JackMyers Live from TED: BusinessWeek.com Comments on TED are Misguided

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Sage and Tony Robbins

Published: February 29, 2008 at 03:44 AM GMT
Last Updated: March 10, 2008 at 03:44 AM GMT

By Jack Myers

I'm proud to be a "TEDster" since 1992 and I'm fascinated by Sarah Lacy's perceptions in her Businessweek.com blog. She is honest in admitting she's envious not to be invited, but Business Week should sign her up now before it's sold out for next year and agree to pay for her or she should pay herself and find out whether her perceptions are accurate or not. I'm of course biased because I'm here and have been one of the "Fawning" bloggers at www.jackmyers.com. I have been critical of TED in the past but I see little evidence here of Sarah's criticisms. There are many students, educators, low-paid staffers of cause related and non-profit organizations. There are many entrepreneurs who have paid their way as an investment in their own personal intellectual, spiritual, and purpose-driven lives. All of that is available to take or leave, along with scientific exploration, music appreciation, global vision and extraordinary networking with the most eclectic audience you will ever meet at any conference. In my Live at TED commentary, I've been reporting who is attending. From celebrities to students, there is more equality here than at any conference I've been at. When a technical glitch occurred stopping a presentation, Robin Williams jumped on stage and entertained for ten minutes. The common denominator among all attendees is curiosity, not elitism. Next year, TED moves to Long Beach, a move many long time TEDsters mourn. But there is an excitement also about sharing TED with a larger world, and TED curator Chris Anderson makes all the presentations and special TED moments available to all at the TED.com website. It's a high price to attend TED, but I doubt there is even one attendee who is complaining.

TED is a Very Personal Group Experience

Friday 2 PM PT: After a very special group "Oneness Blessing" session with Tony and Sage Robbins at TED, Fred Goldring commented to me, "we zoom through our lives and here we stop to experience our life and realize how grateful we are." TED is humbling, empowering, motivating, overwhelming, educational, transformative. "We have a boundless curiosity," said science writer Richard Preston in closing this morning's session. At TED, the limits of our potential, our truths, our reality, our biases, our limitations are all challenged. TED, for those who are open to the full experience releases the soul of someone whose mind is locked up just as music releases the soul of someone whose body is locked up, as we saw first hand when cerebral palsy patient Dan Elsey from Tewksbury Hospital outside Boston was wheeled onstage by presenter Tod Machover, head of the MIT Media Lab Hyperinstruments/Opera of the Future group.

Elsey, who has use only of his facial muscles and has been outside of Massachusetts only once before in his life, was flown by TED sponsor FlexJets to this year's event to present a concerto he composed and performs through facial control of the Hyperinstrument computer developed by Machover. The technology has the same basic functionality for empowering speech as the computer used by Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist who spoke to TEDsters Wednesday in a special satellite interview with TED curator Chris Anderson. Elsey's performance, during which his normally contorted facial features relax into a peaceful, composed and wonderfully focused presence, demonstrated the transformative power of the universe when human will and technology converge.

The 1,200 attendees here in Monterey and another 300 in Aspen are also being exposed to the serious threats facing the world and humanity. But even the most jaded observers must be impressed by the extraordinary intellectual power and resources that are at work identifying and addressing the issues confronting us. Yesterday, TED shared the wishes of three TEDPrize winners, and as I write this the TED community is gathered at lunches exploring how the wishes can be achieved, and identifying the voluntary contributions being made by TED members, who include many of the world's most successful and brilliant business people, explorers, educators, entrepreneurs, scientists, physicists, physicians, musicians, performers and inventors, plus many like me who are simply very fortunate to be here and have the opportunity to learn, experience and contribute.

Author Dave Eggers TEDWish:

"I wish that you -- you personally and ever creative individual and organization you know -- will find a way to directly engage with a public school in your area and that you'll then tell the story of how you got involved, so that within a year we have 1,000 examples of transformative partnerships." based on the early response, I expect the number will grow toward 10,000.

Neil Turok's TEDWish:

"My wish is that you help us unlock and nurture scientific talent across Africa, so that within our lifetimes we are celebrating an African Einstein."

Karen Armstrong's TEDWish:

"I wish that you would help with the creation, launch and propagation of a Charter for Compassion, crafted by a group of leading inspirational thinkers from the three Abraham traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam and based on the fundamental principles of universal justice and respect (the Golden Rule)."

Two years ago, film-maker Jehane Noujain presented her TEDWish for a one-day event when the world would come together in a day of global commitment to peace. May 10 2008, thanks to the support of TEDsters, is Pangea Day, a moment in history when a four-hour program of short-films, music and speakers will be watched by a global audience of millions. Hosted live from Sony Studios in Los Angeles, audiences live on every continent will be linked by satellite, TV, Internet, phones and thousands of organized Pangea Day events. TED members will be hosting events at their homes, in restaurants, offices and other venues and an exceptional group of talented people will be spreading the Pangea Day message over the next two months and beyond. Organizers here at TED include Delia Cohen, Kevin Wall, Sony's Don Levy, Goldie Hawn, Bob Geldof, Lawrence Bender, Cameron Diaz, Meg Ryan, Forest Whitaker, Paul Simon, Jeff Skoll, Jim Hornthal, plus WPP chairman Sir Martin Sorrell and MTV Networks CEO Judy McGrath. Here at TED, History Channel president Nancy Dubuc shared her commitment to support the event.

To learn more about Pangea Day and to view the TEDWish presentations, visit www.TED.com and www.PangeaDay.org, and if you are interested in next year's TED, which will move to Long Beach after 24-years in Monterey, register now.

There are many highlights at TED, and just meeting interesting people is a significant part of the experience. Jason Port introduced me to Agistix.com CEO David Fox, who just acquired a tequila brewery in Mexico and will soon be marketing Cerritos brand tequila. Although it was still morning, he pulled out a bottle and cups and shared a shot with me and Scripps Networks' Deanna Brown. We both gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up. TED founder Richard Saul Wurman returned for his first TED after selling the conference to Anderson six-years ago and after resolving an acrimonious relationship between the two. A half-hour on-stage conversation between Wurman and Anderson was not only cathartic for many TED old-timers but an important introduction to Wurman for newer TEDsters who never knew him. Jay Walker, who has brought selected items from his home library to TED, including an original Sputnik spacecraft and the original Gutenberg Bible, extended an invitation to all attendees to visit him and experience his amazing collection first hand.

In addition to those here I've mentioned in previous Jack Myers On the Road at TED blogs, TEDsters here include NBCU's Beth Comstock, Lifetime's Andrea Wong, Jon Kamen, Microsoft's Craig Mundie, Sun Microsystems' John Gage, Dr. Dean Ornish, Microsoft's Joanne Bradford, Twitter's Biz Stone, Wikia's Gil Penchina, Neiman-Marcus' Ginger Reider, Magnify's Steve Rosenbaum, Fred Graver, Cyndi Stivers, Susan Bratton, Chris Fralic, Skype's Don Albert, HBO's Scott Carlin, Gerry and Kit Laybourne, Ricky Strauss, Blaise Zerega, Daphne Zuniga, Lawrence Bender, Al Gore, and the founders of Blue Man Group.

Also this morning, Lawrence Bender and Fred Goldring shared with me their new "We Are the Ones" Barak Obama video, available at www.WeAretheOnesSong.com. Check it out.

More to come as I find time here to write.

To communicate with or to be contacted by the executives and/or companies mentioned in this column, link to JackMyers Connection Hotline.