Connecting the TEDxAmsterdam 2011 crowd

Connecting people is what drives us all. In telescope view, when we’re hauling in ideas worth spreading from all over the globe. In microscope view, when people like Rogier van der Heide and Rob Baan offer their knowledge to Award winner John Apesos. And back again to what Gary Wolf has called the macroscope view: making sense of those new connections and bringing it back to society. That is what the entire team strives for in organizing TEDxAmsterdam and I hope you will agree with me that we are working our way to reach that goal better each year. So take your time, sit back and join our trip down the already memorable lane of all things TEDxAmsterdam 2011.

Here is how to look back

TEDxAmsterdam's YouTube channel with handy playlists

Our indispensable video partners Feller Media and Hoens Facilities have produced many hours of videos worth watching. Not counting the persons interviewed, a willing crew of more than 40 TED fans worked on organizing, editing and uploading all this material. Thanks to all of them, we have made several playlists on our YouTube channel:

- TEDxAmsterdam TV “the day before” including the 10 full hours of the recorded livestream with interviews and behind the scenes reports, anticipating the event to come

- Behind the scenes videos from during the event, capturing the buzz, excitement and inspiration on the spot

- Visitor’s quotes on their Human Nature experiences, exploring the theme by digging into personal life changing events

- Interviews with speakers on the interview set just before of right after their TEDxAmsterdam Talk, brought to you by our partners Sanoma and Achmea and hosted by Aldith Hunkar

Are you looking for the TEDxAmsterdam 2011 Talks? Those are posted on the official TEDxTalks channel!

Want to read instead of watch?

I get it, you’re at work or some other place where you can’t watch videos. There are more ways to learn!

- Get an overview of the day on nubijlage.nl/TEDx and read Dutch articles on the ideas speakers presented.
- Watch Jan-Jaap Heine’s and Maurice Mikkers‘ official TEDxAmsterdam photos on Flickr.
- Read all the live blogs our social media team wrote from the balcony of the Stadsschouwburg
- Mindblown? Get back on track with this mindmap.

What happened at the simulcast events?

Most retweeted @TEDxAms tweet on 25 November, 2011

We aren’t talking about Vegas, here. You know we like to share stuff, so we created a special page collecting tweets, photos and other material from the simulcast events with the help of Storify.

Surely you’ve seen the living brain from our friends at MediaMonks? It was fed by the amount of tweets sent last Friday and you could filter it by location, for instance. It’s being revamped to maximize it’s use as an interactive story about the day itself (adding videos and more).

If you were present at the Stadsschouwburg we ask you kindly to fill in the TEDx questionnaire – if you attended a simulcast event we would love to hear everything from you at office@tedxamsterdam.nl.

Fun fact: our most succesful tweet (being retweeted 40 times) was about the National Dutch Ballet performing the opening choreography.

We can’t stop thanking you

Experience director Marian Spier took some stage time to thank all of our wonderful partners. Without them, we would not be able to do all the things we can. Every partnership is important to us – check out the full list of people we love working with. If there is any way we can connect you with each other, just let Oliver know. We’re happy to build connections!

What does it feel like being a speaker on stage?

TEDxAmsterdam 2011 volunteers on stage

You couldn’t miss C360’s Henri when he was making a crispy clear new 3D panoramic photo of the audience! Taken from the centre of the red dot, this photo will allow you to tag yourself and share the view on Facebook.

Keep spreading ideas, and we’ll be back in 2012 updating you on the progress of speakers and events we’re organizing.

On 24 November, the day before the event, TEDxAmsterdam presents a dedicated channel from 10 in the morning until 10 in the evening completely dedicated to TEDxAmsterdam topics. You could see the crew hard at work to prepare the big day, witness live interviews with speakers that arrive in Amsterdam, meet important TED guests and watch their favorite TED Talks. Where can you find the livestream and all video on demand footage? A dedicated tab on the Netherlands’ most popular news site NU.nl will give immediate access to the stream as well as all social media activity. Of course the TEDxAmsterdam website will also guide visitors to all video material.

