A Show of Passion – TEDx Austin

For months it had been my dream to attend a TED event and last Saturday it was realized. The TEDx Austin event was a breathtaking show of passion from speakers, youth, and attendees. To me, the glue that holds TED together is neither the technology nor the entertainment or design. What makes it special is the passion that can turn boring or mundane topics into inspiration for others to get involved. The core concept of TED in combination with the uniqueness of the venue and the city made it, without a doubt, the best day of my life.

One Great Day

The first chance encounter as I entered the Circuit of the Americas, was with who I would later find out was a speaker and visionary. Jared Ficklin and I discussed the history and divides in New Mexico, the identities of Native Americans, Mexicans, and Americans, and much more. It was a great start to a great day.

It wasn’t long before I met other passionate designers, web professionals and entrepreneurs. The speakers were equally as inspiring. We heard from Anne Mahlum who was inspired to empower homeless men to take up running, provide structure in their lives, and find a way out of their situation.

Taking the theme of FearLess to the next level, Faith Dickey discussed her love for slacklining hundreds of feet off the ground with no protection. I later had the opportunity to speak with her about slacklining, the meditative aspects of the experience and letting the subconscious take over at such times. It was both entertaining and inspiring to see such a display of conquered fears.

On the same note, Robyn Metcalfe discussed her desert distance running, which has provided me absolutely no excuse to avoid the many long-term mountain hiking trips I have planned.

Edible Passion

One of the things that struck me the most about the TEDx Austin event was the passion that even pervaded our lunch. Japan-based author Elizabeth Andoh introduced us to cooking concepts that incporate five different flavors in every meal and five different tastes. As someone who is obsessed with food, where it comes from, what it does to our body / brain, and how it is cooked, this was an amazing experience.

The five flavors were: sweet, salt, sour, pungent, bitter. The five ways were: boiled, raw, roasted, poached, and preserved. My lovely lunch, prepared by Sonya Cote at Hillside Farmacy, consisted of the following delicacies:

1. Poached shrimp, lemon jelly and black salt
2. Sake and beet pickled duck egg
3. Ogonori, dried mushroom and miso with silky stars
4. Toasted rice balls with cucumber and daikon
5. Grassfed beef tataki with poppy seed shaved onion and sprouts

The time, effort, and thought that went into the lunch was amazing. It was also an opportunity to speak with business coaches about meditation, artists about mixed martial arts, and a variety of other topics with an open-minded group.

Giving Back and Going Back

The community of people involved with TED have a certain mindset and it is one that I embrace, adore, and hope to foster in as many people as possible. Speaking with some of the TEDx Youth members, I recognized an opportunity to give back by doing anything possible to make their event an unequivocal success.

Furthermore, I will be attending every TEDx Austin event I can. The inspiration from this gathering of people will slowly wear off, but the friendships will hopefully remain forever. For anyone in an area that has a local TED or TEDx event, I could not more highly recommend attending or taking part in some way. The organizers make the event great, but the community makes the event life-changing.