TED 2019: Conference with a difference
Maybe this was a well known fact that TED was one of the best conferences. Having been to conferences of various shapes and forms, I had marginal expectations of TED 2019 @ Vancouver. We got invited to exhibit Holodome this year. For those curious minds, read Axios article to learn more on Holodome:
We showed up at Vancouver on Sunday, April 14th and could get our badge from the info-hub (think personalized elite status check-in at a hotel). They knew us, chatted up and provided us with our badges in no time. Once we had access, walking around the conference floor it was clear that this was a different kind of a conference. Every corner was curated by the TED team in a well orchestrated design. It was made sure you were 100 steps away from food, coffee, or beverages. Just in case you went hungry in those 100 steps, there was a constant stream of artisan treats and snacks from the Vancouver region.
The first day started with demos to Chris Anderson, a visibly happy TEDster. The team worked tirelessly in bringing up the Holodome, incredibly proud of the work they pulled off to delight the TED audience.
Day 1: Monday, April 15th
Being the first TED, I was surprised to see a really lean audience turnout. We picked our gift bags, as with everything this is a specially curated experience. Most people were arriving to TED through Monday and we were incredibly humbled to see Holodome completely booked for rest of the week.
If there was one theme through TED it was on effects of social media and data privacy issues. Topics from Cambridge analytica, to paying more attention or lack of it, to connecting with real people, and even its influence on declining population in some countries. One talk to seed them all was Carole Cadwalladr’s talk, incredibly powerful. Irrespective of your position on this topic, some questions to ponder and maybe get to work in addressing these. As we all are creating data platforms, there is a shared responsibility for it.
Wrapped up day 1 with visit by Mr. Vice President Al Gore to the Holodome. An incredible experience of chatting with him.
Day 2: Tuesday, April 16th
Jack Dorsey opened day 2 with ways Twitter is combating data privacy and social media revamp. His idea on topic based interest instead of following individuals seemed relevant, but that seemed more like reddit and there are downsides to that platform.
One of the most inspirational work was by Joanne Chory (plant biologist) who was leading an Audacious project for climate change through coaching plants to be olympic level athletes in processing CO2. Her work stood out both from the idea, and the personal grit to fight some of her own challenges in order to leave this World a better place.
Day 3: Wednesday, April 17th
We continued to hum along with Holodome and so did the conference. One of the best parts is that everyone attending were sharing the same platform and willing to discuss and share ideas.
One of the best talks on Wednesday was by Elizabeth Dunn on giving. Her idea boiled down to there is happiness in giving when we give in small groups, to things that have measurable outcomes. Simple, yet powerful in capturing the network effect of giving and why gofundme or Facebook as a giving platform is growing. Measuring Impact is a challenge and it is worthy of a TED talk of its own.
Day 4: Thursday, April 18th
Ivan Poupyrev from Google was there to tell us about wearable IOT. His big idea of creating IOT just like a zipper or a button used in clothes and giving it to designers was interesting. Opens up possibilities. His demo of moving slides with a swipe of his shirt was more an eye candy, but it gave the audience a glimpse into possible integrations. One question that came up was the data privacy and
What’s TED without some forward thinking creatives like John Chu (Crazy Rich Asians). His talk was wonderful and he spoke about listening to customers in making Crazy Rich Asians — Customer obsessed movie maker.
Day 5: Friday, April 19th
That’s a wrap for Holodome & TED conference. It was incredibly humbling and an inspirational week exchanging ideas and kudos to our team that put on a great Holodome experience to entertain the TEDsters.
This year’s theme was aptly called bigger than us, since most of the ideas were addressing big hairy challenges. It is a conference worth attending.