Marita’s Blog

I said I would update my blog on my TED experiences every night, but I didn’t do that. Instead, I did what I was encouraged to do by TED, and let myself be swept away by the conversations, the ideas and the experiences. I attended all the sessions, went to all the social events and spoke to as many people as possible. Every morning, I would wake up and get ready for the 8:30am start, to return home at about 1:30am that night. “Go to sleep at 2am, set the alarm for 8am, and wake up excited at 6am” is how I’ve heard TED being described as in the past. Was it mentally stimulating, diverse and challenging? You betcha! Did it take all my energies to stay awake and generate myself, to engage in countless conversations with amazing people from around the world, and to survive on 4 hours of sleep for 4 nights? You betcha! Would I have had it be any other way? Hell no!

Despite the amazing food (crab claws, freshly-opened oysters, prawns, cheese platters, BBQ - a variety of all-you-can-eat buffets and free lunches), stimulating talks (just go to www.ted.com to see for yourself!) and fun activities (I went to Bletchley Park on Monday, and everyone went punting on Friday) the best thing about TED is the people who go, and the conversations you have with them.

TEDizens are a diverse, switched-on, and remarkable group of people who are brought together by their common goal of sharing “ideas worth spreading”. When TEDizens get together, these ideas get ignited, developed and introduced to the world, for the betterment of all people. Before I went, I heard that the TED conferences are a life changing experience for all attendees. I cannot agree more.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 15th, 2009 at 3:40 AM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.