For this year’s TEDxCLE, I was asked by organizers Hallie and Eric to shoot some photos for the event to which I gladly accepted the offer. Having attended the TEDxCLE 2010, I knew that it would be filled with inspirational talks and this year’s speakers hit on a few topics that I have an interest in: Food, Art, Community and History.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

Eat Local

Client, Chef Jonathon Sawyer’s talk, “Sustainability: Local, Practical and Profitable”, focused on the importance of eating local. He lives this motto with his restaurant The Greenhouse Tavern, which was Ohio’s first Certified Green restaurant.

Authenticity

Hearing Dr. David Franklin, Director of The Cleveland Museum of Art‘s talk, “Why Museums Still Matter”, was very inspirational. Being a Designer in a digital medium, it is important to snap back into a real, tangible world. A digital replica of a museum is just that, a replica. To truly experience something, you have to be immersed in it. He brought a couple of ancient carvings, over 5,000 years old from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s collection and held them as he spoke. The audience gasped at amazement that Dr. Franklin actually brought the items to his talk. Somehow the images on screen did not have the same effect as Dr. Franklin holding over 11,000 years of history in his hands.

Communal Spaces

There were a few related talks about the effect of community public spaces and their effect on cities. One of the statistics references was the fact that Public Spaces, more so than jobs or schools, is a deciding factor on where people choose to live. Seeing some of the plans for Cleveland’s Public Square flash up on the screen really got me interested in seeing what becomes of that development.

Preserving History

Talks on preserving history were another interesting topic to me. Working on the ClevelandHistorical app, I have learned a lot about the history of Cleveland. As the city moves forward, I hope that historic preservation is integrated into the plans for advancement. A lot of “what used to be” is no longer around as evidenced by the ClevelandHistorical app. Another good documentation on historic Cleveland is a documentary on Ideastream entitled “Downtown Cleveland“. I caught it on WVIZ but you can also view it online.

TEDxCLE has been a great event for the city. The Cleveland version of TED highlights a lot of local people, companies and organizations that are working to make our city relevant, our region stronger and our world a little better. If you get a chance to attend next year’s event, do it. All that it takes is a little motivation from one of these events to get your wheels turning on how you can get involved and get your ideas heard.