I had the great privilege of going to TEDx Vancouver this past weekend …
It was in UBC‘s Chan Centre, a great venue – although it’s hard to sit anywhere for 8 hours or so of lectures. But TED talks are generally awesome, and these did not disappoint.
(If you don’t know what TED is, stop everything, go here, and watch a few videos. Short form: Technology, Entertainment, Design.)
My favorite sessions:
- Aaron Coret & Stephen Slen
After Aaron broke his neck snowboarding, they invented an airbag for snowboarders that saves lives and was used in the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremonies (yeah, I was in those opening ceremonies). Very cool, very courageous, very inspiring. - Christopher Gaze
Wow. If you love language, you have to love Christopher. He loves the bard, Shakespeare, and does an amazing job explaining, no, demonstrating why. - Dr. Kate Moran
How about the internet in the ocean? She’s doing it … very cool. - Romeo Dallaire
The Canadian leader of the UN force in Rwanda during the genocide, who had his hands tied by UN rules, was forced to basically watch the atrocities, and wrote a book about it later: Shake Hands with the Devil. - Jer Thorp
Wow. Amazing data visualizations with the NY Times and other organizations. - Victor Lucas
Victor was announced as talking about 3-D. Turns out he was introducing the 3D rules he wrote in a letter to his unborn daughter:- Don’t be a dick
- Don’t hang around with dicks
- Don’t dick around
All in all: a great day. A few of my shots: