My topic of my presentation and the video is "Diversity and Ideas in the Porous Community."
Its focus, which is right at the heart of the Brainzooming message on creative ideas and diversity, explored the importance of creating communities open to ideas from diverse and external perspectives. In keeping with the presentation theme, I invited audience members at two different points to select the story they wanted to hear next from among three options. This approach, which I call a “live blog,” puts the audience in control of shaping the talk they most want to hear from among, in this case, nine different possible versions.
Using the TEDx constraints (limited time) and admonitions (share stories you’ve never told) created an opportunity to weave together a completely new collection of content about creative ideas and diversity, including a childhood story no one outside my immediate family had ever heard before the audience selected it.
It was particularly rewarding to present at TEDxWyandotte because KCKCC feels like home in many ways. My wife led the student activities at KCKCC for ten years at the start of her career. Because of that, prior to TEDxWyandotte, I’d been on stage at KCKCC many times playing the scary monster at Halloween parties Cyndi organized for students’ kids! It also felt like home because my parents attended, marking the first time they’d visited Kansas City in many years because of illnesses my dad has since put behind him.
And when it came to telling untold stories at TEDxWyandotte, my father was more than happy to share any stories I didn’t tell with anyone who stopped by to chat before, during, and after the event. He just didn’t have to keep his stories to less than 18 minutes total! – Mike Brown
