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| Great exposition of information architecture! From the soliloquies of Sawyer, Negroponte, Cohen to the phantasmagorical flights of fancy of Taymor, Krause, Bryson, Gallo, Dressler. Macready. Wow! Mullins. Holy cow! High density quality. Passionate, eloquent presenters - & attendees. Good society-changing ideas. John Abele / President & CEO Boston Scientific In three days, enough ideas are hatched to keep you thinking the rest of the year. The quality of the presentations are only eclipsed by the accomplishments of the audience. MacArthur fellows & Nobel Prize recipients are peppered in amongst the presidents, CEOs & artists. The people that Richard Saul Wurman is able to attract to his conferences are a virtual Who's Who in the technology, entertainment & design industries. With his humor & attention to detail, he is then able to create a party atmosphere which soon has everyone speaking with each other & sharing ideas as though they were long-lost friends! Charles Altschul / Consultant It is so wonderful & rare for supposedly superb, singular institutions to live up to their reputations. I now understand why you have so many adoring acolytes. TED 7 was simply wonderful, an intellectual spa, a 21st century Chataqua, superb & singular. I thoroughly enjoyed myself & hope my remarks (what a great audience!) were up to snuff. Kurt Andersen / Co-Chairman Powerful Media TED 's gift to me are monkey bars for the mind: it's a framework to operate from, it is something to hang from & view the world from & I can swing from one subject to another, one endeavor to another & yet it is all interconnected. John Baker I was so glad to have attended the TED conference this year. Some of the speakers were amazing & the new work on display was just mind-blowing. Sarah Bartlett / Senior VP Oxygen Media Monetary success is one [important] goal. Changing peoples' lives is another, much more important goal [if you can afford it!]. I suppose those who know your familiar TED conferences are used to that change, but I was not. How remarkable this weekend was! Burkey Belser / Designer Greenfeld Belser I attended TED & will never excuse myself for missing the first five. It was the most generous conference I've attended: generous ideas, generous people & generous Wurman. Warren Bennis / Distinguished Professor USC Thanks for a great event. It was stimulating & enlightening, once again. Aaron Betsky / San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Really enjoyed the conference - from driving fast, listening & watching fast & talking fast! I learned a little about a lot & think you may have changed my life. Dan Biondi / Executive VP Conventional Wisdom TED 6 delivered what it promised & then some. Part euphoria-inducing dinner party, party intellectual Outward Bound course, it was both a rigorous challenge & a delight. David Boorstin / Principal David Boorstin Associates Thank you for allowing me to attend & speak at the TED 8 Conference. It is a fascinating combination of ideas, vision & humor. I commend you for the hard work & heart that you put into the TED events. Bill Bradley / Former US Senator What great minds and what a great party! I really think you got the Canadians talking - and as you know - that is indeed an accomplishment! I hope the tradition continues. Julie Bradshaw / Managing Director Suite101.com I sometimes wish I were a bit more eloquent than I am with the written word! This is one of those occasions. As I know I don't have to tell you, we meet only a few truly special people in a lifetime. To meet so many of them at one time & in one place is, at least in my life experience, virtually unique. My MIT days come to mind as the only other such occasion. Beyond that, how rare it is to meet someone who so clearly has a passion for what he does & for the people who achieve something in life. That someone, of course, is you. Mark Braunstein / Chairman & CEO Patient Care Technologies Thank you for yet another intellectually stimulating, entertaining & emotionally affecting conference. I think this year's conference was my fifth or sixth TED & as always, I find myself talking about & thinking about many of the presentations long after leaving Monterey. Some of the most memorable moments for me were: John Hockenberry's demonstration of Dean Kamen's walking wheel chair, Tom Brokaw's talk & Linda Martinez' musical performance. Barry Braverman / Senior VP Walt Disney Imagineering Of my first TED , I feel more alive. Like plugging-in fresh batteries to my mind, the experiences of scientific challenge, human condition, laughter, performance arts, & reverence for life, swirl inside - clearing blocks & opening directions. Bob Brisco / CEO CarsDirect.com The TED s have given me and Art Center a way to understand where communication, information & design are going ... & to contribute to setting the course. David Brown The people who got to TED City, they've got the advantage. Just watch what they do in the future. It was stunning. TED City was the best piece of consulting I've received in a long time. Bill Buxton / Chief Scientist Alias/Wavefront TED provides an opportunity to see the future up-close & in the flesh of the people who are making it. It was good for my business, good for my portfolio & good for my mind! Dan Burstein / Senior Advisor The Blackstone Group As a newcomer to TED I had high