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 probably will go 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. But otherwise, she rocked.
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.
