Highlights of our 2009 event
TEDxAsheville’s Inaugural Conference 2009
On Sunday, August 30, 2009, a 25-member TEDxAsheville volunteer team ranging in age from 12 to semi-retired carried the TED spirit like Promethean fire to a city ready for hope, inspiration and ideas worth spreading. Bearing dubstep, a plan to fight climate change and lessons about the exquisite value of our planet and the preciousness of its life (as well as gypsy accordion music, fiery slam poetry and a burlesque-style emcee called Sneaky McFly), TEDxAsheville 2009 packed the 400-seat house. It also turned away 300-400 local TED fans (hopefully to an awaiting webstream and audio simulcast) and fed hungry minds hope, community, creativity, technology and fun. TED and Asheville are two great tastes that taste great together.
Our Theme Home
The TEDxAVL 2009 Lineup
- Opening entertainment: Forty Fingers and a Missing Tooth
- Emcees : Daniel “Sneaky McFly” Crabtree and Josh Batenhorst
- David McConville: Perceiving Home (presentation and demo of the Elumenati GeoDome) “We’re serious cosmic babies”. Follow David McConville on Twitter
- TEDTalk: Joachim de Posada, Don’t Eat the Marshmallow Yet
- Chris Tanfield and Dave Hamilton: theremin and laptop/synth
- Surprise #1: Author and environmentalist Bill McKibben speaking via video on climate change and 350.org, the global grassroots organization he’s spearheading — a video recorded just for Asheville
- Shane Perlowin and August Hoerr: guitar and accordion
- Drew Jones: Hope for the Global Climate Deal; “Is anyone else tired of hearing the story that we’re destroying ourselves?”(Did Asheville discover another Hans Rosling?); Drew Jones also appeared at TEDxBeijing (“TEDxPedition”) on Sept. 5
- INTERMISSION with dubstep DJs: Mindelixir and Bookworm and VJ neb.cinema
- Dee Eggers: Dolphins as Persons
- Robert Zimmerman: The Opportunity of Unmet Needs
- Glenis Redmond delivers spoken-word poetry; “I DO believe that poetry can save the world”; Follow Glenis Redmond on Twitter
- Caroline Yongue: Death, The Ultimate Life Experience; “A typical 10-acre cemetery contains enough wood to construct 40 houses and enough embalming fluid to fill a swimming pool”
- TEDTalk: Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Inisight; Tweet: It’s like everyone in the audience has forgotten Jill Bolte Taylor isn’t really here.
- Surprise #2: stephaniesid (Up-and-coming Asheville rock band premiere their new song, inspired in part by Jill Bolte Taylor’s TEDTalk.)
Select Tweets
- I have never been so inspired
- Thinking TEDx in Asheville is like new model of a town hall for global citizens & innovators.
- Worshiping at church of ideas.
- Mindblowing presentation on unfathomableness of universe
- Exhilirating and inspiring.
- Crowds who can’t get in are in cafes & restaurants are listening to TEDx via MtnX feed from computer speakers.
- At TEDx Asheville. 350 ppm is the magic number, google it!
- *TEDx*speaker [equated] fight against climate change w/ fight against Nazi facism in WWII. ‘We’re next greatest generation.’
- I am completely, totally blown away right now by *TEDx* in Asheville
#TEDxAVL Tweet archive is here
Nonprofit Tables
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