TEDxSacramento – Tie Out

On Saturday, I attended TEDxSacramento.  The event was part of TEDxYouth Day, which was a series of TEDx events happening all around the world on November 20. The events were designed to empower and inspire young people.

This was my first TED event – of hopefully many.  Overall, I thought it was a successful day – informative speakers, great venue, and good multimedia incorporation.  Now, because I’m an economist, I’m going to discuss these items in bullet form.

• The most impressive component of the event was the multi-media incorporation.  Rather than just being a series of live talks, which I was expecting and would have found sufficient, the event included other, already posted TED talks, musical interludes, and short videos.  This sort of construction helped break up the five-hour day and keep the audience interested.
• The live speakers were a mixed bag.  The topics were all interesting, even if some where tenuously connected to theme of “Youth.”  My personal favorites were from Alex Terrazas, who talked about cognitive mapping, and  Dr. Julie Schweitzer, who talked about decision-making in ADHD children.  These two talks reminded me why I attend conferences like this – they were exciting, new, relevant science.  I followed up with both of them for more information on their research.
• TED is notorious for having excellent time management – one of the characteristics of the official events is the huge countdown-clock for speakers.  This event ran a bit behind schedule, and I wasn’t watching closely enough to figure out why that was.

Here’s a list of some of the highlights of the event.  The full program of speakers is here.

• Sarah Cook: Raising CEO Kids
• Neeru Khosla – CK-12 Foundation
• Daniel Wetter – 14 year-old Reporter/Video Journalist
• Alex Terrazas – The GPS of your Mind
• Julie Schweitzer – Decision-Making and ADHD

I got a lot of great feedback via Twitter and e-mail on my coverage of the event – thanks to everyone to the kind words, and for following the updates.

Overall, attending TED was a great opportunity to learn more about Sacramento, TED, and, of course, a variety of other topics that I wouldn’t normally have been exposed to.

William Rankin – GAIA

William Rankin is the founder of GAIA – the Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance.  GAIA “was founded in response to the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. GAIA provides life-saving services in rural Malawian villages.”

Today, Rankin talked about AIDS in Malawi, Africa, where 1 in 13 children is HIV positive.  GAIA delivers a variety of life-saving services to people in need with a particular emphasis on Malawi’s most vulnerable citizens: women and children. They aim to strengthen healthcare institutions, improve the delivery of healthcare services, and work closely with communities to empower local people, particularly women, in the struggle against HIV.

Rankin, in addition to being the founder of GAIA, was Vice President from 1998-2000 of the United Religions Initiative, a global organization for reducing violence and creating venues for local inter-faith cooperation around the world. From 1993 to 1998 Rankin was President, Dean, and Charles B. Wilson Professor of Christian Ethics at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He holds the Doctor of Philosophy degree from Duke University, with a concentration in ethics. His Masters degrees are from Episcopal Divinity School and Duke University’s Sanford Institute of Policy Sciences and Public Affairs.

Find out  more about his endeavors here.