Yesterday was TEDxTO. If you don’t know about TED by now, I strongly urge you to YouTube some excellent TED talks, or just have a poke around my blog for some of the videos I have shared.
To say that yesterdays TED was inspiring would be an understatement. Never have I been in such a warm, smart, compassionate and stimulating setting. The day began early with one of the most beautiful poets I have ever had the privilege of listening to, Boonaa Mohammed. His word song was relevant, funny and provocative. All the things I need early in the morning, and much more awakening than any coffee. Following Boonaa was a man named Drew Dudley, he was one of my favorite speakers of the day. Drew talked about how everyone has the opportunity to change someones life every day without even knowing it just by doing the right thing and having a genuine spirit. His talk touched me because I have had many (Many) of these moments in my life.
Some of the other notable speakers that really made me think were: Dr. Catherine Zahn from CAMH who talked about the importance of compassion to those inflicted with mental illness, and Trey Anthony the creator of “The kink in my hair”. Another speaker that brought an “Ah Ha Moment” to me was Neil Pasricha, author of “The Book of Awesome”. Interestingly enough Trey and Neil were the only two to get a standing ovation. DR. Zahn was the #3 trending topic on Twitter Canada.
The atmosphere at TED was so hot you could have fried and egg. Everyone who attended had a story of how they were trying to do things differently to make a positive impact. There was no pretension between doctors and tradesmen, professors and students or front line workers and CEO’s. Everyone was talking to everyone else, sharing their stories, and trading ideas.
Here are a few pictures I took. I was blessed to sit in the front row with such awesome people as Casie Stewart, Distility CEO (The Boss man) Axle Davids, and Dave Coleman.
FYI: A band called Broadway Sleep performed and were AWESEOME! Please check them out.
BTW: A BIG thank you goes out the organizers of TEDxTO for putting on such a great event!
Filed under: Events, Personal, Social, Words to live by, Andrew F Stewart, Andrewfstewart, Enlightenment, life, Party, Passion, potential, social media, TED, TEDxToronto, Toronto, Twitter
