Tedx

Today I spent the better part of my time sitting in the Syndey Laurence Theatre in the Performing Arts Center in Anchorage. I was excited about the prospects of hearing new ideas and taking myself to another level of understanding. I was attending the first ever Tedx Anchorage event.

If you aren't familiar with Ted, it's a concept to take note of, especially if you consider yourself to be intelligent, enjoy thought-provoking material, and embrace curiosity. If you don't own (or admit to owning) any of these traits, Ted is probably not for you, but I would encourage you to take a peek anyway.

I admit when the concept of Ted was first introduced to me, I thought it would be a place where the quacks of the world come together to talk about quacky things. You know, things that sound like they could be something great, until you realize that the material is what you realized years ago, and mostly relate to common sense principles. I guess it's always good to reevaluate those principles, ones that make up the very fabric of your being, but that's the thing. I guess I assume that since this cognitive understanding is a part of the fabric of me, then why do I need to listen to someone preach about it? I don't. (Though I see the value of the message and I've also seen the impact they have on opening people's eyes and minds to experience life in just another sphere.)

Ted isn't like that. In fact, Ted could very well leave you in the dust if you aren't paying attention, and if your mind and your body aren't already subscribing to these very principles. Am I being vague? Perhaps principles could be replaced with enlightenment. It just sounds a bit pretentious, but I think it probably best describes what I am trying to convey. So if you desire or subscribe to being enlightened (and if you aren't above it), Ted will take you there in ways you wouldn't expect.

TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with the annual TED Conference in Long Beach, California, and the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford UK, TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Program, the new TEDx community program, this year's TEDIndia Conference and the annual TED Prize.

-Ted.com, read more here