What TED2008 attendees say
I've said to people that TED is like wine from a great vineyard. There is never a bad year, but some are exceptionally good. This year was pure magic... Once Jill spoke everyone seemed more open and honest ... on stage and definitely amongst the attendees...You asked the right questions and got tremendous answers.
-- Don Levy, Sony Pictures Digital
TED is the most amazing conference in my life. Literally hundreds of people have come up to tell me that they enjoyed my ideas and want to get involved in the Hero Project and other things. It has never happened before in the many conferences I have been in.
-- Philip Zimbardo
The Monterey 2008 TED conference was my first TED. It is by far the best (the most interesting , most inspiring, and the most informative) conference I have ever attended ... far exceeded my expectations.
-- Anders Swahn, CEO, picoChip
TED was (to my surprise) everything you had promised and more (surprised because your promises seemed quite farfetched!).
-- Dr. Susan Blackmore
Since coming home I don't know where to sit or what to think. ... Every year it gets a little bit harder to let go and not want more of what you have so magically put together. ... TED adds so much to my life, to my perspective, to my family, to my friends, to it all.
-- Elizabeth Rogers, Environmental Consultant, Rock Steady
I feel privileged to have been a part of it.
-- Bobby Gober, physician, Pacific Rehab
You have expanded TED in ways that are profound. You have opened the world to TED, and you have opened TED to the world. It is a two-way street which truly does make each of us TEDsters better people, and which clearly is making the world a better place. It's rare to be able to point to someone and make that statement, but I think it is fair to make it of TED.
-- Dan Adler, CEO, Power of Entertainment
Still pulsating with ideas and emotions.
-- Dr. G, aka M. A. Greenstein, the George Greenstein Institute for the Advancement of Somatic Arts and Science
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to speak at TED. It was an honor and a pleasure. Giving a TED talk was one of my life goals, having enjoyed the talks online for many years.
-- Johnny Lee, Interaction Researcher, Carnegie Mellon University
Thank you on a grand scale. The beautiful mosaic of TED continues to provide my life with richness and my future with possibilities. I am honored to be a part of your community.
-- Lee Daley, Founder/CEO, Barracuda
What a sweet, soulful, smart and spiritual adieu to Monterey. Bravo!
-- Deborah Patton, Executive Director, Applied Brilliance Conference
I am still floating from TED 2008. What an extraordinary experience! I came away inspired, motivated and changed. My heart was filled in so many ways too. It is my hope and intention to make TED a part of my life for as long as possible, not just as an attendee, but as an active participant in many of the ideas that evolve there.
-- Scott Carlin, President, Domestic Television Distribution, HBO
I wanted to let you know how much it meant to me to participate in my first TED conference this week. I am simply not the same person that arrived here on Tuesday afternoon and it seems my world has made the same transformation -- it seems more alive, more hopeful, more engaged, and more willing than I can recall.
-- Jim Whitton, The Hunger Project
TED was just amazing. Each year I think it cannot be topped, and it has to go downhill, and each year you have defied that. I was so inspired, and I can't wait to write up some of the TED stories that have moved me.
-- Bill Gross, Founder and CEO, Idealab
Kudos again to you and your fabulous team for pulling off the impossible yet again. I believe in miracles, I just don't believe in scheduling them. Apparently you've found the secret to allow you to do just that.
-- Jim Hornthal, Partner, CMEA Ventures
I have got to say thank you for TED. It's an amazing experience. Truly. What an honor to be a TED U professor and to participate in this mind-altering and potentially life-altering event.
-- Martin Pazzani, CEO, Elias Arts
Congratulations on a magnificent accomplishment on the conference this year, a truly transformative event that seemed to touch everyone in attendance. Having not attended TED for many years, I was completely blown away. I deeply appreciate all of your hard work. The adjustment back to reality, on the other hand, has been challenging.
-- Matthew Cowan, General Partner, Bridgescale Partners
Being in Aspen for these four days was one of the most profound experiences of my life. Thank you. I hope TED@Aspen continues for a long, long time so that I can remain a part of this remarkable family. I have one request -- please put Jill's talk on TED.com ASAP so I can share it with all of my friends.
-- John La Grou, Chair, Millennia Media Group
Amazing experience you and your team created ... I could write pages of praise about it ... it was like a giant breath of fresh air!
-- Ron Gutman, Founder and CEO, Wellsphere.com
I wanted to thank you for an incredible conference. This was my first time at TED ... The speakers were engaging, compelling, emotional ... simply amazing ...
-- Kevin Surace, Founder and CEO, Serious Materials
TED 2008 was better produced and managed than any conference I have attended ... or put on. Your management and team are most extraordinary. The combination of superb thought, questions and entertainment value presented is rare when done for a day. Sustaining it smoothly for four days, and then narrowcasting it well later, is more than rare. TED is unique in its creative execution.
-- Covell Brown, Chairman and CEO, WGI Heavy Minerals Inc.
Thank you so very much for another extraordinary, mind-expanding TED. There was a certain vibe this year that seemed more open, inclusive and heartfelt than ever before.
-- Cate Riegner, Principal, Media-Screen, LLC
I laughed. I cried. Thanks for another great TED!
-- Richard St. John, The St. John Group
I mentioned on my Facebook account that I was attending for the first time this year and received back many messages. Longtime TEDsters were eager to tell me what it would be like. Folks who have wanted to attend expressed their envy. And I worried that I might be setting my expectation unfairly high. I know now that they were nowhere near high enough.
-- Hal Halpin, President, Entertainment Consumers Association
It is incumbent upon me to comment on a couple of events in Monterey. The first is just how splendid and inspiring the entire (and I mean entire) conference was ... The second was the spontaneous singing at the Monterey Aquarium of the Ode to Joy after the remarkable program by Ben Zander. That singular moment provided me with a level of optimism (and most people who know me consider me one of the most optimistic people they know) I haven't felt in many years. There's hope in this group of people you've assembled, and I am grateful to have been included. You and your team deserve enormous credit for what you've accomplished. Thank you.
-- Jonathon Brauer, Creator of Socially Responsible Investment Portfolio, Merrill Lynch
THANK YOU. The content was amazing, the events outstanding, and the people superlative, as always. Thank you thank you.
-- Andrew Beebe, President, EI Solutions
TED helps me to reset expectations of what can be done and what ought to be done to help create a better world.
-- Doug Wilson, Next Solutions, Inc.