Kansas City Presenters
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Mike Lundgren
TEDxKC Event Curator
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Welcomed to the TEDxKC community of volunteers, enthusiasts, sponsors, presenters and participants. TEDxKC is your event and the mission is compelling in its simplicity: share “ideas worth spreading.” As the curator of TEDxKC, it is my distinct pleasure to work with a talented and dedicated group of people who make the program possible. Thanks to the fine people at Populous, Harvest Productions and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art for their wide-ranging contributions. Finally, a special shout-out to VML for stepping up two years in a row with financial support, countless pro bono hours and allowing me the freedom to pursue TEDxKC.
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Dr. Brene Brown
The price of invulnerability
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TEDxKC talk synopsis: In our anxious world, we often protect ourselves by closing off parts of our lives that leave us feeling most vulnerable. Yet invulnerability has a price. When we knowingly or unknowingly numb ourselves to what we sense threatens us, we sacrifice an essential tool for navigating uncertain times – joy. This talk will explore how and why fear and collective scarcity has profoundly dangerous consequences on how we live, love, parent, work and engage in relationships – and how simple acts can restore our sense of purpose and meaning.
Biography
Dr. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work where she has spent the past 10 years studying courage, shame and authenticity. She is the Behavioral Health Scholar-in-Residence at the Council on Alcohol and Drugs and has written several books on her research.
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Francis Cholle
The Intuitive Intelligence Movement
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TEDxKC talk synopsis: Creativity and innovation are keys to business success in the global economy. Yet research shows American creativity has been significantly declining for the past 20 years. New competencies – which the presenter addresses as intuitive intelligence – are needed to win the creativity challenge. Extensive research confirms that intuitive intelligence leads to innovative solutions as well as unparalleled growth rates, sales volumes and levels of profitability.
Biography
Francis Cholle is a best-selling author, public speaker, educational lecturer, seminar leader and corporate onsultative advisor. He is the founder of The Human Company and inventor of The Intuitive Compass™, assisting organizations create sustainable value. Francis teaches an MBA course at Ecoles des Hautes Commerciales (HEC) in Paris, France, titled Intuitive Intelligence & Innovative Leadership.
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Dr. Micheal Wesch
From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able
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TEDxKC talk synopsis: Today a new medium of communication emerges every time somebody creates a new web application. Yet these developments are not without disruption and peril. Familiar long-standing institutions, organizations and traditions disappear or transform beyond recognition. And while new media bring with them new possibilities for openness, transparency, engagement and participation, they also bring new possibilities for surveillance, manipulation, distraction and control. Critical thinking, the old mainstay of higher education, is no longer enough to prepare our youth for this world. We must create learning environments that inspire a way of being-in-the-world in which they can harness and leverage this new media environment as well as recognize and actively examine, question and even re-create the (increasingly digital) structures that shape our world.
Biography
Dr. Michael Wesch is an Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. Michael is a cultural anthropologist exploring the effects of new media on society and culture. His YouTube videos have been viewed by millions. Michael has won several major awards for his work, including a Wired Magazine Rave Award, the John Culkin Award for Outstanding Praxis in Media Ecology, and he was named an Emerging Explorer by National Geographic. He has also won several teaching awards, including the 2008 CASE/Carnegie U.S. Professor of the Year for Doctoral and Research Universities.
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Mike McCamon
Sh*t Happens ... To be a global problem
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TEDxKC talk synopsis: As we rush through our busy lives, it is easy to take for granted the simple fact that we are all quite lucky to live in the developed world. No war, no terrorist plot, no dark alley, nor any oil spill affects more people each day than the lack of access to safe water and the dignity of a toilet. By choosing to better understand the most serious health threat of our time, we just might discover new ways to accelerate change both in ourselves and for others.
Biography
Mike McCamon is a serial evangelist for change. Having spent over 20 years in the technology sector at places like Apple and Intel, he helped to shape the market for the wireless standards we use each day in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Just under two years ago he embarked on his second career, this time for the non-profit Water.org, who's aim is no short of universal access to safe water and sanitation for every person the the planet.
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Quixotic Fusion
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Quixotic is an ensemble of visual, musical and performing artists collaborating to produce new forms of artistic expression. This inventive group goes beyond the limits of any specific art form to create a total sensory experience for its audience. Quixotic makes performance art interactive and eliminates the barrier between performer and audience.
Fusing movement, sound and technology, Quixotic harnesses light, rhythm and expressive emotion. As the intensity of the world grows, so does the need for presenting passion and beauty in multi-layered forms from which all can receive. The goal is to penetrate the audience — filling their “Quiet” with emotive visual and sonic nourishment.
