TED Around the Corner

TED starts this week, a conference I've been going to for about nine years now. This is the first year I won't have to get on an airplane to attend; its hard to imagine driving my own car and not a rental to the event.

It's also the first year I plan to blog the conference.....sadly the extent of my coverage will largely depend on how many power outlets the Monterey Convention Center has.

There's an interesting article in SF Gate on this year's talent and speakers.

The article starts out with the following question and ya know.....as a regular TED attendee, its a good opening. (there's a bit of a cult-like following btw; regulars call themselves TEDsters).. Here's his start: Where can you find James Watson, the Nobel Prize winner who co- discovered the structure of DNA, on a panel with an environmental photographer, a physicist, and an author of a book on nature? And where other panelists range from Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart to genome-mapper Craig Venter and playwright-actor Anna Deavere Smith?

The article refers to founder Richard Saul Wurman as an eclectic impresario - ya gotta love it. Richard (or Ricky as some of his friends call him) can't be disappointed with that description.

There are numerous TED moments, some which make you cry, some which are simply inspirational and innovative at the same time, some leave historical footprints. I was in the front row when Billy Graham spoke one year - if I recall correctly, it was in the same session as Oracle's Larry Ellison.

I was also in the front row when Herbie Hancock and Makoto Ozone did their duet that Quincy Jones apparently called one of the best two duets he has ever heard on a stage. Look for new TED moments from this year's event later this week and over the weekend.