Thanks to our partners

The webcast of TEDxAmsterdam TV is made possible by partners Sanoma Media and Achmea. And the outstanding quality of the video is the result of the hard work by the producers of Feller Media and technicians of Hoens Broadcast Facilities. On behalf of thousands of viewers, we want to thank them!

Marck Feller, general manager Feller Media: “This is the third time we’re producing this amazing multimedia event. Is has been an adventure in exploring the possibilities to give our viewers the best TEDxAmsterdam experience possible. This year we are pushing the envelope a bit more by adding an extra 12 hours livestream as a taster for the day to come. The conference live registration is produced by an outstanding team of media professionals, directed by Dutch award winning tv director Henk van Engen. By combining thorough professional broadcast experience with innovative production methods and creativity we are confident that we will bring our TEDxAmsterdam viewers a real live TED experience.”

Tune into webcast “TEDxAmsterdam TV” on Thursday 24 November from 10.00 until 22.00 or walk into our open studio in the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg (the Gijsbrecht foyer). Join us there in real life or chip in with your questions on Twitter using #TEDxAms. Besides entertainment and inspiration you might also get the very last ticket to TEDxAmsterdam on the 25th or win a copy of the TEDxAmsterdam book “Het begint met een idee” by Carolien Vader.

What’s on the program?

• Session 1 (10-11) “TEDxAmsterdam as a stage to spread ideas”

Hosted by Sylvana Simons, television host

Guest: Carolien Vader, author and magazine producer

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• Session 2 (11-12) “Reflecting on TEDxAmsterdam 2009 and 2010″

Hosted by Ronny Overgoor

Guests: Rogier van der Heide, Chief design officer, Philips Lighting & Christine Meindertsma via Skype from South Africa

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• Session 3 (12-13) “TEDx as a source of inspiration: Conventie van Achlum”

Hosted by Janneke Willemse

Guests: Marjanne Mulder, organiser Conventie van Achlum on behalf of Achmea & Monique van der Vorst, athlete and speaker at the Conventie

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• Session 4 (13-14) “Media innovation and disruptions”

Hosted by  Aldith Hunkar

Guests: Igor Beuker, LaCommunidad & Eric Ariens, Content Publishing Director Digital & Print at Sanoma

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• Session 5 (14-15) “Social innovation”

Hosted by Janneke Willemse

Guest: Bert Rensen, spokesperson Achmea

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• Session 6 (15-16) “What inspires TEDxAmsterdam 2011?”

Hosted by Joris van Heukelom

Guests: Jim Stolze, founder TEDxAmsterdam & Esra’a al Shafei, founder and Executive Director of MideastYouth.com

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• Session 7 (16-17) “TEDx events as a source of inspiration”

Hosted by Meike de Jong

Guests: Anita Mooiweer, Business Developer and editor-in-chief TEDxAmsterdam 2010 magazine & Vivianne Bendemacher, editor-in-chief Kijk (magazine) & Ellen de Jong, editor-in-chief Esta (magazine)

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• Session 8 (17-18) “TEDxAmsterdamWomen”

Hosted by Ruud Hendriks

Guests: Marian Spier, initiator TEDxAmsterdamWomen & Noa Lodeizen, speaker at TEDxAmsterdamWomen 2010

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• Session 9 (18-19) “TEDx events in other Dutch places: Delft and Maastricht”

Hosted by Aldith Hunkar

Guests: Simone de Jong, initiator TEDxDelft & Lucien Engelen, initiator TEDxMaastricht

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• Session 10 (19-20) “Sports and new media”

Hosted by Jan Paul de Wildt

Guests: Boy Sleddering, Rabosport & Geert Slot, spokesperson NOC NSF

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The future of innovation and entrepreneurship

In the industrial economy, small companies were mainly active on a local scale while the global market place was for large multinationals. In the last decade however, new technology is rapidly changing the business landscape enabling innovation and boosting entrepreneurship in both multinationals as well as through thousands of start-ups.

