Last week, I had a chance to attend TEDNext, the first-ever TED conference of its kind in Atlanta, Georgia.
It’s hard to figure out where to begin because it was a flood of inspiration, experiences, and insights — by far, the best conference I’ve ever attended!
I’m an introvert at heart, so I don’t seek out strangers, but at this event, you couldn’t help but turn to the person next to you as you waited in line for a food truck, the next session, or even a massage (!). And only halfway through a conversation would you realize that so-and-so does incredible work as a multi-disciplinary cellist, a post-disciplinary creator of monuments and an opera, or the founder of an AI company.
On my first morning there, I became fast friends with Paul Rucker, who watched me spill coffee all over my white dress. He coached me as I dabbed away with a towel and cold seltzer water. Throughout the day, Paul would stop me and check on the stain. His performance at this most recent event isn’t yet available on the TED website, but you must watch any of Paul’s many videos out there. I’ve never seen anything like what he does.
I was invited to lead a workshop while I was there, and so I led a session on “The Power of Human Skills in an Age of AI.” It was so much fun to connect with such an engaged group of attendees. I couldn’t get them to stop talking with one another, once I set them loose on a variety of small-group activities. It was a productive set of conversations, and we ended with each person claiming this statement for themselves, “In an AI future, I bring value because I can…” Here are just a few of the many wonderful versions I received.
In an AI future, I bring value because:
I can keep the human at the center of the problem and solution
I can share my joy
I can notice
I can connect the dots across different disciplines and share what is relevant
I can tell a good story
I can build genuine connections by creating safe places for people and by building trust
I also had a chance to chat with Jon Youshaei who started off his career in marketing at Instagram and YouTube and now leads his own content creation company. We got to interview each other for a program called “Intersections,” in which TED Emerging Social Formats Editor, Ikey Ajavon, matched us up to see where the conversation would lead. Jon and I had fun sharing our thoughts on career pivots, impostor syndrome, and building our confidence. I’ll be sure to share the video once it’s available, but here’s a sneak peak behind the scenes:
And finally, there were so many incredible TED talks. There was Malcolm Gladwell apologizing for his hubris in promoting the broken window theory in his bestseller, The Tipping Point. There was six-time yo-yo champion Shu Takada dancing and doing all kinds of insane things with a yo-yo. There was Snow Raven from the coldest place in Siberia, mimicking the wildlife of the region with her wide-ranging voice.
It’s hard for me to choose my favorite from the 25+ talks I saw, but the one that stayed with me was this one by Franziska Trautmann. If you’re ever feeling paralyzed in contending with what feels like an intractable problem, listen to this young woman talk about how she took one small step and how it led to an incredible, now-scaling effort to reconstitute the Bayou. Simply amazing.
Thanks, TED. Mind blown.
Dr. Michelle Weise is the author of Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Even Exist Yet and consults as an outsourced Chief Innovation Officer for businesses and higher education institutions. For more information, please visit: michelleweise.com.
Awesome thanks for sharing!