I had a strong personal investment in yesterday's TEDxFoCo event, having curated the program. So at this point, I'll let others comment on how the event turned out – although I do want to extend my personal thanks to each of the speakers for coming through with the talk I had hoped they would make. The program is reproduced below.

But I guess I also have one additional comment... Did Kim Jordan present an inspiring talk, or what? Kim Jordan is the CEO and Co-Founder of New Belgium Brewing, and she serves on a zillion public and private boards. In her talk, Kim described the New Belgium vision of making the brewery's "love and talent manifest". Many companies assert their excellence in talent and expertise, but no company that I know of asserts its corporate intention of spreading love in the wake of its production and sales. Only Kim Jordan has the authority in Fort Collins to offer such a message and make it stick. I think the TEDxFoCo audience caught the magnitude of what she said. For example, Twitter-user Icebird (aka Ashok Amaran) shared a twitpic of Kim's slide showing the brewery's vision statement. I've reproduced Icebird's tweet below, and you can view his twitpic here.

In addition to Icebird's tweet, I've reproduced below two other tweets, ones suggesting to me that at least some of the TEDxFoCo audience walked away from the event with a new perspective on Fort Collins.

And having said all that, it's now Sunday morning, and I'm off to Shambhala Mountain Center, where I'll circumambulate the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya and do some sitting. I'll also take some photos, like the tourist I always am up there, and I'll have a wonderful afternoon.

In the spirit of TEDx, I hope you find a way to spread your best ideas, even if you presume those ideas will create ripples at a more modest scale than that of a Bryan Willson energy project, Cheers – 3D

TEDxFoCo Program
I. Sustainability: Constraints and opportunities
Glen Colton (20-year member, numerous Fort Collins city boards and task forces): Limits to growth
Bryan Willson (Director, Clean Energy Supercluster and CSU Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory): Energy solutions at scale
TED video: Alex Steffen sees a sustainable future

II. Innovation in learning
Chris Viéville (Co-Creator, GameCamp Boulder): Purpose at play
Bryan Maddox (Educator, Discovery Institute and Poudre School District): A Fort Collins education reform
TED video: John Hodgman: Aliens, love – Where are they?

III. Community, collaboration and monetization
Dani Grant (Founder, SpokesBUZZ Fort Collins): Radical collaboration
Darren Mahuron (Owner, Summit Studios photography): Art – A social responsibility
TED video: Rives on 4 a.m.

IV. Fort Collins entrepreneurship
Amy Cosper (Editor in Chief, Entrepreneur Media Inc.): Treponomics
Katie Barstow & Molly Dunkle (Founders, Sweets Cosmetics): Getting down and dirty in the beauty industry
Kim Jordan (CEO and Co-Founder, New Belgium Brewing): Brewing happy employees






UPDATE, Sunday, July 3, 2011: Listed below are the citations for blog articles (including this one) and other media related to TEDxFoCo.

Darren Mahuron (25-Jun-11, posted 28-Jun-11), Art – A social responsibility ["I was asked to present at our local Ted conference about the state of the art scene in Fort Collins since the closing of The Gallery Underground"], Vimeo ["created by filmmakers and video creators who wanted to share their creative work"], online at www.vimeo.com [video 25749619] (accessed 3-Jul-11).

Jenny (29-Jun-11), Week 46: TEDxFoCo, Choice City Native ["exploring Fort Collins one week at a time"], online at chicecitynative.blogspot.com (accessed 29-Jun-11).

Molly Dunkle (18-May-11), Invited to speak at the Fort Collins TEDxFoCo, Sweets Cosmetics blog, online at sweetscosmetics.com (accessed 28-Jun-11).

NCBR staff (24-Jun-11), TEDx event at Innosphere Saturday, Northern Colorado Business Report ["quality business journalism"], online at www.ncbr.com (accessed 28-Jun-11).

OnTheFly [aka Skippy Smith] (30-Jun-11), TEDx Fort Collins – 2011-06-25 [the very first TEDx event organized and held in Fort Collins, Colorado – organized by Nick Armstrong with assistance from a slew of awesome folks], SmugMug [paid digital photo sharing website], online at onthefly.smugmug.com (accessed 3-Jul-11).

TED, TEDx Talks, TEDxFoCo, online at tedxtalks.ted.com/browse/talks-by-event/tedxfoco (accessed 23-Dec-11).

3Dsound (26-Jun-11), TEDxFoCo: Excited about Fort Collins, Draggin' the Line ["it's all Fort Collins news to me"], online at 3dsoundblog.com (accessed 28-Jun-11).