During TEDxAmsterdamLIVE those TED-fans enjoyed the live stream coming from the TEDGlobal conference in Oxford and co-created an unforgettable event themselves. A wonderful group of volunteers made this possible.

The group picture taken by Claudio Encina

It was thanks to the effort of Saskia Kok, Nephtalie Demei, Martin Voorzanger, Antoinette Hoes, Maarten Wolvekamp, Saskia Maas, Jane Tjon Tjauw Liem, Gabrielle de Nijs Bik and Claudio Encina that we had such a great time…and such a lovely program!

Tuesday

• Introduction by Jon Rosenfeld -artistics director BoomChicago
• Musical performance by Noam Vazana
• Watching live TEDGlobal session 1
• Surprise performance of Merlijn Twaalfhoven (composer)
• Watching TEDGlobal session 2

Even the food was delicious. Jane and Maarten enjoy their sponsored soup

Wednesday

• Introduction by Jim Stolze -founder/organizer TEDxAmsterdam
• Watching TEDGlobal session 3 “Found in Translation”
• Live performance of Pim Betist (Africa Unsigned)
• Watching TEDGlobal session 4 “Irrational choices”
• Audience participation: what’s your favorite TED-talk and why?
• Watching TEDGlobal session 5 “Healthier Together”
• Live deejay act DJake
• Live performance Michiel Drijber (Fun as a binding factor)
• Watching TEDGlobal session 6 “Different by design”

Singer / poet Leslie Ebony on stage

Thursday

• Introduction by host Arjan Amin
• Watching TEDGlobal session 7 “Creatures”
• Live performance Anouk Piket “Dare to Dream”
• Live performance Jasper van Impelen “Inner Superhero”
• Watching TEDGlobal session 8 “Adventures in Fairness”
• Musical performance of Leslie Ebony & Stefano Bocconi
• Presentation by Monique van Dusseldorp about TEDxAmsterdam 2010
• Watching TEDGlobal session 9 “The unknown brain”
• Live performance Roderik van Grieken “The power of debating”
• Watching TEDGlobal session 10 “Who’s the teacher?”

Friday

• Introduction by host Pim Betist (Africa Unsigned)
• Watching TEDGlobal session 11 “The Tiny Blue Dot”
• Special performance by Harmen van Doorn (Founder PIF-World)
• Watching TEDGlobal sessoin 12 “Waging Peace”
• Audience participation: what’s your favorite TED-talk and why?

Some quotes from visitors:

Salmaan Sana about audience participation:
“By the end of the days, I was able to chat with many people during the breaks. Some stories we heard from the crowd watching were incredibly inspiring, in particular one we heard on Friday from Yahay (@yahay) pursuing his dream organise a TEDx in Iraq! Wow!! He received huge applause, left some of us a little emotional and now has a lot of support in his future ventures from the people attending.”

And finally Lia Hesseling – van den Hooven:
“I was a bit down and went three days to Boom Chicago to follow the live stream of the TED conference in Oxford. I have never before listened and watched that intensively to speeches. I am inspired, updated en motivated. I see life in general and my life especially in a much larger perspective. Thanks for the inspiration and please invite me for TEDx Amsterdam in November! P.S. I was the (only!) elderly lady with the grey hair”

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Lara visits the recent TEDxGreatWall

A range of pundits, from trend forecasters and futurists to authors and spiritualists – even devotees of the Mayan calendar – will tell you that we’re in the throes of a paradigm shift. In this contemporary age, they say, we’re transitioning from a ‘Power Age’ to a ‘Conceptual Age.’

It’s a convincing theory; easily documented through a range of cultural moments. The dominance and infallibility of large institutions and social structures is on the wane (think: banks, corporations and The Church, for instance), and in their place we’re seeing more ‘highly evolved’ concepts arise; a stronger ethical position, the emergence of a so-called “Creative Class” and terms like the ‘Knowledge Economy.’

Enter the extraordinary TED concept, and it’s “independently organized“ satellite program, TEDx – two platforms which are arguably at the leading edge of this flux, both as symbol and as player. At the core of each is a series of Big Ideas, and spreading them is what TED is all about.

“TED allows you to dramatically expand your vision,” says Lara Stein, Director of Licensing at the TED office in New York. “You get to hear from people outside your line of day-to-day work, who have expertise in an area you know nothing about.”

It’s alive, it’s vital, and it transmits to create a certain evolution in society, says Lara.