expectations which were far surpassed by the conference itself. Ken Carbone / Designer Carbone Smolan Associates TED 6 was emotionally stimulating, intellectually overwhelming & absolutely inspiring. TED rocks! Margo Chase / Designer Margo Chase Design Thank you for a wonderful journey. A marvelous mindwalk. Adrian Chernoff Many thanks indeed for inviting me to your wonderful & unique conference. Thank you for all the hospitality - incredible! It was a real pleasure to meet with you & participate in all the fun - life was supposed to be like this! Peter Cochrane / British Telecom Each of the TED Conferences I've attended has been intense, engaging, & unpredictable. Richard Saul Wurman's gatherings attract leaders not followers. I recommend them highly. Alan Cole-Ford / Executive VP Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer I've attended TED 2 through TED 6; every conference has resulted in new ideas, relationships & projects, both professional & personal. Nowhere have I found an environment so rich in possibilities. Mark R. Collins / Executive VP Glenn Foundation for Medical Research I did want to take the time to tell you how exhilarating an experience it was to be involved in TED Technotainment in New York. One thing Bob Greenberg told me that turned out to be very true: the contacts I made at TED turned out to be, almost to a one, invaluable & lasting relationships. This is so unlike any other conference I've experienced - & I've participated in countless such events. That certainly speaks to the quality & calibre of the people your event draws - & most of all to the quality of the dialogue. Luyen Chou / Learning Technologies I've been addicted to TED Conferences for ten years. They are a fascinating, almost intoxicating, hybrid of intellectual marathon & social salon. C. Donald Combs / VP Planning Medical College of Hampton Roads There are no words to describe TED 7. Truly. Thank you so much for insisting I come. I now regret what I missed the previous years. And thanks for accommodating my son. Time with him is precious. Is there anything else on the planet that would keep David 8 & Dad 44 spellbound for 12 hours straight? Scott Cook / Co-Founder Intuit For me TED is: Food for the brain. Liquid inspiration administered by inspired, passionate, and intelligent people. A view into a more worldly perspective of charity and contribution to a higher purpose. A map for what makes the smartest people work. The chance to see genius in mere mortals. A window into the lives of some of the world’s more successful people. The best cocktail party with the most interesting folks that there are. I hope to have another RSW experience some day soon. Ben Croy / Chief Technology Officer Ceiva Logic Just wanted to thank you for putting on such a superb show in Charleston. Being a TED newbie, I don't have anything to compare it to ... except all the other conferences I've been subjected to. Yours kicked butt. I left hugely energized. Joe Crump / The Doblin Group TED 6 was filled with enough exciting new ideas to keep me supplied all year! A great conference that keeps on resonating for me. Elizabeth Daley / Dean USC School of Cinema/Television Thank you very much for inviting me to the conference! It was a lot of fun! All the people, the speakers: a conference never to be forgotten. I'm sorry that I didn't have much to present. I just had a game. But hopefully I will have something more substantial someday. David Dalrymple / 9 Year Old University of Maryland student This is just to say how tremendously pleased & impressed I was with TED 9. The caliber of speakers, the pace, the ambience, the conversations, the entire event. You do a great job. Stan Davis / Author Blur I wish I'd started coming earlier. Richard Dawkins / Professor Oxford University & Author The Selfish Gene Richard, great conference. Sublime as usual. Negroponte introduced me to Rupert Murdoch to talk about the Wi-Fi movement, and we ended up spending some time together at the end of Pam's lunch.
I want to thank you again for inviting me to attend TED 9. I met lots of interesting people I wouldn't normally be exposed to inside the confines of the high tech sector. I'm still reeling from Story Musgrave. Wow! Sky Dayton / Founder & Chairman eCompanies The TED conferences defy classification - they have been rather unique - unlike any other conference I have attended. The blend of outstanding presenters, a mix of relevant topics & the ample opportunity provided for presenters & participants to mingle have made the TED conferences the most valuable I have ever attended. These conferences are perhaps the only ones where so many of the participants themselves could be headline presenters. Horace Deets / Executive Director AARP I'm a TED convert, and will now infect others with the virus. Christopher Dewdney / Futurist & Author Last Flesh I thought TED 8 was the best you've put on. Every speaker was superb. It was truly a wonderful conference. Hope Dlugozima / Creative Director GNN/Medcast Networks The Institute for Advanced Study for the rest of us. George B. Dyson / AuthorDarwin Among the Machines I was really floored a couple of times. TED City was amazing. It exceeded my expectations. Atom Egoyan / Director Felicia's Journey & Exotica Where else could I have been offered funding for my research from the government, the use of the San Diego Supercomputing [Center], able to