Who You Calling A Jesse?

When TEDxWaterloo was first mentioned I was beyond excited (it was around the same time IgniteWaterloo was being planned which is also awesome). The focus and quality of the independently organized TED event is something I think the local community could really benefit from. As much as I love the whole unconference thing I know it doesn’t work for everyone and it can be really strange to people that haven’t attended. However, I am disappointed in the rationale behind applying to attend that TED itself promotes. I do appreciate the views on it by organizing folks but…

I am concerned about it being exclusive

I had a big long rant written about this but instead I will keep it simple: applying to attend something in a community this small that is dominated by Higher Education, think tanks, and RIM-jobs driving BMW’s implies exclusivity. Maybe being exclusive to a certain type of person is exactly what TED is trying to do to ensure there is quality conversation. However, the community is full of interesting and colourful personalities… you can’t just exclude them because, well because is hard to say as they haven’t really listed any measurable criteria.

As one of the commenters on Renjie’s blog post there is a fine line between elitist and open that TEDx seems to just barely stay on the positive side of but I think the problem the registration is intended to fix doesn’t actually exist. Not in Waterloo anyway.

What am I going to do about it? Nothing. I am not going to apply to attend, not going to talk about it anymore (I will try), and look forward to the next Ignite Waterloo or BarCampWaterloo or StartupCampWaterloo or Web Design meetup or startup drinks or any other event that is open to everyone.