TED – Ideas worth spreading was something I only knew by WebCasts or video on demand but 3 weeks ago my digital experiences got enriched with a real life conferece. The TED Salon with the title „Travels Through Space, Time & Imagination“ in the Unicorn Theater, downtown London on Nov. 10th 2011.
Song for the trip: Coyote Kisses – S✦archaser (by beemp3.com)
[audio:http://hulkshare.com/ap-eqjuajcnmb47.mp3|autostart=no]
The most interesting talks (maximum 18min) for me have been the ones of:
- Gaganomics by Jörg Reckhenrich (Artist, Management Thinker)
- A Living Man Declared Dead by Taryn Simon (Photographer)
- Amortality: Anatomy of a (New) Species by Catherine Mayer (Author)
- Where Did I Park My Car? by Neil Burgess (Neuroscientist)
The event was summarized by Caitlin Kraft-Buchman in the TED blog and pictures can be found at the TED Flickr Stream. Now, the only thing I am waiting for are the talks as video on demand. After the conference there was the opportunity to talk to all the speakers while the after salon party in a nearby pub hosted by the Salon organizers Frog Design.
As London is a highly visited place, we had to switch hostels as there were no free spots available in they one we stayed the first night. So we packed everythhing and walked across the city center to finally check in at the Piccadilly Backpackers Hostel. While walking across the city, we checked the Tate Mondern to see the pictures by Taryn Simon – A Living Man Declared Dead.
We saw a lot of people with little red flowers attached to their clothing – so called Poppies. They are a symbol of Remembrance Day or Poppy Day, to remember all the fallen during wars.
In the afternoon I had the chance meeting my UK colleagues and to help them out a bit. We stopped by at the BeMyApp WeekEnd London – an event were people with an application idea meet with designers and developers to pitch their story and to have this app created over the weekend – hackathon style. We pitched the Intel AppUp developer program story to interest developer to deploy their app in the Intel AppUp Center.
Then our party weekend should begin. We went to the Fabric nightclub at around 23:30 and cued 400m behind the entrance in groups of approximately 50people. After nearly 1h waiting time we moved one group in the right direction – 5 more to go … we decided to leave. We followed the advice of a promoter near Piccadilly Circus, paid 10 Pound, entered a club but left straight after entering as it was the worst 5min experience ever – which was the best decision.
Around the corner was the new W – London hotel. We didnt know, that it was a hotel, people (all Russians) cued before so we did as well. We sneaked in with a small group of Russians, entered a great lounge area but wanted to get into the club next to it. We tried to enter it the regular way – but got rejected as the minimum table expenses are 500 pounds. So we tried the same procedure as as entering the hotel – and we got it! We entered a small club 50-75 people mostly Russians dancing to Russian house music and lots expansive Vodka and Champagne, and a German and French with no money (each of us hat 5Pounds left) in the middle, talking, dancing and getting „invited“ for drinks!
For getting arround the city we decided to go for a Oyster card. Which was perfect as we paid only 2,7 Pound to go from Heathrow to downtown London in 40min as we were riding Off-Peak. Defenitelly much cheaper than buying regular tickets and more convenient.
Next morning we started with a common sight seeing and shopping tour, met a friend, chilled in the city and went to Fireworks at the Themse. The last night came and we packed our stuff to go to the Fabric nightclub and straight to the airport the next morning at 6. This time we got in, had fun till 4 and then walked, rode busses and the Heathrow express to get our flight at 7 in the morning!
Thanks to Maud & Antoine!
Cheers !