Be Inspired as We Cover the First TEDx SMU Conference

We recently had the privilege of interviewing some dynamic influencers and inspirational minds at the TEDx SMU Conference and are looking forward to sharing those interviews with you. TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. TED speakers have ranged from Al Gore, to Jane Goodall who in 18 minutes “give the talk of their lives”. The  world renowned TED conferences had its own smaller debut in Dallas- as a special TED xSMU independently organized TED event.

The theme of the conference was What Will Change Everything?

In their 18 minutes of the ‘talk of their lives’, the speakers educated, informed, used humor, music, inspiration, photos and  demonstrations to challenge and inspire us. Coordinated by Geoffrey Orsak: Dean of the Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University and Carole and Jim Young, ardent TED conference devotees, the conference was a success that we hope will come back again and again.

Attendees had to apply for admittance, answering fairly strict questions and submitting  an essay- as to why they wanted to attend and how they see using what they learned. Thousands applied and  500 or so  were admitted. I’m glad to report that Dennis McCuistion and I (Niki Nicastro McCuistion) were admitted- and we were sweating it. How embarrassing to be asked to conduct interviews and not “pass” the entry “exam”!  So due to our good fortune we attended, learned and interviewed. In the next couple of weeks you’ll get to see and hear  a few of the presenters who joined us:

• The organizers, Geoffrey Orsak and the Youngs,
• William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer, who wrote: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind,
• Amory Lovins  with the Rocky Mountain Institute who we had interviewed for a prior  McCuistion TV program, on the End Oil Game,
• Turk Pipkin with the Nobelity Project,
• Rogers Hartmann on  her life with Dystonia,
• Arthur Benjamin- the Mathemagican, Professor at Harvey Mudd College,
• Greg Harper with Harper Vision & Gadget Off, and
• Tanya Pinto, a media relations person who took off for India to work at Mother Teresa’s orphanage.

Join us and our TEDx guests as we talk about things that matter with people who care as we post a series of posts over the coming week of exclusive backstage interviews with these speakers.  And go to  TED’s  website for more information on TEDx SMU.

Here’s what some household names have to say about TED  international conferences:

Thank you a thousand times for inviting me to your wonderful TED conference. I regret not only that I was not at every moment of it, but especially that I missed all the previous ones! It was a great and stimulating experience as well as a lot of fun.”

— Rupert Murdoch, chair & CEO, The News Corporation

“I wasn’t prepared for this conference to be so profound. The combined IQ of the attendees is incredible.”

— Bill Gates, Microsoft

I wish I’d started coming earlier.”

— Richard Dawkins, biologist

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Niki Nicastro McCuistion