discuss the possibility of developing a more sensitive laser scanner, learn about small MNR, been invited to discuss biobots on cable television, asked for data by an animatronics company, asked to be interviewed by a design magazine, invited to give a lecture on biology/motion as art & urged to come visit Microsoft? Robert Full / Chancellor's Professor Integrative Biology UC Berkeley We are in Las Vegas this weekend performing at the Desert Inn & I just got a call from Norman Lear. He said he wants to do a project with us ... Said that he has been thinking of a way to share us with everyone he knows! He gave me his personal fax number & told me to send down any ideas we have for a show ... I can't thank you enough for inviting us to be a part of your adventure. Barry Friedman / Raspyni Brothers Thank you so much. It was joy! Once again the opportunities stemming directly from the conference are life altering: Presenting ideas to Dean Kamen in NH and attending First Competition Presenting at Fortune 500/PR Meeting and at a meeting of venture capital companies (both interested in robot and adhesive products) Negotiating an educational toy deal Robert Full / Professor Integrative Biology UC Berkeley My colleagues and I are jet lagged and still babbling about our first TED – it was wonderful. Robert Full and David Macaulay were particularly brilliant I felt. Max Gadney / Head of Design BBC News Online TED City was the single most inspirational, profitable, spiritually uplifting four days of my life. It's like playing a game with no rules in an intellectual sandbox. Alex Garden / CEO Relic Entertainment I wasn't prepared for this conference to be so profound. The combined IQ of the attendees is incredible. Bill Gates / Chairman Microsoft A real energy gorge with salsa & l'chaim on top. Frank Gehry / Architect Frank Gehry & Associates I like seeing lots of dot-com millionaires rubbed up against writers, artists & architects. It's wildly eclectic. William Gibson / Author All Tomorrow's Parties & Neuromancer Attending TED Conferences helps me to imagine what MEDICAL will be. Richard's conferences bring things together that are not known, disconnected & difficult to understand. Presenting them in context makes them understandable & meaningful. Helmut Giersiefen Paul Goldberger / Architectural Writer The New Yorker Thank you again for a great TED . I met lots of special people & got lots of terrific ideas. Paula Goodman / Art Center College of Design It's so seductive and so energizing. TED City is absolutely life changing. Barbara Gowdy / Author The White Bone & Mister Sandman Words are inadequate to express my appreciation for the invitation to participate at the TED Conference. It was one of the highlights of my entire life. Never have I seen such a diverse group of people, nor have I ever seen such a program run so smoothly & on time. Billy Graham / Evangelist I am a TED addict. Not because of anything specific I learn there, but because it is the only place to develop an intuitive feel for what's coming, what's important & what the rest of the world is about to discover. TED isn't for everyone. It's a state of mind. To get anything out of TED you have to be looking for nothing in particular. And you can expect to emerge more informed about what's about to happen than you have a right to expect. Nancye Green / Designer DG/2 Bless you Richard for another great TED. Bill Gubbins / Senior VP iPIX |
The TED Conferences are a banquet for the mind: brilliant, stimulating subject matter, mixed with great collegiality & served by a master chef. The TED Conferences are important & vital. They are a continuing source of inspiration & information. I would never consider passing up an opportunity to attend these events. Gordon Haight Actually, the thanks should come from us to you for once again, hosting the best produced, most relevant & inspiring programs in recent memory. Undoubtedly, you & your staff work tirelessly to conquer even the smallest of details, most of which would be overlooked by anyone else. It was a pleasure to attend & participate & I look forward to future TED s. David Hankin TED 6 was a theme park for intellectuals. The breadth & depth of intellectual horsepower was more exhilarating than any jetboat ride. Ruth Harley / Executive Director NZ On Air [New Zealand] Because I had to depart so quickly on Saturday, I didn’t get a chance to thank you and your wonderful team for making TED 12 probably the best yet! You have always amazed me and I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed all of your meetings. The surprises … the insights … the ah-haas … they make my head spin. And, in the end, I leave with more shared insights than I could ever have imagined. I know this takes a great deal of work … but I also know that no one else matches you in the art of putting people, concepts and real ideas together. Plus, you make it fun – and that is truly an art! You’re the Master! Patricia Hawkins / TED is the music of civilization, and it’s been tremendous to play a small part. Michael Hawley / Professor MIT Media Lab The TED conference is an ideal audience of opinion leaders & innovators of the digital future - true digital dream kids at heart. John Heenan I was delighted to listen to & interact with outstanding people from so many disciplines. It was like being on an ark at sea for four days & four nights sailing into the future. Steven