Lara has just returned from a marathon trip which took her to TEDxGreatWall, -Sydney and -Tokyo. Exhausted but enthralled, she summarizes the appeal thus:

“[At TEDx], for a moment, you can dream of what could be; how different life could be.”

A TEDster for many years, Lara was asked several years ago by TED founder Chris Anderson to join the team for a project. Today, that work has evolved into launching the TEDx program, the ‘open source’ version of the TED concept which in March this year celebrated its first birthday.

The program has a bold vision and Lara’s focus is on growing the community and infrastructure globally. With over 500+ dynamic TEDx events planned for this year, each TEDx event is considered a prototype of what could be.

“There’s more than one answer to the TEDx direction,” Lara says. “It’s about communities driving what happens with the program. I can steer it but a lot of the initiative comes from these incredible TEDx organizers across the globe.”

All that’s fine, says Lara, because “we want it to be driven by local communities; that’s what makes it relevant.”

In recent weeks the TEDx concept has morphed fantastic to bring insight to breaking stories – TEDxVolcano, for example, and just this past weekend – and ever-relevant – there have been whispers on the formation of a TEDxOilSpill.

Lara describes events like TEDxSydney and TEDxAmsterdam as “hugely ambitious; they meet a need in the community,” but equally valid, she adds, is “an event in a shanty town community, like TEDxKibera.”

The story of TEDxShekhavati, in India, is particularly poignant. With the tagline “Idea Revolution,” it was clearly too much for some. The tale highlights not just the determination of local organizers, but the danger that ideas can represent.

Event organizer Masarat Daud faced continued and mounting obstacles in the local community in the lead-up to her event. At the last minute, access to the venue, a local school, was denied by the head of the community.

“I am so sick of this backward thinking, so so sick of it,” writes Marsarat angrily in her blog.

Masarat Daud: sick of backward thinking.

Lara responds with equanimity. “Societies all over are oppressed by regimes threatened by ideas,” she says. “I believe that most problems in the world are caused by [nothing more than] people’s inabilities to see things from another perspective.”

“I grew up in South Africa and we didn’t have a TV until I was 8 years old –  the regime wanted to keep the masses uneducated.”

Not to mention women with ideas – a hot button if ever there was one.

Thankfully, the situation confronting Masarat spurred her more than ever. She soon found another venue, hurriedly placing signs around the village so that nobody would miss out.

“Nine hundred people showed up,” says Lara. “It’s remarkable that the event happened at all, and I know that everybody went on a journey that night that they have probably never been on before.”

The good news is that you don’t have to travel far to access the many great TED and TEDx stories. It’s TED policy to share, and spread under creative commons license. “Ideas should be free,” says Lara. “That’s why it was so important to us to have everything online, free for the world to see.”

New talks are being uploaded every week, and more Big ideas and grand designs will be on show this November 30^th in Amsterdam.

Video: TEDx around the world

We thanked the crew of 2009 with a nice dinner last year and this month we sent them a true collector’s item: a TEDxAmsterdam Moleskine. Earlier this year we wanted to give new people a chance to join the TEDxAmsterdam Crew, and it’s my honor to introduce some of them here today.

Irene and Carolien
Two girls who are already supporting the TEDx Crew in an important way. Irene Rompa has made a flying start with her plans to make this year’s giftbag even better than last year. Carolien de Boer has her own organizing bureau and helps us with the planning and execution of monthly team meetings.

Sasha and Ellen
If you have been following the TEDxAmsterdam blog, Facebook and Twitter, you may have enjoyed a nice series of articles by Sasha Naod. Together with Ellen Bokkinga, he has sharpened his pencil – or polished his keyboard, to be precise – to develop and direct the content of our social media and overall event.

Milan and Ivana
Ivana Kowsoleea and Milan van den Bovenkamp are the driving forces behind Lev Kaupas: an incubator that provides young professionals with startup business knowledge across a range of different disciplines. It’s designed for people from diverse backgrounds. They bring some of their creative genius to TEDxAmsterdam.

Marck and Annette
Two people who already played an important role in 2009 have again become official team members in 2010. Marck Feller was the driving force behind video capturing (and uploading) at TEDxAmsterdam, and Annette Knijnenberg will be responsible for all branded content; TEDxAmsterdam material that might be interesting for partners to co-produce.

Arrien and Maurice
Maurice Mikkers is a gifted photographer. The photos at the Staddschouwburg and our recent mind-gym are examples of his work. Arriën Molema was a member of the popular band Room Eleven, and he will be the eyes and ears of TEDxAmsterdam, looking for musicians who deserve the international spotlight.

