TED and TEDx conferences are the ultimate intellectual/cultural/creative idea fests. Everyone I know who has been exposed to TED, TEDx or TED talks almost immediately becomes a fan.
(In case you don't what TED is, learn the basics here, and see some cool examples of TED Talks here. And a word of advice: whoever you are, wherever you are, register for the next and closest TEDx event within reach – the worldwide list is here.)
But nothing, not even TED, is perfect.
Like most conferences, TED suffers a dearth of women speakers on its worldwide stages. That’s an issue. But it’s also an opportunity.??
TEDx events in particular are ideal vehicles for making giant grassroots steps to solving the problem, because their gender parity record is worse than that of the main TED events, which average of 20 – 40% women speakers.
A few months ago, I randomly selected a group of 10 TEDx events from around the world, and looked at the female to male ratio in their speaker lineups.
2010-12-15
Posted in Amazing Susan's Blog
The virtual torrent of hallelujah tweets was predictable.
TEDWomen
twitterati worldwide, myself included, fell coiffed heads over
stiletto-ed heels and raved non-stop on Twitter about
the first-ever
TED conference dedicated solely to "women issues."
Several days later, the buzz hasn't let up... Anyone who's ever experienced a
TED conference would know why.
TED is the ultimate intellectual/cultural/creative idea fest: a heady
mix of eclectic speakers and topics, avant-garde entertainment,
interesting and interested fellow attendees, an impossibly fast-paced
and inevitably juicy program jam-packed from dawn till dusk and beyond,
rich production values and an electric atmosphere that is almost
indescribably energizing.
Think: plug yourself directly into a nuclear reactor and throw the switch.
(In case you don't have clue what TED is, learn the basics here, and see some cool examples of TED Talks here. And a word of advice: whoever you are, wherever
you are, register for the next and closest TEDx event within reach – the worldwide list is here .)
2010-12-15
Posted in Amazing Susan's Blog
At first glance, the seven women appear to have little in common.
Indeed, they are a wonderfully diverse and eclectic group. Two are UAE nationals, one of whom is an Arctic adventurer (pictured at left), the other a determined and entrepreneurial music teacher with a young family.
Aside from the UAE duet(te), it's an ethnic/cultural mosaic.
There's a Turkish life coach/entrepreneur (with whom I personally have sharpened my own lcoaching skills), an Irish-born ethnic Indian advertising exec turned part-time philanthropist, a Canadian-born, San-Fransisco-based journalist named one of 10 "media game changers of 2009" by the Huffington Post, a British expatriate, linguist and mother of five who has lived in the Arabian Gulf region for several decades, and a one-time German model now fighting poverty in Brazilian favelas with affordable housing projects.
Yes, it's pretty much a global village.
2010-12-06
Posted in Amazing Susan's Blog
Susan notes: Nike gets it right by talking to women's power in each one of these ads - BRAVA!
If you let me play sports
2010-11-19
Posted in Amazing Susan's Blog
