There's no telling when anyone at Idea Festival had a more inspiring, thought-provoking day. Who wants to have a contest guessing the average IQ of the speakers? While I took my laptop, there was just too much to absorb and enjoy that I didn't want to write while listening. Running interference at the office by phone and email during breaks didn't allow any other time. Further, two more long days lie ahead. I can't wait to get there tomorrow. Luckily, others were blogging.
Wayne Hall posts:
Money circulation science. (This was a fascinating presentation by Dirk Brockmann, a renowned physicist at Max Planck Institute in Germany. He is using math to predict the spread of infectious disease. His model is premised on, of all things, Wheresgeorge, the web site that tracks dollar bills across time and geography. His colleagues laughed him silly when he first mentioned his hypothesis, teaching us the value of courage in going forward with our ideas, as he has been able to show that by tracking the movement of people by following the money, scientists will more likely to be able to predict the spread of infectious disease. It is also a good lesson in interdisciplinary thinking and research.
Homaro Cantu: eat the menu. (I ate at his Chicago restaurant, Moto, last year while at the AAML conference and was wowed by his chemistry approach to cuisine. The surprise today was that he was an engaging, energizing speaker, inspiring us all to unleash creativity.)
Kristoff speaks on Darfur
Ethan Zuckerman also posted Idea Festival: Kristof on Darfur
In a mere ten minutes each I picked up tons of thoughts for weeks to come with these presentation:Unlocking Your Creative Self: Understanding The How and Why, by Harry Pickens
The First Step to Becoming a Genius...Active Listening: The proven keys to active listening/questioning/probing and how this leads to ideas/solutions that delight and WOW customers!
So, there are a few words and links about three hours and twenty minutes of an exhilarating day. If there's interest, I'll post later about the remainder, all of which was as memorable. Otherwise, I am pretending I am on a great mind vacation.
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