That’s just a snippet of our people, in coming months we’ll introduce you to more!

So how will this year’s event be different to last year?

Just like last year, it will be an event in the TEDx-format. That means we’re going to bring together a diverse and sometimes unexpected line-up of speakers, musicans and video content from different disciplines. I can’t give away too much right now but we’re confident that people will be impressed. Currently, we’re combing the country – and the world – to find people eager to share their ‘idea worth spreading’ in 18 minutes in front of a global audience. There’s no shortage of takers, and actually, I think our hardest task will be to keep the event to its alotted time frame!

Photograph by Ivo van der Bent

There seems to be a focus on kids this year? Tell us about that decision.

We live in a world for grown ups right now. Yet, we can’t really say that we’re proud of the state that the world is in, can we?  So, we should be wise and listen to what the future generation has to say. We’re even creating a special TEDKids conference in Amsterdam’s NEMO museum for the purpose of giving kids a platform to speak. It will be held on November 20th, ten days before the ‘grown ups’ edition. I’m really looking forward to that. Although on the one hand our main event theme is Science & Fiction, you could say that the ‘hidden’ theme of TED has always been ‘the future we create.’ Well, we know that kids are the future – our future – so we wanted to give them the opportunity to share what’s going on in their minds. When you think about it, we don’t often give children that chance. I’ve already contacted TEDx-organizers in Tokyo and the USA to see whether we can give the stage to kids from three different time zones on the very same day.

What’s the mission of the event this year?

The new theme is Science & Fiction. These two subjects are typically TED and are perfect for a city like Amsterdam. We have such a rich history in both – for example artists who continue to inspire us to this day. ‘Out of the box’ thinkers, people who have been able to visualize the impossible and thus shape the future. Some of our scientists, on the other hand, have been responsible for some incredible breakthroughs and stepping stones which will lead the way to a bright future I’m sure. So while science and fiction may seem to be light years apart from each other, or the stuff of movies, in reality these disciplines are increasingly working together. In fact, you could say that the civilization of the future needs equal parts dynamic vision and tested know-how. On November 30th we’ll show you the beautiful results which that combination can make possible.

What’s the direction?

The exciting part of working on TEDxAmsterdam for me is the dynamic group of young, talented creatives and techies who are on the team. We’ve got a whole new experience team. We wanted to give some new people a chance, and we also wanted to evolve the event and deliver an experience that will surprise and delight the audience. I can’t wait to see what that melting pot will bring. For example, last year, two people from our group wanted to make the most beautiful conference guide ever. Well, that project has since become a published book with an ISBN-number, which was also nominated for an European Design Award. How cool is that? This year, the new team is working on an iPad version. So…in terms of direction? No one knows, but we all know we’re heading the right way, and we’re loving the process of getting there.

How can people get tickets for this gig?

Last year, we made the difficult decision to introduce TEDxAmsterdam as an ‘invite only’ event. Until recently in Holland, it was normal for conferences to accept delegates on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. We believe that TEDxAmsterdam is so much more than just a conference. We actually wanted the ideas presented on stage to become reality as much as possible, so we had to look at creating the right environment for that to happen. When selecting our audience, we’re looking at a specific kind of diversity – people from different sectors – who, when pooled together, represent the right synergy and potential for ideas to really germinate. We’re also looking for real innovators; people with a track record of taking bold ideas to fruition. But what I do want to make clear to everybody is that we are most definitely not an elitist event – we do want to make TEDxAmsterdam accessible to as many people as possible. So we’re not only creating novel ways for people to get a ticket (as we did last year), but we’re also increasing the number of simulcast locations so all those people who are unable to be part of the Stadsschouwberg audience can still be part of the magic.

Why do you think TEDxAmsterdam and the other TED events are so successful?

TED is an amazing brand which has been around since 1984. Nowadays, thousands of people around the globe are inspired by TED – daily. I think that the reason for this success is that TED is about the most important thing in the world: ideas. If you really think about this – deeply – you’ll realise that it only takes an idea and an intention for reality to be created. Our world started with an idea, our buildings, our institutions – even our brands – they all began life as an idea. TEDxAmsterdam appeals to our sense of optimism and our ability to co-create in that process. That potential is available to us all – whether we know it yet or not. We want to encourage that unfolding in people. I once heard someone say during a TED conference: ‘When I look at the data and the statistics on global problems, I’m pessimistic. But when I look at the people that are working on the solutions for these very problems, I’m optimistic.’

