All right. I'm a bad blogger. That, or I'm a good TED attendee. Last week, I was at the TED Conference — the Palm Springs wing of the conference. In and amongst experiencing TED and working with the SCI FI Channel on the presentation that we developed for them, I was to blog. You'll notice an absence of blog entries between February 2 - 6 (my time at TED).Now it's time to talk some TED. I'm back and (mostly) mentally caught up with my body. My plan is to recapture the magic of my TED experience in a series of short(ish) entries.
TED: Take 1 (name tags)
So ... all of us at TED had large name tags hanging around our necks. It had the usual info — you know, name (or pseudonym), organization, home town. But they also had a photo and three self-chosen conversation starters (17-character limit for each). I had to get a little creative with my conversation starters to keep them within the spatial limit. Mine were: EngagingEducation, MagicWandWishes, and Talking Heads.
I had a handful of people ask about (or squint to see) my conversation starters, but it didn't really matter. It seemed everyone was eager to talk. And the name tags were a great opening, because Bruce was so prominent, so it immediately started everything off on a really friendly tone.
That got me wondering if we'd engage in conversations with strangers more often if we walked around wearing name tags with photos and conversation starters, cause I sure did like it at TED.
You're a good fit for TED. Engaging, open-minded and creative. The nametag icebreaker reminded me of the Pattie Maes TED unveiling of her "Sixth Sense" project.
ReplyDeletehttp://ambient.media.mit.edu/projects.php?action=details&id=68
And while the thought of a "word cloud" projected on my shirt, letting people know various and sundry details of my life and interests (Gardener, Softball...) , may actually limit discovery, it would seem that simple cues go a long way toward engaging like-minded folks.