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TEDxPeachtree: A Love Story

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!

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TEDxPeachtree Recap

In a world when ideas worth spreading can seem far and few between, TEDxPeachtree was a flood of new ideas and breakthroughs.

With a worldwide audience and a conference hashtag #tedxpt that trended nationally on Twitter, TEDxPeachtree 2011 was a success.Throughout the eight-hour program, speaker after speaker took to the stage to give the 18-minute talk of their lives on breakthroughs in their respective fields. Whether it was education, autism research, disaster preparedness, mind control research or innovative thinking, the talks entertained, provoked, stimulated and even moved attendees to tears.

This year, poetry and dance were added the performance line up. In addition to the virtuoso performances by the Atlanta Music Project Teaching Artists, who received a standing ovation, the audience was treated to the world premiere of a visually provocative interpretive dance performance by the internationally acclaimed CORE Performance Company. The day’s ebullient mood was captured perfectly by up and coming poet Daniel Weingarten’s poem at the end of the day. The poem was composed during the course of the day.

For the third year in a row, the event was live streamed free over the Internet. This year, it not only attracted U.S.-based groups hailing from Austin, Texas and Long Beach, Calif., but also those from as far away as Europe. Students from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands organized a ‘viewing party’ on campus and interacted with conference attendees via Twitter throughout the day!

First time attendee Tricia Molloy stated, “For me, TedxPeachtree 2011 reminded me to respect and pursue my wildest, highest dreams. There’s a reason we are dreaming them and it’s up to us to make them a reality.”

“Our mission has always been to stay true to the ideals of bringing together thinkers and doers who can stretch the minds of our attendees both virtual and in person,” noted Al Meyers, TEDxPeachtree founder and organizer. “This year simply exceeded all expectations, and not just with the eclectic mix of topics and caliber of each talk but also the interplay of musical, dance and poetry recitation performances and the rich use of social channels such as live Internet radio, Twitter, live stream and a mobile app to engage audiences onsite and beyond,” he added. 

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Al Meyers Featured on Atlanta Business RadioX

Our very own Al Meyers, founder of TEDxPeachtree, was interviewed on Atlanta Business RadioX last week about the event. You can find the show link here. Al explains the history of TED and TEDxPeachtree and how the event is about the “power of ideas and the inspiration to act on your ideas.” In February 2009, Meyers unveiled his vision for 21st century learning during the highly regarded and virally popular TED conference in Palm Springs, CA.

Atlanta Business RadioX will be podcasting live from the event and will be interviewing speakers and attendees throughout the day. The live stream of the event will also be available on this site. We hope you enjoy the interview.

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Rachel Franco’s Favorite TED Talk

Rachel’s favorite TED talk is “3 Things I Learned While My Plane Crashed” by Ric Elias

What if you didn’t have to go through a life-threatening plane crash to change your life or your business? Think about it. Why does it often take a crisis for us to change? What if we learned – and I mean the ‘putting what I learned into action’ type of learning – from someone else’s adversity?

This is why I love Ric Elias’ talk, 3 Things I learned While My Plane Crashed. Through Ric’s speech, we get to learn the lessons that often come from facing death without actually facing it. Here’s what Ric teaches us:

  • Life changes in an instant. Don’t wait to reach out to the people you love, to enjoy new experiences or to make amends. Live now – with purpose and urgency.
  • Eliminate negative energy from your life. Stop wasting time on things that don’t matter with people who do matter. Choose happiness over ego.
  • Above all else, be a good ______. For Ric, it was dad. For you, it could be that or a good mother, friend, son, daughter, brother, sister or businessperson. Whatever it is, be the best at it you can be….now.

Rachel Franco can be found at http://www.raf-communications.com

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