If we can give Holland a spark of that hope and an incredible amount of inspiration, then it’s mission accomplished.

Dear TEDx Fans,

Last week we announced the date and location for our second edition: TEDxAmsterdam 2010 takes place on 30 November at the glorious Stadsschouwburg, the grand city theater in the centre of Amsterdam! In this newsletter you can read more background information about the location and theme.

Location and theme
We have chosen Amsterdam’s beautiful city theater, the Stadsschouwburg, which located in the heart of city’s buzzing entertainment district, the Leidseplein. Read our Program Director Monique van Dusseldorp’s personal love letter to the theater.

On the blog of Jim Stolze -TEDxAmsterdam Founder- you can read a small report about our first meeting in the Stadsschouwburg, where we revealed the theme unifying speakers at this year’s event, as ‘Science & Fiction.’ Read about what inspired us here. If that didn’t kick-start your imagination, let your ideas flow and share all your insights and speakers suggestions in our special forum.

Meet our TEDx team & partners
We’ve had an overwhelming response to our volunteer call, and we really appreciate it! Our Experience Director Marian Spier had inspiring interviews with many people, and in our next newsletter we’ll introduce you to our passionate TEDx team. We will also introduce you to a number of new partners / sponsors. We feel your enthusiasm for this year’s event, and let us say that it only inspires us to reach greater heights this year.

How to attend?
Just like last year our event will be invite-only. We’ll send you more information about how to apply in the next coming months. Again there will be challenges for young talent and lots of opportunities for you to show that you’re truly devoted to ideas worth spreading!

TEDx Youthday
New this year is the children’s version of TEDxAmsterdam, TEDxYouthday. Held 10 days earlier than the main event on November 20, it’s everything you can imagine from TED, but for our future generation only. Ideas worth doing… plus some special (international) guests.

More TEDxAMS news
Finally, we’re proud that the TEDxAmsterdam programme book, designed by Silo Design, has been nominated for a European Design Award! From now on, we’ll keep you updated on the 1st of every month with a new e-newsletter called TEDxAmsterdam Digest. Feel free to suggest this newsletter to your friends by forwarding this email.

Until then, keep spreading ideas!

Of course, on the sly we also have the ambition to make people happy and interested in what the world of ideas is offering, to make them see what we see, to offer a new experience, new knowledge and inspiration. Ultimately we want to spark positive change in the world.

In the mean time, we spend our days worrying about registration numbers and presentations that arrive too late or never at all. We compare catering quotes, we visit venues. We are dreamers with very, very practical day-to-day tasks.

Why am I giving you this look into the heart and soul of a conference organizer? Well, it’s an introduction to this absolutely wonderful news: TEDxAmsterdam 2010 will be held in the Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam.

The Stadsschouwburg is Amsterdam’s municipal theatre. Built in 1890 on the centrally located Leidseplein, the Stadsschouwberg beats in the heart of Amsterdam’s vibrant entertainment district. More importantly, the monumental main room is a gorgeous, Baroque-era room surrounded by foyers. It’s an awe-inspiring setting – and I couldn’t think of a better one – for this year’s event.

I just wanted to have it said here: that as the curator of TEDxAmsterdam Amsterdam, the news of our new location fills me with the greatest joy. It offers us the opportunity to organise our TEDxAmsterdam event on 30 November as a truly theatrical experience, to make TEDxAmsterdam a ‘’theater of the mind’’. And on a very personal level, it’s just sheer bliss that I finally have the chance to put together a program centre stage in Amsterdam. My conference organiser’s heart is happy!

TEDxAmsterdam book: “Breakthrough”

The awards were established ”To celebrate European design with all its regional distinctive elements as well as its common ground. To facilitate European designers to meet, benchmark, be inspired and build networks. To promote and raise standards for communication design throughout Europe.“  Hey, we are happy to be part of that great goal!

The award ceremony is part of the European Design Festival 2010, which will take place in Rotterdam during the last week of May, with the award ceremony on May 29. If you already have a copy of the book, treasure it as a future collection item! And if you still want to get hold of a copy, order it today!

Needless to say, we are thrilled with the news, and just for those that want to know more, let me repeat an earlier blog post on the topic:

• TEDxAmsterdam partner Silodesign came up with a wonderful concept and design, which included beautiful line renditions of the speaker portraits, different types of paper, special inserts by Dutch artists, and a series of portraits and interviews with our partners. Kudos to Rene Toneman, Dennis Flinterman, Leon Dijkstra amd Scott Savage!.

