) Sponsors for our local event were Worrell (official design partner), Boston Scientific, and the Science Museum of Minnesota. The host and MC was Chadburn Blomquist, who identified himself only as “Curator” of TEDxTC.
The presentations, in order, were:
– Dan Buettner, speaking about his study of longevity related to his Blue Zones venture. This was the high point of the evening for me (followed closely by the next speaker). Fascinating research, and well presented. Great stories about the healthy old-timers he met all around the world — many centenarians — in the longevity zones his organization identified.
– Benjamin Zander, a classical musician and conductor, speaking about music and passion. (Presented via video, as recorded at a TED event in February 2008: here’s the video link.) The man exudes an amazing passion and love for music, and all “possibilities,” which is extremely catching!
– Ed Driscoll, an entrepreneur (he cofounded local firm WAMnet in the ’90s), talking about our energy future and his new company, Rational Energies. Biggest problem for Driscoll? He had to follow Zander, as I tweeted at the time.
– Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroscientist, who spoke about her experience suffering a debilitating stroke and her slow recovery. (Presented via video, as recorded at a TED event in Feb 2008: here’s the video link.)
– Matthew Stanford, a parapalegic, who spoke on mind-body integration. (Here’s a video about him on YouTube, produced several months ago.)
No word at this point if the three live presentations from last night are available yet as videos to view online, but they’re sure to show up on the TEDxTC Facebook page. (Currently at 389 fans.)
The TEDxTC people say that, in addition to their Twitter page (what, only 167 following? tells us something about the TED demographic maybe), the Facebook page is the best source to get information post-event (videos, photos, etc) — and it’s also where you can learn about future TEDxTC programs.
And, of course, to read the play-by-play, just search twitter using the hashtag “TEDxTC” and you’ll see a huge amount of tweets posted by audience members — and many others who were wishing they were. I tweeted extensively myself last night, till I finally had to bail about 8:45, starving. (Note to organizers: next time, either hold the event in the afternoon, before din-din, or at least throw us some crackers, cheese, wine — somethin’! — beforehand, so we can get through the 2+ hours. I heard this morning that a reception was held afterwards, which no one mentioned beforehand, but I was long home with my head in the refrigerator by then.)
Photo credits: both by me, from my TEDxTC Flickr set — a somewhat abbreviated set for me, because I was so busy tweeting, and there wasn’t a whole lot to shoot since we were all in a darkened room most of the evening.
Postscript: here’s a sampling of some of the tweets from last night and early this morning, including some @replies to me:
Fast_Horse: Sounds like FH friend Dan Buettner is impressing people at #TEDxTC @GraemeThickins Dan Buettner telling great stories about people he met…
joshuakahn: bummer, wish I would’ve known about #TedxTC how did they spread the word? It never spread thisaway…?
PhilipHotchkiss: @GraemeThickins these #TEDxTC tweets are killing me. I wish I was there!! Have fun.
amysbryant: RT @ecaron: “@GraemeThickins Can you shout out a question why #TEDxTC isn’t being live streamed?” here, here!
TEDxTC: No live stream per TED direction. #TEDxTC
TEDxTC: BTW, we will try again to video stream the next one, we’re persistent! #TEDxTC
Ideafood: you can tell when you’re helping people find their possibilities when their eyes are shining: Benjamin Zander #TEDxTC (via @GraemeThickins)
WhatsernameTCB: Tossing stones in my glass house: I keep reading tweets of wisdom from @GraemeThickins, but I’m distracted by the lei, straw hat, & sunburn.
taulpaul: Sitting between two of the smartest people #tedxtc @markpwagner and @graemethickins (aw, shucks, Paul, I’m just a humble blogger – but thanks!)
lovelyginger: Last nt’s (awesome) #TEDxTC featured 3 speakers + 2 videos. Here are the vids: http://bit.ly/jp0RZ http://bit.ly/HQOC3
CLAelsie: had the best time at #TEDxTC last night. I’m inspired to be compassionate, conscious, and open to new possibilities. Thx to the organizers.