IT systems such as ERP and CRM are supporting the primary activities of a company. Yet, in the digital age these primary activities are becoming digitized as well. Digital companies create competitive advantage through real time (big) data analytics resulting in continuous improvement of the primary activities. “Large data will have a huge impact on innovation, venturing and collaboration”, according to Daan. “Or to put it in other words, the way we run our business, we collaborate and how we organize ourselves will be thrown in the coming years.” Daan sees three emerging trends:

Cloud as a platform for business, innovation and venturing

As traditional enterprise applications are moving to the cloud and software is provided ‘as a service’, it is the business owner and no longer the IT department that decides on which software to deploy. Ever more of these applications truly focus on enabling innovative and adaptive business models. Not only multinationals and large institutions benefit from cloud solutions, Daan says. Due to sharp declining IT development costs through cloud solutions and open source software, new venture models arise such as lean ventures and start-up boot camps. “In the near future I expect the emergence of a few highly successful technology driven business platforms in the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Salesforce.com, Innocentive and eBay.”

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The company ‘as a service’ fostering distributed entrepreneurship

Think of the world consisting of platforms available ‘as a service’. Governments make rules and regulations to create frameworks for collaboration. Roads, railways, power and data networks are available as a utility or ‘infrastructure as a service’. Note that it was not long ago that many of these services were considered proprietary for the happy few.  However, once available for everybody these platforms, provided ‘as a service’, boosted our economic growth and welfare. The importance of the railways in the 19^th century on the US economy is in essence not different from the tremendous impact the 2G and 3G mobile networks had on the European economy.

Daan asks us to imagine that ultimately everything will become available ‘as a service’, i.e. proprietary ownership is no longer relevant. “Would it be possible for entrepreneurs to start a venture? A venture whereby the key building blocks of the required corporation become available ‘as a service’?” Daan believes that ultimately cloud computing, technology enabled services and open source software applications will take away all barriers to start an organization of any kind. Collaboration tools support systems for bookkeeping and invoicing and whatever you can think of will sooner or later become available as a service. Mostly available for free or pay as you go, no upfront costs. The company as a utility or ‘as a service’ may turn every idea, plan or dream into a venture. In this new world entrepreneurship is not only possible within the walls of the corporation. Distributed entrepreneurship is just a few clicks away …

Technology platforms and applications ‘as a service’ will replace outsourcing

Traditional outsourcing is about taking over entire business processes by third parties. While business process outsourcing made companies more efficient and cost effective, the benefits are mainly achieved on a macro level. On a micro level the opposite is happening. Due to strict service level agreements (SLA’s), innovation and entrepreneurship were only allowed within the existing SLA frameworks and objectives. No surprise that insourcing is in the rebound. This is not only because innovation is limited by the principal-agent relationship formalities, but also because more and more traditionally outsourced solutions become available ‘as a service’. It puts the principal back in control over the entire process, realizing the same efficiency in a more adaptive manner. Good examples are found in the banking, insurance and mortgage industry in the field of claim handling, fraud detection and online banking. What is your core business in the future?

The building blocks of the campaign are simple: people come to TEDx to fill their brains with ideas, so let’s celebrate TEDxAmsterdam by making brains from people. The initial result is a ‘living brain’ formed by 48 dancers from The Dutch National Ballet and Nova Dance College, which was choreographed, rehearsed and filmed in one-day in preparation for the TEDxAmsterdam event. On this day we spoke with some of the genius creative minds behind the campaign.

Ernst instructing the dancers

Choreography is imagination

The choreography for this astonishing project was made by Ernst Meisner, grand sujet at The Dutch National Ballet. How did he prepare? “Most of it you can’t prepare. It’s important to know what you want before you start, and the rest is improvisation and a lot of testing and practicing.” Ernst directed and physically manoeuvred the dancers, getting them into the formation of the human brain. “The hardest thing was to get 48 dancers to do the exact same thing over and over again, a difference of 10 centimeters for one dancer makes a big difference in the overall result.” Trust, willingness and professionalism paved the way for both Ernst and the dancers to achieve the final product much quicker than planned. A 12-hour shoot was planned with the achievement coming together in just 8-hours. The result is a beautiful and fluid process that brilliantly illustrates a living human brain.

