TED 2012 Conference: Day Two
TED 2012 Day Two - waiting for the first session to start
Day Two.
Breakfast at Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles. Yes, really.
Rush back in to queue up for the opening session titled “The Observatory”. The sessions are jam-packed, so get to know your neighbor. As soon as we sat down for the first session, the stranger next to us introduced himself. That’s a very TED thing to do and something that will happen over and over again throughout the week. I can’t stress enough how friendly everyone is here.
Physicist Brian Greene gave us an explanation of the multiverse and string theory that was so straightforward even I could understand it.
Susan Cain, author of the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, discussed the cultural iplications of being an introvert and gave me my most valuable moment of Day Two: finding out that I’m an “ambivert” — not an introvert or an extrovert, but having characteristics of each and existing in the middle of the spectrum.
Second session, “The Parlor”, opened with an awe-inspiring performance from the dancers of Quixotic who combined trapeze artistry with dance. So mind-blowing that I can’t even describe the beauty of this piece.
Discovered the often hilarious poetry of two-term US Poet Laureate Billy Collins and promptly bought his book on Amazon.
Throughout the day, I ran into tons of familiar faces like Angela Benton from NewMe Accelerator, Navarrow Wright from Interactive One, and Corvida Raven from She Geeks. I’m hearing from lots of TED veterans that this is the most “diverse” that the conference has ever been.
Off to the welcome celebration where I sat with one of the top 17 female sommeliers in the US and author of Great Wine Made Simple: Straight Talk from a Master Sommelier on one side, plus the founder of craft brewing company, Stone Brewing Company, on the other. Yes, i self-selected into the boozy table. How apropos.
TED took over the Westin lobby where we rocked out to musician Reggie Watts playing bhangra and danced the night away.
You might think the night was over, but you’d be wrong. Back to the yacht.
It’s 2:30am, do you know where your TED friends are?