I want to live in a world that’s more like the TEDx event in Amsterdam. A place bubbling with optimism and enthusiasm and good ideas and beautiful people and the buzz of human connection. I loved everything about this year’s event, from the theme of #NewPower (Hat Tip: Jeremy Heimans & Henry Timms) to the backstage assembly of the audience (we have all now officially been on a TEDx stage!) to the speakers to the gadgets to the vegan food served with edible spoons to the volunteers.
It’s hard to choose a top 3 among the brilliant ideas powerfully presented. Irene Rompa’s incredible reaffirmation of human kindness was the kind of spirit the world desperately needs more of:
Special treat was Mandy Smith’s amazing story of her serendipitous journey to becoming a paper artist, and how a chance mis-google turned her art to activism. (Shameless plug: I’m sharing a stage with this amazing storyteller at Simon Hodges’ Gathering Point event tomorrow night in Amsterdam West, where I’ll be reading The Moon Candy Rebellion)
And the kick off from Jeremy Heimans was the perfect #NewPower theme-setter.
It’s worth watching every single speech: there wasn’t a flat note in the day. Great Technology. Great Entertainment. Great Design. But most of all, the kind of people that gather at an event like this: creative, optimistic, powerful in the most open and generous ways.
Thank you for this article!
Thank you for your speech, the site, the concept. <3