Film directors duo Bill Tanaka

A structured preparation

The directors, Bill Tanaka, documented the choreography using a two-camera set-up (one from above with a crane and the other, from the side with a dolly), capturing everything that happened within a marked performance space. “We visualized Rick and Barney’s (WE ARE Pi) concept of a living brain into a storyboard and scenes. We wanted to create a storyline, but with the feel of a making of.” A good production starts with a structured preparation, “creating a perfect playground on the day itself”. “On this day we’re trying to keep the vibe and mindset, by making sure all expectations are managed in advance. We want to make sure the crew can give all their energy to what’s important: using their passion to make something beautiful.”

Creative directors Hobson Chant

Can we do this?

Although the end product is indeed something beautiful, there was some uncertainty about the possibility of the project. Creative director Rick Chant, one of the founding partners of WE ARE Pi, illustrates this uncertainty: “We wanted to create something that would represent TEDxAmsterdam nationwide. We had a graphic idea of people coming together over ideas and making a brain, but we didn’t have a clue whether it would be possible.”

Co-director Mathieu Gremillet

Great result

Co-director of the project Mathieu Gremillet, one half of dance2film, is very happy with the result: “I think the final product is very interesting and unique. Everything went smoothly and of course I’m very relieved we nailed it. My partner Altin and I feel the teamwork was great, which is always an important key to success. All in all a great achievement!”

The project took executive producer Christel Hofstee (328 stories), somewhat out of her comfort zone: “As a producer I’m used to control everything, this time however a lot of things were uncertain. We didn’t know whether things would work out and if all the dancers together would look like a human brain. I learned to let go and trust all the creative people working on the product. It was a magic experience for me to see all these people working together.”

The soundtrack to the piece was a collaboration between Amsterdam based band Pigeon Horse Sex Tennis, a school choir and legend Rutger Hauer. It is a modern interpretation of a children’s classic that champions human endeavor and the joy of participation. It was produced by Micheal Kneebone at Toolbox.

Further Reading:

• A nation united, ideas united: The TEDxAmsterdam 2011 trailer
• Download the press release

All photos shown in this article are made by Rosalien Derkinderen

The Dutch National Ballet, Rutger Hauer and Amsterdam’s creative community come together over ideas worth doing for TEDxAmsterdam.

The Netherland’s most creative minds from ballet, film, photography, interactive, design and communications have joined forces with WE ARE Pi to bring to life a series of ‘living brains’ for the “Human Nature” themed TEDxAmsterdam event on 25th November. The TEDxAmsterdam ‘Ideas United’ project launches online with a behind the scenes two- part documentary charting the creation of the ‘living brains’ that will open and close the TEDxAmsterdam event on 25 November.

For the 2011 TEDxAmsterdam event, speakers and the audience will enter the theme ‘Human Nature’ to find out what it means to be human in a society that is increasingly dominated by technology and economical issues. The TEDx Talks, hosted at Amsterdam’s Stadsschouwburg theatre, will be broadcast live on TV and watched by thousands at over 30 simulcast locations set-up by TED supporters across the country. Furthermore, on TEDxAmsterdam.com you can watch a livestream of the event on the 24th (showing speaker interviews) and the 25th.

TEDxAmsterdam Experience Director Marian Spier approached WE ARE Pi to develop a creative campaign that encompassed the theme, Human Nature. Tasked with the mission to unite a nation of TEDxAmsterdam fans, WE ARE Pi created a multi-channel communication platform titled Ideas United. The ambition was to put the two-key TED messages ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’ and ‘Ideas Worth Doing’ to the test. To do this, WE ARE Pi assembled a 100 strong team with some of the nation’s best creative talent to make ‘living brains’ with the added challenge to get everyone to donate their time and resources for free.

The building blocks of the campaign are simple: people come to TEDx to fill their brains with ideas, so let’s celebrate TEDxAmsterdam by making brains from people. The initial result is a ‘living brain’ formed by 48 dancers from The Dutch National Ballet and Nova Dance College, which was choreographed, rehearsed and filmed in one-day in preparation for the TEDxAmsterdam event.

Marian Spier says, “TEDxAmsterdam is very happy to be working with this great mix of Amsterdam’s best creative talent. Seeing this great idea come to life with Rutger Hauer and The Dutch National Ballet, the outcome is better than we ever imagined.”