Hoffman / Sports Illustrated Great TED —great send off. Thanks again for this amazing experience. DK Holland / Graphic Designer & Journalist conferences that I have attended, & the book UNDERSTANDING is overwhelming. It will take me months to get through it. Dan Holtshouse / Knowledge Work Initiatives Xerox TED X was my sixth TED & perhaps the best one yet. I also picked up the February Wired & read the TED article. At both the conference & in the article, those of us in the simulcast rooms were referred to as second-class citizens. I don't think that's the way you see it at all, as I've been in the main room in the past when I registered sooner. This year I had access to the main room for at least half of the sessions & the downstairs simulcast room with the big screen & Starbucks was awesome. Dev Horn / VP Business Development Stick Networks Abe & I enjoyed the days at TED , our spa for the mind. We had already registered for TED 12 & Abe also registered his two sons! Christine Hughes The promise of technology is no longer a promise. Digital communications are here & happening ... real world, real time. Through TED , Richard Saul Wurman & his eclectic network of professionals show us how digital technology is making a difference. We return to our respective career-world - enthused, invigorated, wiser ... & changed. Barbara Jack / Young & Rubicam At the intersection of health care, science, communications & technology - which is symbolized by TED MED2 - is where I want to stand for the next twenty-five years. I believe that it represents the the greatest opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of people around the world & a change to make a buck. Hamilton Jordan / Chief of Staff Carter Administration Thanks for a fantastic TED . I like Emily Levine's multi/non-disciplinary approach ... as well as her grammar. It speaks to something I have always deeply believed, as well as the healthy preservation of a child-like mind. Steve Jurvetson / Draper Fisher Jurvetson Thank you for letting me participate in an extraordinary intellectual & emotional experience. Joel Katz / Katz Design Associates Being a part of TED 11 was a genuine privilege. I've never experienced anything remotely like it. I was entertained, educated, enthralled, moved, challenged, intimidated, humbled & most of all inspired! Jeffrey Katzenberg / Partner DreamWorks SKG Dear King Wurman: you rule!Jeffrey Katzenberg / Partner DreamWorks SKG Of all the conferences at which I've been a speaker over the past several years, TED was by far the most pleasurable. The audience was certainly the most interesting I've encountered. One could have made an excellent TED conference by reversing the roles of the speakers & audience! Alan Kay / Disney Fellow [after original TED in 1984] I think, on balance, that [TED MED] came off & that most people felt it was a time of information, excitement & positive planning for the future. There is a lot of activity in high-tech communication & the development of the health information infrastructure. C. Everett Koop / Former US Surgeon General I want to thank you again for your introducing me to TED - an amazing experience - & to congratulate you on the success of TED 9. You have created something extraordinary & I am proud to have participated. Peter Kramer / Author & Psychiatrist Brown University Thank you for four wonderful days in Monterey. My brain is still buzzing. One of the many highlights was catching up with Frank Gehry over dinner Friday. Congratulations on a terrific conference & thank you again. Kathryn Kross / Producer Nightline ABC News TED X was one of the most intriguing experiences of my life. It has led to so many interesting people & places that it would take a day of your time to hear all the stories. I know your philosophy of life & voice shines through in the choices you make of speakers for TED . I remain deeply appreciative that you chose a rabbi. Irwin Kula / President CLAL I just wanted to let you know what a wonderful time we all had at TED . It was amazing to be surrounded by so many creative and wonderful people who were so passionate about what they do. It was truly eye opening for all of us and I feel so honored to be a part of it! Julian Lage / Guitarist Thank you. You & the TED conference always give me hope. Jackie Leo / VP & Editorial Director Meredith Interactive I wanted to say thank you for creating TED & allowing me to participate - this was my first. I am a veteran of the conference circuit. I have spoken at just about every one of them, from PC Forum to Jupiter to all of the iBanks. But you really blew me away. The diverse breadth of topics & ideas somehow found congruence & in doing so pushed my thinking in new & wonderful ways. Jeff Levy / President & CEO eHatchery Another incredible TED – thank you for once again not just broadening but profoundly changing the way I look at the world. From Stephen Petranek's mind-opening views of possibilities for the end of everything to Bill Strickland's amazing Pittsburgh story to Moshe to YoYo to Herbie to EVERYTHING – it was just simply, GREAT. Even though it is 16 months away, I am already looking forward to Providence next June. Jeff Levy / Founder & CEO OpenPoint Networks Monterey was fantastic—a wonderful event. I was very pleased and yes, even proud, to have been included. David Macaulay / Illustrator & Author A conference for the non-linear part of you: TED . Ted McConnell / Manager IT Research Procter & Gamble The conference was, without a doubt, the most valuable, most inspiring experience I have had ever. I didn't want to leave & I haven't stopped talking about it to everyone I know since returning. Tina McDermott / Manager Worldwide Strategic Advertising Xerox TED12 was an incredible experience, particularly on Saturday. The insights and people were great and I know they will have a profound impact on my life. Thanks again for putting this together. I know you did it for yourself, but don’t ever forget the many lives you positively propelled as a result of the greatest design conference there ever was.
