The TED conference has ended and I didn't want to write nothing about what was a pretty special experience. A few highlights:
- Sitting behind Sergey Brin and his parents in a main hall session and observing how kindly he interacts with them. Nothing like the humanization of someone to shatter a few stereotypes.
- Talking with Meg Ryan when we were both denied access the main hall for Bill Clinton's talk “If Meg Freaking Ryan can't get a seat then I'm sure not getting one!.”
- Seeing a girl that looked a lot like Cameron Diaz at the hole-in-the-wall taco joint and realizing it was her.
- Talking to Matt Groening at a party about someone we know in common (Matt Groening!).
- Giving props to Lost creator J.J. Abrams on behalf of my friend Chris who asked me to tell him the following:
“My buddy Chris wants to know what's up with Lost. Oh, and don't F-up Star Trek”...which I did, He laughed and replied “I know, totally!”.
- Realizing that Kareem Abdul Jabar's hips are higher than my friend Bob's shoulders.
- Dinner (thanks Zimran) with a few old customer experience friends including Marissa Mayer who met Joshua Schacter of del.icio.us fame for the first time at that dinner. My new friend from The Economist was there and his article can be read here. He described TED way better than I ever could.