TED 2009: Day One

We’re attending the 25th Anniversary of TED, which is proving to be yet another extraordinary tour de force of mind expanding speakers and entertainers. Al Gore followed up on last year’s disturbing new environmental scientific data with some even more disturbing beta and a strong attack on “clean coal”. Bill Gates proved himself to be a genuinely humorous speaker and charmed TEDsters with his foundation’s work on Malaria and educational issues. Gates shared a couch with normally cognizant TED curator Chris Anderson, who brought further laughs as he unwittingly opened up his Apple MacBook next to the Microsoft CEO to read e-mailed questions to him.

Juan Enriquez opened up with, among other topics, an eye-opening reality check on how bad the banking situation is. The true father of the Internet (not you Al), Tim Barners-Lee spoke on the need for more raw data sharing and its ability to advance humankind and solve pressing issues. Yann Arthus-Bertrand showed beautiful film footage that highlighted the global environmental condition and made everyone pause.  “Dancing Man” Matt Harding‘s (famous for dancing around the world on YouTube) got both TED locations dancing. The musical hit of the day were instrumentless hip hop artists Naturally 7, who arrived fresh from their WEF Davos appearance and blew everyone away. For those who enjoy rubbing elbows with celebrities and progressive industry leaders, there are plenty to go around here. But alas, this is a trendspotting blog, not Perez Hilton.