Thanks for another outstanding TED Conference. Richard Marcus / Senior Advisor Peter J. Solomon Co. I've heard about TED for several years but TED X was my first opportunity to participate. Over the years I've been to more conferences than I care to admit & have never found them to be stimulating. TED X was different in every way. I have never enjoyed a program so much. In general, the speakers were outstanding & the agenda provided entertainment & food for thought. Thanks for putting on a really good show. I will remember this experience fondly for years. T.K. Mattingly / Rocket Development Here's what three days of TED MED2 did - astounded me; got me thinking about new, very cool stuff; reconnected me with old buddies; connected me with new buddies; made me laugh with delight; gave me pause; left me wanting more. I loved every minute of it. Molly Mettler / Senior VP Healthwise Thanks again for having me to TED X. I really enjoyed the people there & I learned a lot. I actually felt like I was back in graduate school at Harvard again, able to explore widely instead of being stuck in my narrow field. So, I really appreciate all your efforts to get that wonderful group together, & I hope you are resting up from it all! Brent Mishler / Professor Integrative Biology UC Berkeley The people attending, the subjects covered, the spirit and intensity in the presentation room make the TED conferences different & more powerful than any other gathering that I have participated in. Mort Meyerson / Principal 2M Serendipitous, scintillating & insightful - TED always manages to light lights & turn on juices in new & unexpected ways - a very special intellectual garden of delights. Peter Mollman / Publishing Consultant TED SELL was, in retrospect, startling. Paul Saffo was, as you said, "the very best," & then it just got better. I thought I was attending TED to get ahead of the curve on the net & walked away challenged, confused, provoked & more than anything ... intrigued. Mike Monten / Partner Wilson-Griak We had a bedazzled time. We made friends. We have tickets to hear Ozone & Burton at the Regatta Bar next month! Thank you. Philip & Phylis Morrison / MIT Thank you a thousand times for inviting me to your wonderful TED conference. I regret only that I was not at every moment of it, but especially that I missed all the previous ones! It was a great and stimulating experience as well as a lot of fun. Rupert Murdoch / Chairman & CEO The News Corporation Thanks for the special days you share. You are a role model. Jack Myers / Chief Economist, Myers Reports The TED Conferences give new meaning to high tech/high touch. John Naisbitt / Author Thanks for the great conference. Up to your usual standards & as usual, a high-point of the year. Brian Napack / CEO ThinkBox Media At each TED conference something important happens to me: a new business, a new friend, a book on the Media Lab. TED 6 was like a 1961 Bordeaux, long known to be good, but now at full maturity. At TED you learn to take different perspectives very seriously & yourself less so. I returned from TED exhilarated & feeling very privileged to have been invited. By comparison with other conferences in my life, I came away from this one having seen more new things & having met more new people than ever before [after original TED in 1984] Nicholas Negroponte / Director & Co-Founder MIT Media Lab Richard Saul Wurman does an outstanding job bringing together an eclectic & compelling group of speakers for his TED Conferences. Steve Newhouse / Editor Jersey Journal As usual, that was a spectacular four days at the best brain spa on earth. Everything - form & content - was superb. Rachel Newton Bellow / Project 180 I wanted you to know that you are the only person in this great world who could have created the atmosphere in which I felt able to tell my story to strangers. What is most astonishing is that we hardly know each other, & yet I sensed an understanding that allowed that to happen. That moment last Wednesday has given me the courage to undertake an attempt to write about it. Sherwin Nuland / Author & Professor Yale School of Medicine TED is Christmas morning for the mind. Ralph Oliva TED X was the best conference I have attended. The choice of presenters, the diversity of attendees, the challenges to thought, the beauty of the displayed works, the atmosphere of honesty encouraging people to release their emotions & speak at a more intimate level, all contributed to an extraordinary experience. What a day Friday was. We cried listening to Tom Brokaw & Dean Kamen, we laughed, sometimes too loudly, with Art Buchwald & Sinbad, we were mesmerized by the musical talent of Linda Martinez, & we danced rejoicing to the sounds of the