The Power Of Ideas

David Zoltan, the organizer for tomorrow’s TEDx Michigan Ave event here in Chicago, published an article yesterday at the 2AMt blog which examines his work taking the event from idea to launch. It’s a good post that also goes into a bit more detail about what each of the 13 speakers will be talking about…

I face this Saturday’s event with a sense of hope and awe at the power of what can happen when we allow ideas to flourish in one of the greatest incubators of ideas that we have in the modern age. After all, many TED videos get watched by millions. If just one of the 13 TED talks on Saturday sparks someone into action, we could change the industry forever.

How cool is that?

Visit the TEDx Michigan Ave page.

I’m putting the final touches on my talk today and I’m very excited to cover the topic of labor relations. I’m equally excited to hear the other dozen speakers and for those of you who aren’t able to be in Chicago to attend in person, I’ll be live blogging the entire event here at Adaptistration via Cover It Live which means you’ll not only get to follow everything in real time but you’ll also be able to send comments/questions.

Overall, it will be a very interactive experience and if they’re willing, I’ll even recruit some of the other speakers (maybe even some of the participants) to sit in from time to time throughout the day as a guest live blogger.

To participate, all you have to do is stop by Adaptistration tomorrow, everything you need will be waiting for you right in a special Saturday post. The live blogging window will be up and running from 9:00am to 3:30pm CT, except during scheduled breaks.

If you are in the Chicago area and haven’t picked up a ticket yet, what are you waiting for?

About Drew McManus

"I hear that every time you show up to work with an orchestra, people get fired." Those were the first words out of an executive's mouth after her board chair introduced us. That executive is now a dear colleague and friend but the day that consulting contract began with her orchestra, she was convinced I was a hatchet-man brought in by the board to clean house.

I understand where the trepidation comes from as a great deal of my consulting and technology provider work for arts organizations involves due diligence, separating fact from fiction, interpreting spin, as well as performance review and oversight. So yes, sometimes that work results in one or two individuals "aggressively embracing career change" but far more often than not, it reinforces and clarifies exactly what works and why.

In short, it doesn't matter if you know where all the bodies are buried if you can't keep your own clients out of the ground, and I'm fortunate enough to say that for more than 15 years, I've done exactly that for groups of all budget size from Qatar to Kathmandu.

For fun, I write a daily blog about the orchestra business, provide a platform for arts insiders to speak their mind, keep track of what people in this business get paid, help write a satirical cartoon about orchestra life, hack the arts, and love a good coffee drink.

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0 thoughts on “The Power Of Ideas”

    • I know there is a two person camera crew recording the event but I don’t know how parent TED deals with the TEDx content beyond hand picking any segments as desired to appear on the homepage. Regardless, I’ll find out and certainly post a link over to it once/if it becomes available.

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