My 10th TED Conference

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I've just arrived in Long Beach for the annual TED conference. When I first started going to TED, it was a relatively small, relatively unknown gathering in Monterey, California. But don't confuse relatively small and relatively unknown for relatively uninteresting. Since its inception, the TED conference has been an amazing gathering of people across a variety of disciplines (TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design). And with the advent of TED's fantastic video destination site and a growing number of enthusiastic boosters, the conference has become much larger and much more influential.

It has been a while since I blogged about TED, but I'm going to try to post some thoughts over the course of this week. There are always nuggets of wisdom I collect throughout the TED conference. And they often come from the most unlikely sources. Perhaps this year that wisdom will be dolled out by Sarah Silverman or Temple Grandin, David Byrne or Nathan Myrvold, James Cameron or Benoit Mandelbrot. Rest assured, whoever the source, there will be wisdom dolled out. And, with any luck, I can be the conduit for some of that TED wisdom.

I think this is my 10th TED. Why do I come back to TED year in and year out? Not only do I find it inspiring to learn about the trials and triumphs of some of the great thinkers of our day, but I find their diversity of background and opinion invaluable. Many of the most interesting innovations throughout time have been the result of cross-disciplinary collaboration. The same is true of the innovations of today -- they draw upon a diverse backdrop of technology and leadership. TED inspires me to think more broadly about the world in which we live (how art and science and philosophy come together) and helps to place the companies with which I interact every day into the larger technological and economic universe.

Like so many of you who watch the TED Talks in amazement, I attend the TED conference in amazement and am constantly inspired. I consider myself very lucky to have the opportunity to interact with such a transcendent group of people. I will do my best to share some of those moments of inspiration along the way.



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