Last week, I was honored and excited and totally, completely-out-of-my-mind nervous to be a speaker at TEDx Naperville, the independently organized local TED event. It was thrilling. While it was a pretty amazing experience as a speaker (I discussed micromoments), I was really struck by what a dedicated group of volunteers could make happen.
If you aren’t familiar with TED, I’d recommend you get to know TED pronto. “Big TED” as it’s affectionately known, is both a conference and a treasure trove of content. Thousands of videos of “Ideas worth spreading” by the greatest minds are available for you now – for free. This incredible generosity led to these local, independent events in the spirit of TED.
So much of the event is about a philosophy of generosity. When you consider how diverse the topics are (the world of microbes, the future of books and musical communities were all covered!), the spirit and philosophy of an event like this is really all that holds it together. How do they do it? The speakers and organizers stick to a few basic rules:
1. No politics.
2. No religion.
3. No corporate overlords.
More than rules, it’s about sharing. Are you sharing the best of who you are? Are you sharing an open mind? Are you sharing your best content?
It works. It’s powerful. And it’s the best way to create a great experience every time. Believe in something. Believe in something so strongly that everything else flows from that. If you believe in a mission and commit to the spirit of it – knowing you may have change some rules or work a plan – you will be able to achieve great things.
Thanks to the incredible organizers at TEDx Naperville. Amazing, amazing job and it was a day I’ll never forget!