Klezmer Conservatory Band. I attend a number of conferences each year - some are cheaper & some are more expensive. None give the value of the TED experience. Abe Ostrovsky / Principal Ostrovsky Consulting TED is a fabulous, non-stop feast for your brain. More smart people, with more fascinating things to say, than you will find in any one place all year. John Papanek / VP & Editor-in-Chief ESPN Magazine TED was fantastic for me! I thought it was up there with the best of the best. I came back with some great ideas, contacts & new friends. Chee Pearlman / Design & Editorial Consultant TED is the door for the birdcage of technology. Robert Young Pelton / Publisher & CEO Fielding Worldwide The meeting was tremendous. I think it is not just the intellectual challenge but the humanity of the people that makes a real difference. And of course there is the orgasmic rebirth we all need once in a while.
What a terrific conference you have! It was by far the best conference I've attended & I really appreciate your confidence in me! Don Peppers / President Marketing 1:1 It was really a great pleasure to participate in the conference & I'm delighted to say I was at the first TED MED. It's always a pleasure to see an idea carried out with great execution. Your goal to give the conference the feel of a dinner conversation occurred more times than not & the conversations continued well into the night. The exchange of ideas was formidable. God knows what new projects were schemed up. Ryan Phelan / President MARA Ventures |
I appreciate you allowing a true Southern WASP Republican to participate in this incredible intellectually stimulating world you created called TED ! I’ll never forget when you found me off-stage at TED X to tell me “they actually really liked you–come back on stage” Peter Drucker said “the best way to predict the future is to create it.” You have done exactly that with TED in an exponential sort of way no one else has ever dreamed. You are the best one can be: original. Jim Phillips / Fedex It was a great conference & it reached deeper. Congratulations to you & your entire team. Joseph Plummer / Turnstone TED 8 was great - I enjoyed every minute, both as a speaker & a member of the audience. Kim Polese / CEO Marimba The TED Conferences have always been a fascinating series of presentations & lectures: a cross-section of the cultural high profile of various master minds designing the outline of a global age of information. This concept was mirrored by an audience surrounded by a most friendly & familiar atmosphere which reproduced a permanent contact & feedback to the various scenarios. Attending the meetings since TED 4, the latest event has given me the most encouraging experiences & contacts. Hans Preiner / Director Transparent GesmbH [Austria] Thank you so much for putting on such a great conference. Who would have thought that teachers & preachers, crooners & runners, ocean depths & waterless heights had so much in common? Ramana Rao / Chief Technology Officer InXight Software I really had no idea that such energy, inspiration & collective vision could be architected that way, a monument! Presenting those two projects to that audience was unlike any presentation that I have ever made. I will never forget it! And seeing the other speakers was an amazing mix of being inspired, driven, sensitized & awakened. The experience was an endless spiral of comprehension & questioning. Hani Rashid / Principal Asymptote Architecture Highly intensive, rigorous, intellectual, exhaustive, a really amazing time. I think this is really going to grow into something in Canada. Karim Rashid / Principal Karim Rashid Industrial Design It will be difficult to put to words an experience that is continuing to wash over me in waves of recollection, in the turbulence of reflection. You serve up a powerful ocean & I feel its weather. You have stretched me in the wind & I feel the better for the journey - things were really shaking, as always, beyond the expectations. Great! Thank you for this creative provocation & while the insight of time will well up more embedded memory, may I now join, with first words, what I am sure is a mighty chorus of praise in saying TED 8 was an extraordinary event in every way. Godfrey Reggio / Filmmaker TED has changed my life each time for the past six years; literally offering me numerous opportunities to re-invent myself. TED feeds my soul for months afterwards. Tom Rielly / Chairman & Founder PlanetOut TED was an amazing experience for everyone, I'm sure. For me, one of the particular twists was an echo effect that I got on e-mail during the event, sending out my own descriptions & getting back snippets that Penn Jillette was broadcasting through his network, which traced through Rob Pike to my brother Dennis at Bell Labs & on to me. The whole thing was so wild I had to spend a few days afterwards purging myself by writing a kind of genre piece describing my experience. Bill Ritchie / President Binary Arts Corp. Now that the adrenaline has begun to wear off, my first TED experience is slowly acquiring perspective, previously crowded by all the excitement, the enthusiasm, the presence. Your tears in front of such a distinguished crowd certainly confirmed your suggestion concerning personal vulnerability, underlining the coherence in your life. Thank you for putting such extraordinary people together in a single happening. Thank you for creating such pathos in the air. Thank you for an unforgettable experience. Michael Robinson / Director Design Fiat I really enjoyed TED12—thanks for all the good work.
