Chautauqua was an adult education movement in the United States, highly popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Named after Chautauqua Lake where the first was held, Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day. Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was quoted as saying that Chautauqua is “the most American thing in America.”
(from Wikipedia)

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I sat through the full day of TEDxSMU yesterday,.  This was my third year, and they have all been wonderful.

As I sat through the day, never leaving the venue, interacting in terrific conversations at breaks, and at lunch, I thought back to my Graduate School days, and remembered our study of the Chautauqua.  It started in a fixed location, and then became a traveling event – rolling in to community after community.  It was before the days of radio (much less television), and so it was quite an event.  The people could come for an array of offerings; lectures, entertainments.  And lots and lots of conversations.  (And eating!).

This is what the TEDxSMU program provided.  Lectures, conversation, entertainment… and eating!  And, just like the Chautauqua of yesteryear, the lectures were diverse.  Lectures on motivation, and science, and great accomplishments, and great causes…  Entertainment, education, prophetic calls for change…  It is simply a day like no other…

I kept a running list of “lessons learned” — in no particular order. With not much commentary.  And, this is only representative – not exhaustive.  I could have, should have written more.

So, here are my 16 Lessons from TEDxSMU, 2013.  (The names connected to each “lesson” are the names of the speaker who was speaking as I jotted down the “lesson”).

1. Gamification – people just want to turn everything into a game… — Two Bit Circus

2. Luck = the kind of luck you were born with at birth — Rachael Chong

3. We’ve come out with more technology than we can adapt. — Andres Ruzo

4. Motivation = Challenging + Social + Relevant ( reflecting on STEM)  – Ken Berry
Gamification of STEM – Robotics Competitions
(in sports of the mind – the career can last for a lifetime)

5.  Never give up, never give in.  If the cause is great, it takes a lifetime of never giving up!  — Rena Pederson on Aung San Suu Kyi

6. Medical solutions are found in distribution.
So many die from diseases/conditions that already have successful treatments – but they are not available to them! It is a distribution problem. – Eric Bing
Push-Pull-Evaluate…

7. It’s old news that investing in women makes a great difference for development; for peace. (Keep a woman alive, she will! invest in her children. – Afshan Khan
When women win, we all win.
There are Malala moments for every woman in every conflict zone.

8. We are capable of what we set our minds to.  – Katie Spotz
Determination…
We all have something that seems/feels out of reach. We are! capable of more than we think…

9. Make the most meaningful life you can with the cards you have been dealt. – Pamela Nelson
It is impossible alone. (Seek, and accept any and all help you can)..
Keep changing solutions as the problems change…

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R. M. – Ordinary people are extraordinary…
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10. Opening up to someone expands your point of view… – Nicole Stewart
I wrote to make sense of my life…

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R.M.  – is it better to know a lot about a little or a little about a lot?
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11. We have a true, great, societal sleep deficit…– Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D.

12. The internet is fundamentally insecure. It was not built to be secure. – Dr. Fred Chang
The cyber world favors the attacker…
A determined (skilled) hacker will! likely hack through the inadequate security

13.  Selfish people destroy the fabric of community. – Michael Sorrell
If it’s not working, why not try something new?!…

14. Why not? Why not…now? – Bill Palmer (surgeon, professor, mountain climber)

15. A genuine, huge crisis teaches us what we know about ourselves… (Earthquake; Fukishima)- Pat Walsh
Needed a process built horizontally, not vertically – no vertical process was adequate for the task- this problem exceeded the capacity of the current organizational structure…
Nations have interests – but people have friends…
Our capability in higher education is truly a great resource…

16. Don’t tell “bullet points” – tell a story… – Dave Lieber
Take the data of your life and turn it into a story…

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The organizers of TEDxSMU, with a great team headed by Heather Hankemar, did a terrific job.  And Jim and Carole Young play a rather prominent role in the TEDxSMU event.  (Jim and Carole are long time supporters of our First Friday Book Synopsis).

On the screen, pretty much all day, was this phrase:  “&THEN.”  That was the challenge — you heard this TED Talk, you experienced this challenge, “&THEN”… (to be completed).  In other words, what next?  What would you do — next?

Well, here’s one suggestion for “&THEN”…   I encourage you, for 2014, to clear your schedule, and plan on taking a day of your life for our own version of a modern-day Chautauqua — TEDxSMU, 2014.