Russian doll for the TEDx: a blog within a blog

So, fanatic that I am for TED conferences...well, actually, calling this a conference is akin to calling caviar food or the ipad a computer. The cult of TED is more like it, from Ideas Worth Spreading to Fanaticism Worth Holding onto! It all started in the oh so cliche California where people came together to give "the talk of their lives " er...in 18 minutes. (Andy Warhol promised a 5 minute fame so lets just say inflation just kicked in). It started by pontificating about Technology, Entertainment and Design and now has spread to any topic that can be delivered in a way that will make an audience feel cool n cutting edge, and if you can squeeze in a tear or two from them, more the power to you! Ah and did I mention this is an invite only event, nurturing the VIP instinct amongst an eclectic group of people who need reassurances of their role in life like myself? There is nothing like a good dose of intellectual elitism to get people's attention...simple supply and demand that works brilliantly to make something more desirable, period.

So while I'm no doubt part of this emotive herd, I can be slightly objective to say that these talks are self promotional PR for ideas being launched... promising the end of today as we know it and the future as we see it through the speaker's eyes. But who cares given that conferences in general have become so content centric and delivery eccentric where people astonishingly can serve as sleeping tablets, missing the picture that the audience does matter! Perhaps its the Bollywood side of me, but I expect a mix of passion, counter-intuitive thinking, and sparks ...lots of em.

So it should not come as a surprise that with TEDx happening tomorrow in Amsterdam at the Stadsschouwburg, the grand city theatre, I'm going to be one of the live bloggers at the event. Something like chaining myself to the pillars of Stadsschouwburg crossed my mind if I were not to have gotten into this somehow. So on the 30th November 2010, ideas on the theme of "Science and Fiction" will play out, punctuated by tons of peacock performances in networking over meals and drinks, starting from 7:30am to 9pm in the evening. I will be blogging about microfinance in the music industry where Muthoni the drummer queen will talk, electric cars with Plug'N'Party campaigning to retracing of Darwin's journey by his great great grand daughter, Sarah Darwin and more.