WE ARE Pi strategic partner Alex Bennett-Grant explains “TEDxAmsterdam didn’t come to us for an advertising campaign, they came to us with a brief to unite the nation over ideas worth doing. We decided to make every aspect of the project reflect that challenge, from the concept of making brains from humans, to the epic collaboration needed to pull it all off.”

The other living brains will be interactive, created as a collaboration between everyone attending the conference in every location across the nation. The campaign will also extend into the TEDxAmsterdam 2011 visual identity with print, a magazine and video and apparel.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION: The production process started with a question from WE ARE Pi to dance2film, whom have a strong history of dance film production – “Is a human brain made from people possible, has it ever been done before, and can you help us make it happen?”. After giving a positive yes, dance2film in turn approached Het Nationale Ballet and choreographer Ernst Meisner for their support. Meanwhile, WE ARE Pi gained the support of commercial film production company 328 Stories and director/photographers Bill Tanaka. This unique collaboration ensured a firm foundation to attempt a new Idea Worth Doing.

The dancers came together for the first time to rehearse what Ernst had crafted in his mind, which will go on to be the opening performance for TEDxAmsterdam on the 25th November.

The Directors documented the choreography using a two-camera set-up, one from above with a crane and the other from the side with a dolly, capturing everything that happened within a marked performance space. The challenging balance between a first time rehearsal and film shoot was made possible with constant dialogue and adjusting between Ernst, dance2film, Bill Tanaka, and D.O.P. Wouter Westendorp.

ABOUT WE ARE Pi: WE ARE Pi is a full service creative communications agency based in Amsterdam. The agency seeks to move beyond traditional advertising and embrace strategies that breed long ideas and foster-shared value between brands and their fans. www.wearepi.com

CREDIT LIST//

CREATIVE AGENCY – WE ARE Pi
STRATEGIST – Alex Bennett-Grant
CREATIVE DIRECTOR – Hobson Chant
PRODUCER – Jamie Kim

TEDX FILM.
DIRECTOR – Bill Tanaka
CO-DIRECTOR – dance2film
CHOREOGRAPHER – Ernst Meisner
PRODUCTION COMPANY – 328 Stories
D.O.P. – Wouter Westendorp
DANCERS – Het Nationale Ballet & Nova Dance College
EDITOR – Will Judge
LOCATION – Dansmakers Amsterdam
FOCUS PULLER – Niels Roosendaal
GRIP – Antoine Petit
GAFFER – Frank van Hekken
ELECTRICIAN – Tessa van den Beukel
SOUND – Gaby de Haan
VTR/DATA HANDLER – Paul Mastoras
MAKE-UP – Marelva de Bruin
MAKE-UP – Sara Meerman
MAKE-UP – Thomas Terstal
PRODUCTIE ASST. – Dario van Houwelingen
PRODUCTIE ASST. – Martijn Willemen
PRODUCTIE ASST. – Ruben van Duijn
CATERING – Dolce Vita
LOCATION BUS – LocDep
EQUIPMENT – Camera Rentals
LIGHTS – Lux&Co
TITLES – Crabsalad
POST PRODUCTION – Glassworks
SOUND DESIGN – Kaisersound
MUSIC/ORIGINAL SCORE – Pigeon Horse Sex Tennis

SONG.
COMPOSER – Pigeon Horse Sex Tennis
VO – Rutger Hauer
CHOIR – Gillian Cowie, the British School, and children of Amsterdam

PRINT.
PHOTOGRAPHERS – Bill Tanaka
CO-DIRECTOR – dance2film
CHOREOGRAPHER – Ernst Meisner
PRODUCTION COMPANY – 328 Stories
LOCATION – Dansmakers Amsterdam
DESIGN – Crabsalad

3D BRAIN.
PRODUCTION COMPANY – Media Monks
LOGISTICS – TEDxAmsterdam

INTERACTIVE DATA DRIVEN BRAIN.
PRODUCTION COMPANY – Media Monks

VISUAL IDENTITY.
DESIGN – Crabsalad

BUMPERS.
DESIGN & PRODUCTION – Crabsalad
SOUND DESIGN – Toolbox

LIVE EVENT.
DIRECTOR – dance2film
CHOREOGRAPHER – Ernst Meisner
MAKE-UP – Marelva de Bruin
MAKE-UP – Sara Meerman
MAKE-UP – Thomas Terstal
DANCERS – Het Nationale Ballet & Nova Dance College
TITLES – Crabsalad

T-SHIRTS.
DESIGN – Crabsalad

Download the press release (pdf).

