Occasional Moments of Brilliance

Technology Entertainment Design

By occasionalmomentsofbrilliance on November 20, 2012

When I first entered the auditorium at Grounds for Hope Café for the TEDxNaperville event, it took me back to my first experience with TED. I was living in Seoul and stopped in to see my friend Jeffrey who lived in my building. After chatting for a few minutes he put on Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk about education and the role of creativity in it. I was riveted. When it ended less than 20 minutes later, I hoped it was just a commercial break.

This was my first time attending a TED event, and I was there as a volunteer. As the auditorium began to fill with speakers, musicians, dancers, teachers and learners I quickly jumped in and got involved. I spent most of the afternoon doing backstage production, liaising with the speakers and coordinating with other volunteers. I stayed busy in between presentations, but while they were going on, I was able to focus on all of them, and be inspired by most.

Wes Douglas of Maddock Douglas was scribing visual notes to go along with each. These boards were on display during intermissions as reminders of key points of each message and as kick-starters for conversation.

All in all it was a very cool, inspirational, educational and motivational afternoon and I look forward to being involved next year. Volunteering was a great way to network with speakers, guests and other volunteers. In addition, I was able to use my own presentation and production skills to support this amazing event.

Check out their homepage at www.tedxnaperville.com.