As Mother’s Day approaches, we wanted to take some time to celebrate mothers – and women – through the TEDx lens. In fact, that’s the inspiration behind  TEDWomen, which celebrates women by exploring how women and girls are reshaping the future. The first event took place in December 2010, featuring speakers from around the world.  TEDWomen came to Atlanta through the concerted efforts of Lewis Perkins and  Paula Collins, principal of Peak Focus.

The first TEDxAtlantaWomen event, a simultaneous viewing party for the December 7-8 TEDWomen event, took place at an intimate group gathering at Hub Atlanta. Even with no more than 25 attendees in the room at any time, the excitement reverberated in the air. Lewis and Paula were hooked.

The following year, Lewis and Paula teamed up with Tod Martin, President and CEO of the design firm Unboundary. 2011’s TEDxAtlantaWomen was a viewing party for TEDxWomen, this time a one-day event streaming live from the Paley Centers in both New York and Los Angeles. With a capacity for 150 and a waiting list to get in, the ebb and flow during the 10 hour event went up and down from full house to 50 people. “These were 50 people who really wanted to be there,” said Paula.  Both she and Lewis first invited a targeted list, already a substantial number of people for two well-connected networkers. They progressed to larger and larger lists, and in the final gathering, they could easily say that they knew half the people in the room. “We were able to curate introductions between people we thought ought to know each other,” says Paula. “There was something very rich about doing that.”

The fact that there were over 110 simultaneous TEDxWomen events worldwide, and so many simulcasts that the servers crashed and had to be reset, drove home the significance of the day’s events. As did the fact that Paula’s friend Lisa was watching the same talks at exactly the same time at an event…in Istanbul. Paula felt an amazing connection to her friend, but she was also aware that the two friends were not just small parts of a larger movement — this was something even bigger than that. The shared bond of taking part of the same event, hearing the same words, being exposed to the same ideas, tied the friends to thousands of women the world over.

Paula already planning 2012’s TEDxAtlantaWomen. While Lewis has since moved to San Francisco,  TEDxWomen transcends location. Paula welcomes hearing from anyone genuinely interested in volunteering and willing to commit to make 2012’s event even better than 2011’s.

Wendy Kalman attended the 2009 TEDxPeachtree event and became hooked, volunteering each year ever since. By day, she works as a Proposal Manager and by night, consults with small businesses on marketing, public relations, writing and editing.

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The TED brand just keeps on spreading out into the universe so we here at TEDxPeacthree are always happy to promote it as it expands into its newest medium: radio!

Sure, sure. Radio is hardly a cutting edge medium. But bad mouth it all you want: it’s still popular. Starting today, fans can start listening to the “TED Radio Hour” on NPR member stations and on ted.npr.org in podcast form and on NPR’s mobile apps.

You can listen right here, where the first topic is dubbed “Our Buggy Brain.” The radio hours take older TED talks centering on a central theme, such as happiness, crowd-sourcing innovation or inexplicable connections. Host Alison Stewart injects soundscapes and conversations that provides more texture and depth to these ideas.

From the press release:

TED Radio Hour launches with an exploration of “Our Buggy Brain” and all of its harmonious functions and peculiarities. What tricks do our minds play when we think it’s okay to lie, cheat or steal? How in control are we of our own decisions? And why do our brains systematically misjudge what will make us happy? Talking it out are behavioral economist Dan Ariely, psychologist Paul Bloom and “Stumbling on Happiness” author Dan Gilbert.

And hey! There is an Atlanta connection: our hometown airline Delta Air Lines is one of the exclusive launch sponsors. The program is a co-production of NPR and TED.

Rodney Ho is an entertainment blogger for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. You can read his blog at blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/

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Photo credit: John Werner

Once it actually sunk in that I would be attending TEDxSummit, the first ever gathering of TEDx organizers from around the world, I set out to mentally get my head around what that meant.  First, there were a few concrete facts and numbers I could, technically, digest:

1. The Location:  Doha, Qatar
2. Estimated attendee count:  700+ TEDx organizer’s, TED staff and volunteers
3. Number of countries to be represented:  80+

Remember, I said technically digest.

Second, I began the process of opening myself up to the experience.  As an events manager, I spend a great deal of time filtering external thoughts and ideas into tangible plans.  TEDxSummit represented a rare chance to step back from the constant of doing and regain perspective.   This was my opportunity to reconnect with not only myself, but what initially compelled me, and still drives me, to support TEDx:

1. The desire to contribute to my community and share my skills.
2. The rush of experiencing a new idea that you can’t wait to share.
3. The belief that if our city, our world, needed something, I knew a few hundred TEDxPeachtree fans with the power make it happen.

It was clear upon arriving in Doha, that my belief in power was a widespread one.  The “power of x” drove our Summit theme and it was everywhere.  In our opening night session, TED curator Chris Anderson explained that “the x’ was originally used to denote an independently organized event, but now it has come to signify a multiplier.”  After an amazing visual representation of the “power of x,” TEDxSummit attendees spent the next four days discussing it, how to communicate it and how to amplify it.

The desire to amplify the “power of x” led a large group of summit attendees to take part in “actions.”  These six action groups met outside of regular conference sessions to map plans and create tool-kits for implementing the “power of x” in our communities.  We were excited to learn that the tools we needed to take action at home were sitting right there in the seat, actually most often on the floor, next to us in Doha.

This was most evident during one of my favorite parts of the Summit, the regional collaboration during desert day.  TEDxPeachtree, TEDxAtlanta, TEDxYouth@PiedmontPark, TEDxHuntsville, TEDxLex and TEDxMassAve…okay, technically not the SEC but Allison is from North Carolina so we welcomed her with open arms.  We shared best practices, answered each other’s questions, gave advice and even broached the idea of a regional action.  I laughed at hearing the term “regional collabo-tition” and was refreshed that we know it’s a good and healthy thing for sustainable program growth.

Desert Day Regional Collaboration Photo credit: John Werner

As this most amazing week came to an end, the “power of x” continued to grow in meaning.

It became the power of declaration: “TEDx is transformative!” said Yahay Alabdeli from TEDxBaghdad.

It was the power of the challenge: “The city you get is the city you build” said Norman Lee from TEDxManitoba

It also became the power of the question.

“What are your values?”

“How did you come to know TED?”

“What is your dream?”

What is your dream? When was the last time you were asked that question and the person sitting across from you waited patiently for you to answer?

I am forever connected to 700+ crazy intelligent minds that have given me the power to search for my answer. Will you search for your power of x with us?

Thank you to Al, Jacqui and our entire TEDxPeachtree family for the opportunity to live this experience.

Chandra Farley, Volunteer Events Manager for TEDxPeachtree , Communications Chair with Architecture for Humanity Atlanta, Full-time Events Director at Southface.

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