Together with facilitary partner Hoens Broadcast Facilities Feller Media will capture all the talks and open up an interview channel, but that’s not all! On 24 of November, the day before the event, we will have a dedicated channel from 10:00 until 22:00. We will broadcast a live interview channel with TED talks, important TED guests and promise you loads of interaction with our viewers (YOU). This all so we can warm up the audience for the big day and to inform them about TEDx. The broadcast of TEDxAmsterdam TV is made possible by partners Sanoma Media and Achmea.

The livestream and all video on demand footage can be seen on a dedicated tab on NU.nl. Stay tuned on our website for more information, we promise you it’ll be worth it! Want to stay updated even more easily? Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook. Here’s a nice video of the speakers announcement that took place in the beautiful residence of the Amsterdam municipality.

TEDxAmsterdamWomen
On December 1^st it’s TEDxAmsterdamWomen’s turn to take place in the Van Gogh Museum. This event will also be captured all day long, and will be complete with interviews and backgrounds stories (thanks to our partner De Telefoongids & Gouden Gids  who have made the stream and vod possible). And don’t forget to check out their website because the line-up is at least as impressive as last year!

You can also read this article in Dutch.

In other words: if you are not living in Amsterdam, it might be a good idea to make a hotel reservation in order to prevent missing any of these amazing parts of the program. The American Hotel, conveniently located next to Stadsschouwburg (our venue for the day), is the place where speakers, crew and partners are staying. The American has a special offer for TEDxAmsterdam participants; only 125 EUR a night. In order to receive the discount, use the reservation code TEDx11.

More information on the hotel can be found here: Eden Amsterdam American Hotel. In case you have any remaining question, please let us know. See you on the 25th!

Photo by (c) Eric D. Fleury

Still taken from the +1 trailer for TEDxAmsterdam 2010

Each locally organized TED event (therefore labeled TEDx) creates its own specific tone of voice and atmosphere within the possibilities given by TED. Many TEDx-organizers have produced a trailer for their event to preview the amazing amount of energy and inspiration visitors experience. The TEDxAmsterdam 2010 trailer plays around with elements that are typically Amsterdam: “We wanted to play with the notion of light as the western symbol of ‘an idea’, and together we created a story which is about building, refining and unleashing your ideas. It is all set, of course, against the beautiful backdrop of the city of Amsterdam. The climax takes place at this year’s venue, the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg.”

Marcel Vrieswijk (managing director +1): “We are deeply honored not only TEDxAmsterdam asked us for producing its trailer, but now even the larger TED wants us to create something beautiful for their ‘flagship conference’. It’s always great to hear people appreciate your work, especially if it’s someone like Chris Anderson!”. The American founders are always up to date on the Dutch TEDx-activities and both teams are frequently in touch with one another. As Chris wrote in his briefing for the trailer: “Give us a sense of wonder! It’s clear you know how to do that!…”

The organization behind TEDxAmsterdam intertwines creative people and wants to be more than a platform individuals choose to devote their energy to. Jim Stolze (president TEDxAmsterdam Foundation): “This is a fantastic opportunity for +1. As a local TEDx organization we are unbelievably proud when our speakers or creative partners get a breakthrough on the international forefront. We like to think TEDxAmsterdam is a starting point for all kinds of Dutch talents.” On the 2nd of March everyone is invited to watch the free TED livestream in the Amsterdam Stadsschouwburg. This livestream is brought to you by the TEDxAmsterdam team.

Although TEDxAmsterdam is metaphorically about feeding hungry minds, Food and Nutrition Delta focuses on actual food – and throughout the day offered TEDxAmsterdam guests sustainable things to sustain our energy. And not just the food was special!  Moonen Natural, in collaboration with We Are Perspective, provided all the food packaging, which was of 100% biodegradable – although it might have appeared  otherwise!