David Rockwell / The Rockwell Group As always, TED 9 was a terrific place to spend four days - thank you! Renée Rodrigue / Renée Rodrigue & Partners The TED conferences are of great service - not only to this generation who are responsible for guiding this next decade, but to the future generations who will inherit our legacy as well. Courtney Ross Holst / The Ross Institute I completely enjoyed being there - as always. Seeing the electricity flow between John Warnock & Stanley Marcus as they huddled in discussion of rare books was a Wurman produced moment that is the essence of your success. Jennifer Saffo I had a lot of fun at TED 8, by far the most informative conference I have ever attended. Thanks so much again for the opportunity to speak there. Stefan Sagmeister / Designer Sagmeister Inc. Long before the word convergence became the moniker for industries coming together, RSW had this idea that these industries that had never had anything to do with each other were somehow going to bump into each other - & he turned out to be right. John Sculley / Partner Sculley Brothers TED X was absolutely spectacular. I have attended many TED s (6 so far), & each has been wonderful. But this TED was so packed full of TED moments that in my own memories, I can't decide what to reminisce about first! I can hardly wait for TED 11. Elizabeth Rue Sealey / Principal Elizabeth Sealey Consulting Wow! Fantastic! The best! What a conference & what a chef you are to orchestrate & prepare such an eclectic & extraordinary audience & roster of presenters. Thank you so much for having me - it was an honor. Peter Sealey / Principal Los Altos Group The TED Conferences are a different experience, founded by a guy with an insatiable curiosity and willingness to take a risk; with an informality that is touching; presenting ideas & composed of concepts that are revolutionary, farsighted, futuristic & society-shaping. Jerrell Shelton / President Continental Graphics I would never have guessed that my TED 11 week would be capped by a 6.8 earthquake here in Seattle! I guess it takes an act of God to top the excitement of TED ! Katherine James Schuitemaker / The Resonance Group I thought the conference was fabulous. It was truly, the most intellectually stimulating three days I've ever experienced & what an amazing group of people you've brought together. Congratulations on another great success. Andy Sieg / VP Investors Services Group Merrill Lynch I just wanted to say that TED X was absolutely fabulous! It was my sixth TED & personally I thought it was the best yet. The Friday sessions were brilliant. I don't know whether I spent more time laughing or crying. The presenters were all inspirational, erudite & articulate. Jan Sircus / Senior VP Walt Disney Imagineering I can only repeat what I told you at the TED X end: the best meeting I have ever been to. I am a typical European sceptic & cynic, & after attending close to 200 meetings during the past 25 years I have grown to be allergic to bad meetings & supercritical of missed opportunities. But TED X was, unequivocally & by a huge margin, the most enjoyable, the most informative & the most humane gathering I have ever been to. Vaclav Smil / Professor University of Manitoba Thank you for putting together such an inspired & inspiring conference. Even though I am on the fringe of Technology, Entertainment & Design I found much to absorb, ponder & take home! Jerrie Smith RSW's a provocateur. Maybe the best way to talk about him is as an enzyme. He seems to come in & out of things & he changes what takes place in the reaction of individuals & ideas, & yet he emerges from it precisely the way he was before, all of his molecules intact. So we'll call him the Great Enzyme. Ray Smith / Former Chairman Bell Atlantic The best thing about TED is the astounding array of creative people who attend & the time everyone gets to spend with each other. For three days you unplug from your own hectic whirl & are suddenly exposed to people & ideas that have never crossed your radar screen before. It's an astounding combination of people you always wanted to meet & people you've never known you needed to meet - all in one place, all accessible, all also unplugged from their own whirl & open to your ideas. The presentations are fascinating but for most of us it's the coffee breaks & the random fate stream late night conversations over a brandy that turn out to be the real value. A lot of friendships & a lot of business results from these three day gatherings. The worst part is that it takes me two years to follow up all the opportunities & to walk through all the doors that open as a result of going to a TED gathering. Rick Smolan / President Against All Odds Productions By offering direct access to many of the major technology innovators in our society, the TED Conferences provide a unique perspective from which to evaluate emerging technologies. Norm Snesil / President & CEO Medical Economics I cannot tell you how amazed and greatful I am. TED was life changing. Jill Sobule / Musician & Recording Artist TED Conferences have been an intellectual early-warning system. Rick Wurman has the rare ability to spot trends still below our horizon & to invite their