Award-winning speaker, Dr. Tina Thomas, aka “Dr. T”, is an innovative and enthusiastic leader in the field of human potential and has a reputation for helping people reach their goals in an elegant and dynamic way. She is known among friends and colleagues as a “professional fairy godmother” who delights in empowering others to create their dreams come true. She holds a Ph.D. in biopsychology; is also a registered nurse, a board-certified social worker and a certified Gestalt therapist. Since she traveled the farthest to attend TEDxPeachtree, we all wanted to know what motivated her to drive more than 8 hours to the event. Here she shares her “love” story.
I am a huge TED fan, and when I heard that a TEDx event was in my neighborhood, I knew that I had to attend. When I say it was in my neighborhood, I mean that the conference was held in the Southeast region of the United States. You see, I live in New Orleans. The event was the TEDx Peachtree conference in Atlanta, Georgia! When I told my colleagues I intended to drive for eight hours, spend a night at a hotel, attend the conference the next morning, and then immediately return home, they shook their heads. They were impressed by my determination, but were concerned that my ROI (return on investment) of time might not be what I had hoped.
Fortunately for me, thanks to Al Meyers, Nwandi Lawson and all of the TEDx volunteers from greeters to presenters, the conference far exceeded my expectations. From the moment I walked in, and was greeted by warm, friendly, and obviously, intelligent volunteers, the “hum” of brilliant minds and creative conversation filled the air. Impressively, but not surprisingly, the conference ran exactly on time. Nwandi Lawson was a gracious and eloquent emcee, who laced the day with pertinent comments and graceful segues between presentations. Of course, in typical TED fashion, the speakers and presenters were as varied in content as they were in delivery, creating quite an intellectual and emotional tapestry. I imagine, like any event, with so many moving parts, there must have been a few glitches and near misses; and yet, to those of us who attended, it was a seamless event that was ran smoothly and catered to everyone’s special needs. Even the snacks and lunch items seemed to follow the TEDx agenda and were as satisfying as they were healthy and diverse!
At the end of the day, as I walked away, I was mentally weary. I felt like I had a good mental workout; indeed, I had flexed and stretched my brain and imagination and was ready for a “mindless” break (8 hours of driving back in darkness). I looked forward to the quiet; and enjoyed the way the ideas of the day washed over me and deepened as I had time to reflect upon the multi-faceted implications. I also felt encouraged, inspired and uplifted after having met so many interesting people with incredible ideas and sometimes, controversial viewpoints. And I felt “full,” full of new ideas and perspectives and a sense of wonder at the richness of a gathering such as this one.
Would I do it again? That is, would I be willing to drive for twice as long as I engaged in the entire event to start to finish? You bet. In a heartbeat!
