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We had a great time! Hope you did, too.

Gretchen Schneider, BuzzRocket, isawjesusinLA.com @gretawells

As I posted yesterday, I had the distinct honor of running the TEDxGoldstar blog throughout the day for the truly inspirational event. To make things (more) interesting, and to avoid lugging around a cumbersome laptop, flip cam, camera, etc., I challenged myself to run the entire blog off my iPhone 4. This made some question my intelligence, sanity … perhaps wonder if I had a gambling problem. Hey, this was TEDx: The perfect place to exhibit such an innovative tool like an iPhone.

I’m happy to report that my challenge was an absolute success. I was able to capture and edit HD video, take pictures, post real-time updates, add the TEDxGoldstar Interactive Host blogs and promote everything via twitter through my tiny, powerful little phone. I felt like I was living out an iPhone commercial’s dream.

The capabilities of the phone were nothing short of incredible, but I also have to attribute a lot of the success to the Tumblr iPhone app, which made uploading new posts a seamless process. Even uploading videos took but minutes from the phone (compared to 20-30 minutes from my computer). Tagging the posts was simple, as well.

My only complaint is that the keyboard on the Tumblr app doesn’t flip, so I was forced to type on a tiny vertical keyboard, which was fine at first, but by the eighth straight hour of blogging, I was ready to chuck my iPhone off the roof of the Downtown Independent, where TEDxGoldstar was held.

MIKE TURNER - www.audiosocket.com

What is your profession?
I’m the DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE MUSIC SERVICES FOR AUDIOSOCKET IN LA. We find and negotiate rights for music in all kinds of mediums: film, TV, commercial, gaming, etc. our special niche in the market place is an advanced proprietary technology for searching, organizing and delivering audio content across a super flexible array of digital and interactive platforms.

Have you been to any TED events before?
Never.

How have you experienced TED in the past?
Online, I’ve seen the videos, usually a friend sends me a link to one that they find particularly interesting.

How does this event compare to the TED you’ve experienced?
Much more three dimensional.

What do you anticipate for the rest of the day?
I’m looking forward to the breaks where I can chat with more people that are here. The first few talks were super fascinating, but I want to meet some of the people here and have my blown even more - harder & faster.

Do you think today will impact your life?
Eff yes to the 10th power.

How do you think this will impact your life?
I hope to discover how to obtain tiger blood & Adonis’ DNA.

NAME: LAYLI SAMIMI-MOORE
TITLE: PHOTOGRAPHER / CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION SPECIALIST / JEWELRY DESIGNER & BLOGGER EXTRAORDINAIRE
BLOG: www.samimi-extremie.blogspot.com
PHOTOGRAPHY: www.samimi-extremie-photography.tumblr.com

Today at LA’s Downtown Independent, a very diverse, engaged group of individuals gathered to enjoy a TEDx event sponsored by Goldstar. Goldstar’s CEO Jim McCarthy’s introduction was extremely welcoming & inviting. McCarthy says,  “TED is all about getting good ideas out in the world…always looking for how we can improve and make the world a better place. In the true spirit of a TED event, its really important to reach out to the people sitting next to you, to engage in a dialogue about what you are listening to today. You have an opportunity to reach out and connect with others. We are all as important and have as much to share as those that are giving the actual TED talks”.  What a good point. And that is exactly what we’ve been doing all day - reaching out and connecting with one another.

I think we all felt extremely lucky to be attending today’s event; our TEDxGoldstar group was one of the 70 TEDx groups around the world - from switzerland to sudan. Don’t we feel lucky?!?

At the beginning of the live TED event in Long Beach, the TED host starts out by saying, “Who are we? Its perplexed humanity for as long as humanity has thought”. This is the basis for TED - to ask these important questions - to ALWAYS be asking the deeper questions.

Through this TEDxGoldstar event, the mystery of life, the big questions explained and topics and questions that you may have never considered before are brought to reality.

Lunch was filled with great dialogue, unique connections were made and thoughts & ideas were shared.

It is hard to share & summarize with you, a detailed version of what each of the AMAZING TED speakers shared today (there were 19 in total! [so great!]), instead, I will share with you what I call today’s TEDxGoldstar’s “Take Away Quotes”:

»>BILL FORD:
“a GREEN traffic jam is still a traffic jam” - Bill Ford talking about our quality of life being severely compromised
“the biggest consumers of fuel are from people driving around trying to find parking in urban areas”
“i believe we’re at our best when we’re confronted by big issues”

»> JULIE TAYMOR - DIRECTOR & DESIGNER:
“you must be true to what you believe as an artist all the way through. but you also have to be aware that the audience is out there and will see your work. “

»ANTONIO DAMASIO - NEUROSCIENTIST:
“a self - we are not passive exhibitors - we own our minds, we have a sense that every one of us is experiencing this. a conscious mind is a mind with a self in it.”

»>FELISA WOLFE - SIMON - GEOBIOCHEMIST:
“are we alone? and how did we get here? we dont know the answers to those questions. thinking deeply about what we do and dont know, life as we’ve never seen before might be right here in front of us.”

»>AARON O’CONNELL - PHYSICIST:
“you hear a lot of talk about quantum mechanics being about Interconnectedness. its actually deeper, your connections to all those things around you, literally define who you are.”

»>MAYA BEISER - CELLIST:
“i become the medium through which the music is chanelled. at the end the music is transformed, and so am i.”

»>MORGAN SPURLOCK - FILMMAKER:
“don’t be afraid of opportunites that might scare you. embrace fear. embrace risk. and ultimately you have to embrace transparency. a little honesty goes a long way.”

»» INDRA NOOYI / CEO PEPSI CO. :
“you can’t have performance with out purpose. consumers like brands that have a soul, have purpose. every generation strives to leave a better place for the next generation - they want to refresh the world.”

»» GREAT FACT: sao paulo banned advertising for the last 5 years - no billboards or advertisements WHATSOEVER.
»» ONE OF THE MOST MOVING PARTS FOR ME TODAY: seeing the TEDx participants in Khartoum, all waving, so excited.
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Up next: renowned street artist JR [who’s work I LOVE], among other greats!
Thank you TEDxGoldstar for the opportunity to gather a great group of dynamic individuals to share our thoughts, our fears, our hopes and dreams.  Also, for the unique opportunity to be able to participate in such a truly educational simulcast experience with TED 2011 in Long Beach!