most stimulating representatives as speakers. Henry Steiner / Steiner & Co. [Hong Kong] I realized that no matter how much time I spend day after day keeping up with my own areas of expertise & interest, I'm not learning nearly enough about my world. TED was like sticking my brain into an electric current of ideas. It was what learning should be: spontaneous, serendipitous, sometimes a little unsettling - a real adventure, with a good wine list, yet! Bob Stearns / Managing Director Sternhill Partners Belatedly I wanted to thank you for letting me come to TED MED2 , which was superbe & will reverberate for me for months to come. David Stipp / Writer Fortune Thanks for letting me come to TED 12. I wasn't sure what it was going to be like. What kid in his right mind would want to sit through 4 days of lectures on strange subjects?!! The best thing was the people I met and heard. I have new friends from TED that have already called me today. I wanted to say thanks and I hope I didn't let you down with my presentation. Chaille Stovall / Documentary Filmmaker TED City was wonderful. What a great contribution to the country. Don Tapscott / Alliance for Converging Technologies & Author I came away with two things. First, that the conference was provocative as much in what was presented as in what was not presented. Secondly, with each passing day, I reflect on something else gained - a contact, some information, a conversation. Most importantly, the experience was of tremendous value in helping me to focus my own work & ground it to leading thinkers in the areas where health care, technology & design meet. Celeste Tell / Student Institute of Design IIT Thanks so much for creating such a fascinating & intellectually charged gathering! I think you are ahead of your time with TED & TED MED2 , but also continuing a venerable tradition begun by the likes of Plato & Madame Pompadour - to gather together the most exciting minds & let them connect. John Tidwell / Reporter Modern Maturity I appreciate the opportunity to participate in such a fascinating & unique forum. TED 8 was one of the more memorable conferences I have attended, during which I had the great pleasure of meeting a remarkably eclectic group of people. Maurizio Vecchione / President & COO ModaCad TED 6 was my first TED Conference. Wow! One of the most exciting, mind-broadening conferences I have ever attended! It greatly surpassed my expectations. Philippe Villers / Families USA Foundation TED has traditionally been a unique gathering of visionaries with tremendous insight to the future. A stimulating conference for any executive looking to the 21st century & beyond. Alberto Vitale / Chairman International eBook Award Foundation TED : the only conference I go to not being a speaker! Eckart Wintzen / President BSO Origin [Netherlands] Once again this year, I took enormous pleasure & pride in being a part of the magnificent chaos & brilliance that is TED . The unfettering of all the wildly disparate ideas in the conference [& subsequently in my mind] is consistently a high point & something I eagerly anticipate every year. David Wolfgang-Kimball / Internet Community Consultant Thanks again for a wonderful conference! Yo-Yo and the musicians were thoroughly impressed and they continue to marvel over the experience! Esther Won / Director The Silk Road Project Before I went to TED I had heard that it was the best conference of its kind. After having gone, I realize now that it is orders of magnitude better than any conference I have ever attended. Now I realize how much I have missed & know that in the future I will sacrifice any & all other conferences in order to get to TED because it has the most impact & lasting value. Thank you for the greatest dinner party I've ever been to. Curtis Wong / Manager Next Research Microsoft What lively discourse and feast for all my senses are your conferences! TED /MEDICAL & TED SELL lifTED my heart & soul onto an exquisitely vivid plane of artistic & intellectual companionship. I was so excitede & entranced that I forgot to eat & sleep! The legacy of your 3-day dinner parties are still creating a network of work & pleasure friendships, fresh insights, graphic appreciations & islands of books & tapes scattered around my lake home & office. Islands which successfully tempt guests & myself into free-roaming conversations into the night! Such riches. Jean Wooldridge / Principal St. Cloud Communications I can't thank you enough again for inviting me to participate in TED 9. You were right: it was one of the most exciting experiences of my life! My mother & I will be talking about it for several years to come. And an added benefit it that I have been able to carry the inspiration of TED 9 into the classroom & pass a bit of it on to my students. I expect it to carry over into my research as well. The interest that other attendees have shown in my work may lead to a sabbatical project or a brief consulting job advising Disney Imagineers on a new theme park in Japan. Wired has already called about publishing some of my images. Dawn Wright / Dept. of Geosciences Oregon State University RSW knows all the best thinkers/speakers/showers in all the most interesting & most modern lines of work; he then pulls them together in an action-packed three days that are well-organized yet informal & funny & guarantees that you'll walk away smarter than you came. Moses Znamier |