experience matters

On Feb. 26, I attended TEDxYYC – the first ever TED community event in Calgary. On a personal note, I thought the afternoon was amazing.

After the event, I sat down with 2 of the TEDxYYC organizers who pulled off a fantastic and inspiring afternoon. Here is our discussion with two of the organizers, Kevin Rosmanitz, a copywriter here at Critical Mass, and Alex Middleton, an independent PR Specialist.

CM: Before we talk about bringing TED to Calgary, why don’t you tell us a little about TED?

Kevin: TED stands for Technology Entertainment and Design. It’s a non-profit organization devoted to ideas worth sharing. Speakers from Bono to Bill Clinton to Herbie Hancock to Bill Gates share their ideas in the hope that they can change attitudes, lives and ultimately the world. That’s the company line at least – for us it was about bringing smart, passionate people together so that they can connect and make Calgary a better city.

CM: How did you get the idea to create TEDxYYC?

Kevin: TED started the TEDx program last year in order to make the TED concept more accessible. The TED organization itself hosts two conferences a year in Long Beach, California and Oxford, England. Obviously for a majority of individuals it is hard to get a ticket to these events. With the TEDx program any group in any city in the world is able to apply for a license to host an event.

CM: It must have been hard at times. What were the biggest challenges you guys faced?

Alex: The two biggest challenges were deciding on speakers and deciding on attendees. There are so many bright, passionate people that have ideas worth sharing and we received many suggestions from Calgarians that narrowing it down to nine meant that we had many lively discussions amongst committee members. The second biggest challenge was selecting attendees. We would have loved to accept everyone that applied for a ticket but TED mandates that we were only allowed to sell 100 tickets for our first event. We wanted a broad demographic of people to attend – people from all walks of life who are passionate about TED and who are doing great work in our community.

CM: How long did it take to pull off?

Kevin: It took about 8-9 months from applying for the license to securing speakers, a venue and sponsors.

TEDxYYC Venue

CM: Tell us about the speakers you brought in. Who was your favorite?

Ben Cameron

Alex: Just like the attendees, we wanted a broad range of speakers involved in TEDxYYC. We managed to range from an 18 year-old Princeton student and social entrepeneur, Eden Full, to 70 year-old futurist Ruben Nelson. We had a brain surgeon, a sociologist, a musician, a journalist, a best-selling author, the president of the Telus World of Science and the Director of the Doris Duke Foundation for the Arts.

Kevin: My personal favourite was Ben Cameron the President of the Doris Duke Foundation. I thought his talk was one of the best talks I’ve ever heard. The great thing about TEDxYYC was that we’ve heard from many attendees about their favourites and they vary widely.

CM: What kind of feedback did you get after the event?

Alex: We received almost unanimously favorable feedback. Attendees have been asking us to hold monthly meet-ups. We will try to do this but as this is a volunteer undertaking for the committee I’m not sure if this is possible.

CM: What was your favorite moment?

Alex: My favourite moment was listening to how excited the attendees were and seeing how many connections were made between the audience members.

CM: Any plans for TEDxYYC in 2011?

Kevin: We’ve already met to discuss plans for 2011. We’ve got an idea for venue but it is top secret. We’ll let you know once it is finalized. We hope to have more people attend and we’ll try to top our 2010 speakers – if that is possible.

CM: What advice would you give to some one who wanted to bring TED to their city?

Kevin: People have to be passionate about TED and willing to put in a lot of hours of work. I think the results are worth it though.

Full list of speakers and performers
Watch TEDxYYC

Have you attended a TED community event? What was it like? Would you consider bringing TED to your community? Tell us what you think.