• Elise de Bres of VL&DB stepped in as the much needed publisher -  VL&DB is specialised in the production of special books, and Elise was the link between Silodesign, the TEDxAmsterdam team and the many many partners who contributed texts, pictures and artwork. Page by page, let’s have 148 hurrays for Elise!

• We were lucky to have Veenman Drukkers in Rotterdam as a supporter of the whole project. Kisses for all Veenmans employees!

• And of course there was a team of editors to produce and correct all those texts, let’s have a big round of applause for Tessa Stolze, Ferhaan Kajee and Barbara Barnes-Gravesteijn for their dedication and attention to detail.

• Let’s not forget the 7 artists that freely contributed their work for the enclosed booklets. Nadine Stijns, Yomar Augusto, Daan Botlek, Amie Dicke, Martyn F. Overweel, Ivo Victoria and photographer Ivo van der Bent, who also made great portraits: we love you to the end of time.
  

• Our trusted book partner was the American Bookstore, who sold books at the event, gave book vouchers to all, hosted a simulcast party for booklovers, and promoted TEDx in their window display on the Spui -  let’s have fireworks for Lynn Kaplanian Buller and Reinoud Degelink! The ABC bookstore in Amsterdam has the exclusive right to sell the remaining copies (feel free to get hold of one of those last remaining copies.)

Or have a look at the adventures of the TEDxAmsterdam book during the event in November 2009..

The Adventures of the Book Breakthrough at TEDxAmsterdam 2009 from Elise de Bres on Vimeo.

The TEDxAmsterdam team is delighted to announce the date for TEDxAmsterdam 2010. The second edition of TEDxAmsterdam will take place in Amsterdam on November 30 2010.

TEDxAmsterdam 2009 involved people all over the Netherlands. The talks were streamed and enjoyed by 14.000 viewers online, and people gathered in 30 locations to watch and enjoy the simulcast together. TEDx talks were supplemented with live talks and discussions. This year, the simulcast events will be even more important.

Would you like to be part of  this unique experience? If you have a theatre of viewing room in your school, company or organization, and if you want to host a TEDxAmsterdam simulcast event, let us know!

Put November 30 in your agenda, and drop Jim Stolze a line at jim@tedxamsterdam.nl

We will be in touch soon!

TEDxAmsterdam team on stage

Are you a great writer? Are you finishing your degree and keen to get some real working experience? Are you fluent in English and Dutch? Are you able to work hard, independently and with lots of dedication, and are you a big fan of TED.com and TEDxAmsterdam?  We need you!

TEDxAmsterdam is a one day event that will take place for the second time in November 2010. The event is organised by a small team of professionals supported by a wide network of volunteers and partners.

Students finishing their bachelor’s or associate degree in communications, advertising, marketing, graphics, interactive media or any other wild and wonderful studies are invited to send in their resume. We offer a three month (or longer) internship based in central Amsterdam (Duintjes VS Vijzelstraat), where you will be working closely with the TEdxAmsterdam team. We are specifically looking for someone with excellent writing skills (ideally an English native speaker), who has some experience in copy editing, blogging, and making use of social media.

What do we expect from you?

• Write copy for press releases, reports, minutes, brochures etc
• Blog on TEDxAmsterdam.nl
• Create content for feeds and snippets in various social media sites
• Be the eyes and ears of TEDxAmsterdam as if your own reputation depended on it
• Research, build and maintain our content distribution network by way of social media channels
• Daily participation in conversations that surround our content and brand, answer comments, be a mediator.
• Assistance with general project management for TEDxAmsterdam (writing minutes, planning meetings etc)

What do we offer?

• Dutch internship standard renumeration
• Chance to be part of a small and dedicated team of professionals
• Possibility to do a graduation research project at TEDxAmsterdam
• Access to TEDxAmsterdam (November 2010)

The deadline for application is February 1, 2010. Interns will be notified of their selection no later than February 15, 2010. Applicants should e-mail their resume to: Marian Spier Email: marian@tedxamsterdam.nl

Yassine: “The idea for the TEDxAmsterdam t-shirt centers around the expression ‘Pick my brain’ As I see it, the speakers at a TED conference lend us their brains for fifteen minutes. They pass their ideas on to us. We then tell other people about what we saw and heard and pass a copy of that brain on to others. “

Here’s a picture of a proud owner of the TEDxAms Shirt