A Call to Action: Let the post TEDxDubai 2009 conversation begin!

10.10.09—a day to go down in history!

TEDxDubai was certainly not my usual experience of TED, which typically involves watching an 18-minute clip on YouTube from my couch or listening to a talk here or there via my iPod car kit while on long drives through the desert. A normal TED experience for me involves taking in one talk, followed by countless thinking and dinner discussions with my husband before moving onto the next. Our discussions typically go something like… “What did he mean?” “Interesting idea, what if we apply it in another context?” “What can we take away from her idea that can be applied to our own business/thinking?” “If you could give the ‘talk of your life,’ what would you say? Do?”

Nope! Yesterday’s TEDxDubai was a whole different ballgame! Instead of a leisure stroll through virtual TEDland like I’m used to, TEDxDubai felt more like running a marathon—grueling to get through, but such an amazing feeling at the end! To top off the experience, I was amongst a small army of bloggers and tweeters sitting in the back of the Palladium trying to share TEDxDubai’s main messages with the greater world! Thanks @TarjemTED and @KDSL07—It was terrific collaborating!

With little time to think or breath in-between talks, the blogs and tweets posted yesterday, were more like notes, talking points, references for future discussion… While yesterday was an amazing event from an intellectual and emotional point of view, in my mind the real work begins today. We must take a step back to recollect, consider, think, debate, apply, dream, do and be.

As you discuss TEDxDubai with your colleagues and newfound friends, take a moment to share your reflections with the world. Post a comment on the blogs below, tweet a thought with the hashtag “TEDxDubai,” write your own blog or YouTube video response.

Dubai is a community of pretty amazing people with incredible dreams to boot! It was an honor to be amongst such thoughtful people yesterday and to document history via this blog and @TEDxDubai… I will return now to @bon_education, @Curriki and my own blog Literacy is Priceless with the responsibility of sharing what was said yesterday with education enthusiasts across the globe.

To those that spoke yesterday, our blogs/notes below most certainly don’t do justice to your presentations as they were written as you spoke with not a moment for processing and reflection. That said, I am confident that the whole TEDxDubai team will add to the notes below, discuss them, debate them, fill in the blanks and create!

To ideas worth spreading! Let the post TEDxDubai 2009 conversation begin!

Sincerely,

Anna Batchelder

Founder, Bon Education

Official TEDxDubai Blogger/Tweeter