TEDx Asheville 2009 Reel Highlights
By Anne Fitten Glenn/Edgy Mama
We are community. That, for me, was proven on Sunday, August 30, at Asheville’s inaugural TEDx event at the Orange Peel.
While the speakers, performers and TED videos inspired, motivated, and stretched our brains (more on them in a minute), the true message of the evening was twofold: we are community and Asheville’s a great place to call home. In fact, the theme of the evening was Home.
And after only about four months of frenzied preparation, a large number of folks who call Asheville home came together to learn, to enjoy, but mostly to have fun.
I’ve attended many heady, intellectual lecture-type presentations. Never before have I been to one where so many people were alternating among whooping, hollering, standing while clapping vigorously, and listening closely. There was an electric energy in the room that was more cellular than electronic (surprising given that most of what we paid the venue will probably need to cover their electricity bill).
Jennifer Saylor, official host of TEDx Asheville, e-mailed and spoke to us volunteers about magic in the weeks before the big night. And magic happened—through a combination of hard work, perseverance, intellectual capital and luck.
There were moments that were less than smooth—having to turn so many people away was unfortunate (our marketing was too good); speaker Dee Eggers had to restart her talk when her pocket mic failed; those of us who were live tweeting and blogging and streaming and simulcasting put some serious pressure on the venue’s bandwidth capacity.
But these were minor hiccups in an otherwise smooth, well-paced evening.
(Full disclosure: I’m on the TEDx Asheville volunteer committee and live with speaker Drew Jones (legally). I also write for sponsor Mountain Xpress. Just telling you that I’m not exactly objective).
Here’s what stood out for me during the evening (mostly great, some OK, some less than stellar):
The Forty Fingers and a Missing Tooth juggling troupe were a fabulous opener. Their silliness and enthusiasm set a fun tone for the night. I want them to come to my next birthday party.
Emcee Daniel Crabtree aka Sneaky McFly also helped set a light tone through magic tricks and his quick mind. Emcee Josh Batenhorst was thoughtful but, in my opinion, not as entertaining as Crabtree.
The 3-D geodome that Speaker David McConville used to talk about the universe was mesmerizing. When McConville gets excited about his subject matter, he gives this endearing little giggle. I’m still not sure what dark matter is, but I heard the message that, “We’re serious cosmic babies.”
Absolutely adore Joachim de Posada’s “Don’t Eat the Marshmallow Yet” videotaped TED talk. Short, smart, and you can’t go wrong with videos of cute 4-year-olds.
The two music acts were both good, though I would have separated them in the program instead of having them back-to-back. I like the Theremin and electric music from Chris Tanfield and Dave Hamilton, but they played for a bit too long. A little Theremin goes a long way. Shane Perlowin and August Hoerr truly caught my attention when they stepped it up a notch and showed us what a funky instrument the accordion can be.
Drew Jones inspired through hope: “Is anyone else tired of hearing the story that we’re destroying ourselves?” His presentation on the global climate deal fired up the crowd. While it was a feather in the night’s cap to have a video from Bill McKibben before Jones’ talk, McKibben on tape was a downer. Plus the sound quality was crackly (minor techno-glitch).
Dee Eggers getting misty about saving big-brained dolphins and tiny pollinators moved me. She was the only speaker who went over on time, and thus, she didn’t have as powerful of a conclusion as she could have.
Robert Zimmerman’s talk about the opportunity of unmet needs was interesting, but he moved and talked so quickly that I’m not sure I followed him as well as I would have liked. During his talk, I tweeted, “Who’s the bigger spaz? Jones or Zimmerman.” I’m thinking Zimmerman won that award for the night. I really liked his personal photo slideshow, though, and how he used that to punctuate his points.
Glenis Redmond, as always, rocked the room with her spoken word poetry. This was the ten minutes of the evening when you could hear a pin drop in the crowded room. No one got up to get a beer while Redmond was onstage.
Caroline Yongue had great subject matter: death, the ultimate life experience. But she clearly was the least experienced speaker. Also, I liked the idea of her having a supposedly dead person lying on stage, but she never explained the purpose of the prop, which was disconcerting (maybe it was the elephant in the room?).
Jill Bolte Taylor’s videotaped TED talk is amazing. If you missed it, it’s well worth watching on-line.
Finally, having local band Stephanie’s Id on-stage, singing, with the audience, a TED-inspired new song, was mind-blowing. Stephanie puts it all out there fearlessly. She embodied the spirit of the evening with her energy and grace.
Overall, the night rocked. It was a little long for a school night, says this mom of elementary school-aged children, but it was worth losing sleep over.
Thanks to my community and my home of Asheville for giving this gift to me.
Let’s do it again.
