Take Your Pants Down to ‘Decompartmentalize’

Terry definitely steps out of his comfort zone as he encourages us to step out of our social circles.  Terry talks about leaving your comfort zone to explore other lifestyle niches — it’s necessary to preserve our free society.  We must actually do it. Invite people intentionally unlike you to have dinner at your house.  Take risks, build a better community.  It’s worth it.   Terry did it!

Social Intelligence: Current and Future

Two of our TEDxTampaBay presenters really prepared our minds for the possibilities of current and future Social Media trends.  Guy Hagen envisions future  social intelligence systems as really smart devices that integrate multiple types of information about our lives.  Charles Armstrong’s presentation looks back upon the history of communication and shows us a current cool new way to share information using a smart device, the iPhone.

James Tokley: “He Calls it Technology, We Call it Poetry”

James E. Tokley, a Tampa Bay treasure and Poet Laureate for the City of Tampa, combined wisdom, great stage presence, humor and incredibly powerful poetry to cap the event.  James artfully compared  poetry to Charles Armstrong’s technology talk,  perfectly demonstrating the power of diverse ideas.  James’s insightful talk reminded us that “poetry is that one secret that every one of us has”.  James recited his poem “Leviathan” and ended to  a standing ovation with “The Pursuit”.  Thank you, James.

Balance and Happiness: Recurring Themes at TEDxTampaBay

While the theme for the inaugural TEDxTampaBay was imagine.  inspire.  connect, unintended but very powerful themes recurred throughout the day.  Balance and Happiness were two important ideas that sprouted from radically different perspectives.  However, they tied our event together beautifully.

Dr. Paul Schnitzler kicked-off TEDxTampaBay with his talk on introducing change and leadership.  Combined with a burning need, getting the most out of people requires balance.  Diego Uribe, using systems thinking as his model, talked about harnessing dynamic balance for a better world.

Emily Roff, singer and songwriter, started her performance with a simple, but powerful message:  if you want happiness, spend time with your friends and families instead of your ‘stuff’. Brent Britton brought wealth and happiness together in his talk as he shared his simple formula for wealth in business — do whatever you need to do to make your customers happy!