On Saturday, 4 September, Concordian International School hosted TEDx Krungthep and welcomed over 300 attendees, fondly called TEDsters elsewhere, within its sparkling new campus and well manicured lawns. TEDx are independently organized conferences based off original TED annual meetings in the UK and the US. TEDsters started trickling in at the break of dawn and warmed themselves up with hot cups of coffee and snacks. As more people arrived they inevitably formed small discussion groups, seemingly all fired up and in the mood for “Ideas Worth Spreading”, which is TED’s motto.

At the reception area I was warmly greeted by what I presumed to be their school staff. After exchanging my ID for a visitor’s pass, someone directed a tall, Caucasian boy named John to escort me to the meeting area. John was as tall and lanky as any high school kid can get; he wore a shirt and tie and spoke with a maturity beyond his apparent age. John gave me brief history of the school as we crossed the spacious grassy courtyard. He was polite and sounded very proud to be a student here. He gestured toward the registration area and venue and thanked me for visiting his school. This welcome was both warm and cool at the same time.

After a thoroughly organized registration session, and without any audible signal or formal announcement, everyone dutifully entered the cool amphitheater with more than enough time to find a strategic seat from which to view the conference. The area was arena-like, almost theater-in-the-round but with a stage off to one side. Kleig lights and mounted professional video cameras were arranged for the best video production value. A large, flowing banner off to the side of the stage listed the event’s corporate sponsors many of which were truly heavy industry hitters in the kingdom of Thailand.

The audience was an interesting mix of nationalities and ages; it was delightful to see students attend. Many came in groups, judging by their animated chatter and banter, while not a few strangers introduced themselves or joined conversations.

Soon moderator and host Dan Magie walked center stage to start off the conference. He mentioned that the day’s proceedings were being streamed live at the TEDx Krungthep website and was sponsored by TrueVision, the communications company. He introduced the school’s founder and Directress Khun Varnee Ross who welcomed attendees in her short speech. House lights went down and the familiar image of Chris Anderson, TED Global curator, came up on the three screens deliberately placed around the area so that everyone had a good view of the visuals. The first speaker then commenced presenting her talk and I braced myself for an onslaught of cerebral stimulus-responses.   

The last thing one would expect from a conference like TED (Technology, Entertainment, & Design) was to feel a lump in one’s throat rising and the urge to hold back tears as one listened to speakers. But that’s precisely what happened, not once but several times throughout the conference. In fact participants ran the whole gamut of emotions from loud, raucous, uninhibited laughter to deep, thoughtful, meaningful pauses. The speakers wore passion and dedication on their sleeves and eagerly discussed their insights with TEDsters with as much ardor as they converged for coffee breaks.

Over all the conference was highly organized and well-thought out, with attendees’ comfort and convenience in mind. And because TED is a non-profit organization no fees were charged to participants, only donations. This sort of arrangement is, indeed, an idea worth spreading.

 September 2010

Bangkok City

(It would become cumbersome to present the highlights of all twelve talks in this report. So, I’ll instead start a thread and post one talk per week with time and space for the SP community to put in their two satang’s worth into the discussion. Everyone is invited to participate.)