We connected with Dr.ir. Kees de Gooijer, Director of Food & Nutrition Delta, to look back on feeding the hungry TEDxAmsterdam attendees – and to learn more of the story behind the excellent catering that was provided. Food & Nutrition Delta is the Dutch program for food innovation, and works with many small and medium sized food producers to further develop their product range in a sustainable way.

Why did F&N decide to contribute?
TEDx, or Ideas worth spreading, is all about innovation. Food & Nutrition Delta is all about innovation in Food. Need I say more?

What is F&ND’s idea worth doing for 2011?
Food & Nutrition Delta reached out to over 350 partners, of which over 300 are Food companies, and 90% are Small & Medium Enterprises. We will continue to assist more SME’s to take their first steps in food innovation – we want to develop healhier food, and we aim for sustainable production. We will work closely with companies to dig deeper into the innovating process. Why? Because companies need to, in order to have an economic succes, and be competitive in a global competition.

What did we eat and drink?

The deliciousness at lunch included sandwiches with roasted pumpkin, nuts, feta and rucola, ”pascalised” orange juice, and a package of ”Volsmaakt” – a new 100% fruit product developed by a team of Dutch fruit growers. For dinner we had a bulgur salad with beetroot, raisins and nuts, potato salad with halibut, and pear icecream with algae!!. And as a wonderful appetizer, pascalised oysters.

Moshik Roth, our cook

Who made the food?

A lot of people were involved, and we want to mention as many as we can.  The big star was chef Moshik Roth of famed restaurant ’t Brouwerskolkje, the restaurant for molecular cooking in the Netherlands with two Michelin stars. Moshik Roth is always thinking in technological innovations, and cooks like an alchemist, with a playful and naughty spirit. His generosity also showed later in the day, when he offered a dinner for 6 at his lovely restaurant for auction – the proceeds going to the TEDxAmsterdam Award winner Winddrinker.

His team was complemented by Sous Chef Danny Spoel, the TOP BV crew consisting of Anne van Rijsingen, Dennis Favier, Luuk Snijder, Marieke de Heij, and Myriam Knopf, Maribelle Fraaij of TDI B.V. and Dalila of the study association Foodture and Thijs Keulen.

In addition the wonderful team at Youth Food Movement played an enormous role, with Jiri Brandt. Geert van Wersch and Samuel Levie. The latter had a very busy day! Not only was he heading his culinary team, he also managed to win the TEDxAmsterdam Folia Challenge, a student competition for the best ”idea worth spreading”… and together with his partner Linda Vermaat, he did a small TED talk on their love for food on the main stage. See end of this post for his talk!

Who supplied the ingredients?

We had special seasoning by Euroma, delicious icepops by Gimme Pops (just check out those tastes!), vegetables from Groentehof B.V., fruit juices from JuicyLine B.V. herbs and spices from all over the world via Organic Flavour Company, algae from Phycom B.V., oysters and halibut from Schmidt Zeevis, meat from Vion (with a ”Good Farming” label), the healthiest food snack around from Volsmaakt, and potatoes from local farmers via Willem & Drees.

Ok, then, who served the food?

Working hard, with good cheer and amazing efficiency, a big team came through HorecaWerkt, a training organisation for beginners in the catering business. Compliments to Ettienne de Jager, Jacob Brink, Patricia Brokling, Patrick Mooiweer, Sandra Mesman, and Sylvia Sonneveld- Levens, as well as to Daan Schieman (Mijn-Werk), Dennis Favier, Luuk Snijder, Marieke de Heij (TOP BV), Maribelle de Fraaij (TDI B.V.) and Erwin Houtzager (Phycom B.V.) )

Wow, that sounds like quite a job to organise!

Indeed! So we are delighted with the coordination team that consisted of Dennis Favier (TOP BV), Gretha Volders (Food & Nutrition Delta) and Marieke de Heij (TOP BV).

TEDxAmsterdam wishes to thank everyone involved for their contribution!

To find out more about Food Innovation, keep an eye on Food & Nutrition Delta, and Youth Food Movement. If you want to have a look behind the scenes of the catering effort at TEDxAmsterdam, check Wouter de Heij’s video page. Last but not least, Samuel Levie en Linda Termaat’s talk at TEDxAmsterdam below!

