Month: July 2010

What is All This About TEDxBoston?

My company is presenting there! Where? TEDxBoston!

Wanna say hi? Then swing on over to our registration page and register (it’s free).

July 27th, 6 – 9 PM, Microsoft NERD Center (1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA). 11th floor.

Or, if you like, watch the webcast, at Neuron.

Our hashtag is #NRBR.

Be there. Aloha.

What is TEDxBoston?

Here it is, over a decade and a half or so years later, and I realize now that I never actually said what the event was.

So, here goes.

TED Talks has an offshoot called TEDx. After the x is always the name of a city or school. Essentially, this is the venue. For here, of course, it is TEDxBoston.

However, these events are more of a grass roots nature versus regular old TED Talks.

What is the Difference Versus TED Talks?

Well, for one, it is the level of fame for the person who is doing the talking.

Real TED Talks (the original kind, that is) are the kinds of stuff that Bill Gates does. You would invite Jane Goodall to do a TED Talk, or maybe, heh, Ted Turner. But TEDx Talks are more local.

In a way, you can think of them as the difference between a regular old Google search and Google’s local search functionality. For a recipe to make pizza, you use the former. And, it is huge! But for a local pizza delivery place, you use the latter. And now, there are a lot fewer hits. But they are much more likely to be right on target.

And it’s a Meme, Too!

Seriously. And a lot of that has to do with a bit of perceived snootiness.

But it is also due to the phrase, “Thank you (or thanks) for coming to my TED Talk,” being a great way to end an announcement or a statement.

So, it ends up being a little bit like quod erat demonstratum. Just without the fancy-shmancy Latin.

And when it comes to talking about my blog—you guessed it!

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.