TEDx Livermore Round 1

TEDx Livermore June 8, 2013 Round 1

A GREAT conference, “Creating our Future: Innovate and Educate”

See www.tedxlivermore.com for more details, but here are some highlights

Dominique Pierot was our TEDx Licensee.  He flew over for two days from Vegas despite (or maybe because) his first child was born seven days ago.  His leadership was key for permission to use the fabled TED labeling and approach. 

Rosalind Hamar , head of the local Montesorri school, was the Lead Organizer.  She brought much energy and enthusiasm to the task, and rallied a superb support team. 

We had, by my estimate, 250 attendees for this ‘first ever’ event in the Tri-Valley area, competing with the justly famous Livermore Rodeo today.  Few people in the sponsorship group or in the audience had previously known about TED, but the day provided much insight and acclaim for its value.

Sixteen speakers, four singing and music groups, and two forensics students were complemented by three 18 minute TED films in the fast-paced day. 

Three speakers dealt squarely with international issues, from the peril facing elephants from ivory hunters, to Ethiopian necessities, to women in 54 countries learning to install solar heating and cooking systems, to studies and solutions for schistosomiasis in Ghana.   Stories from Tazmania, India, China, and Africa buttressed their presentations.    The obvious concern for humanity everywhere, and the effort to render these solutions scalable were noteworthy, to say the least.

One young woman, Erica Gruidl, told a captivating story about creating a ‘safe haven’ for ‘special-needs’ kids at her Livermore high school.  She wove a story about how aloof the faculty and administration stood versus her attempts to get a group of six students ‘accepted’ as “normal” for such things as dance, band, and just simple shared classroom experience.  It was wildly successful, but not without some major learning.  She got a standing ovation, well deserved.

She mentioned the phenomenon whereby ‘whites’ teach their children not to stare at handicapped folk, and how easily that bridges into ‘not noticing’.  I found this in my own wheelchair days, whereas both Latino and African-Americans were quick to ask if I needed help, and solicitous about asking “how are you doing?”.  Another man and I, talking to Erica afterwards, compared notes on how we’d both be with someone and invariably people would address our companion with some version of “how’s he doing?” instead of talking to us directly.  You wouldn’t believe it unless you too have been in a chair.