Volunteers
First of all, TEDxAmsterdam is primarily the result of the tireless efforts of some 70+ volunteers. When we started last year we had zero budget and that mentality is still leading in all choices we make regarding creation, promotion and production. Of course there are also out-of-pocket costs: speakers must be flown in and AV equipment unfortunately isn’t free. Therefore we are eternally grateful for a number of companies that have had the courage to support us financially from the beginning on. Those founding sponsors are Sanoma Uitgevers, UPC, Liander, Ricoh and Achmea. This year again they have chosen to support us, which shows that the appreciation is mutual.

Luckily most sponsors do much more than just transfer money: they are actively involved in the organization and use their network to make TEDxAmsterdam what it is. Sanoma Uitgevers for example is the force behind the TEDxAmsterdam Magazine, a collector’s item that is published in a limited edition on November 30. UPC sponsors all inbound and outbound connections so that we can live stream the event in high quality. Another example is that, together with Achmea, Feller Media and Hoens Facilities ensure that a professional camera crew is present so that they can film all TEDx-talks fast and make them available online quickly.

An often heard response when evaluating TEDxAMS is that it feels like working with the ‘Dutch national team’, meaning that it is a collective of many different individuals who all have amazing track records in their field and all love to work (unpaid) together for a special event once a year. Think of Monique van Dusseldorp (who has been called the undisputed queen of conferences for years already), Xander Kranenburg (Live Solutions owner), but also people like Jeroen de Bakker (Lab 1111), Klaas Weima (Energize), Randolph Plomp (Toscani) and Johan Voets (OkGo) who, together with Marian Spier, has dived into the online campaign. It would be hard to name all wonderful individuals involved, but we have a great team overview available. The one thing they all have in common is that nobody keeps track of their hours and time spent on TEDxAMS. And if they’d want something in return, it’s  probably creating the best thing they’ve ever made. The same goes for the aforementioned award-winning program book or magazine from last year. The companies can show their capabilities and TEDxAmsterdam is a good platform for this.

Sponsorship in kind

Above we describe how large corporations have hedged our financial risk and how individuals have formed a collective. Another feature of TEDxAmsterdam is the different way we look at the budget. Most things are arranged without money. For example, Google paid for lunch for the youngsters at TEDxYouth and Heineken and Johnnie Walker ensure that no one will have to  pay for their drinks at TEDxAmsterdam. Also the food on November 30 is an “idea worth spreading.” Food & Nutrition Delta are willing to take care of lunch and dinner and will do this in a 100% sustainable manner. Knowing that catering is often the largest expense of a conference, you understand the impact of such sponsorship.

New!
This year we also welcome some new sponsors. Vodafone was among the first parties we embraced for the 2010 edition. Besides the sponsorship they also provide a Vodafone-Box on the day itself: a place where TEDxAMS visitors can leave video messages for other visitors. Philips and Deloitte also boarded as ‘gold’ sponsors. Both companies also organize a special simulcast event: naturally Philips does this in their High Tech Campus in Eindhoven and Deloitte will do it in the highest office building in the Netherlands: the Maastoren. In addition, Philips’ lighting artist Rogier van der Heide took care of the lighting design in the Stadsschouwburg. Hulskamp has taken on TEDxAmsterdam to show all they could with 3D projection.

Kirkman Group and Shell are also new sponsors. You can see they use the partnership to test social issues, which they themselves are occupied with, to the TEDxAmsterdam themes and guests. It’s an unique way to get honest feedback and to make new connections. Besides the content and distribution of course attention is also an important element for an ideas conference. We share content with titles such as NRC and ODE parties and Coebergh PR handles all press and press accreditations.

Name dropping
This piece is not an excuse to mention as many companies as possible in one post. We just want to thank our sponsors and show that sponsoring a conference is possible in more ways than just sticking a flag + banner in exchange for money. Most companies see TEDxAmsterdam and TED as a platform to show what they are really good at. One might do that with a magazine, the other with facilitating sociability. Our partner PlusOne said having worked for TEDxAmsterdam helped attract attention, as they have been asked to make the leaders to for next years TED2011. Among others, it’s also thanks to this TEDxAmsterdam 2010 trailer.