East of Main had the honor of being selected to attend Vancouver’s first ever TED talks on November 21, 2009: TEDxVancouver.

It was truly an amazing eye-opening experience. I especially had a great time hanging out with all the minority crowd - Raakhi Sinha + Gurpreet Sian [SouthAsian Arts],  Lara Honrado + Alden Habacon [Mango], and Charles Tsai [Ashoka] - Thanks for the company!

There were 10+ influential speakers speaking on a variety of topics themed around being: Playfully Young, Globally Young and Emotionally Young. Speakers included Greenpeace founder, Patrick Moore and District 9 director Neill Blomkamp. Added bonus was having Cris Derksen on the Cello and Shamik doing his beatbox skills [check out duet video here -Thx KK]

Photos of the event and videos of the speakers are constantly being uploaded, so keep checking back!

Okay, so now onto the Twitter Reflections:

• Terry McBride, founder Nettwerk #Music Grp: ppl said there’d be no demand 4 all girl tour, then he org @LilithFair.
• Neill Blomkamp, director #District9, gave us concept of 3 lvls of civilizns + dyson sphere; astrophysics is so cool!
• Guy Dauncy, #green + 101 books author: “U R Brilliant, Earth is hiring”, Paul Hawkin http://earthfuture.com/
• Marc Stoiber, #Change founder: asks is #socialmedia killin communication? + is it a fire hose for communication?!
• Patrick Moore, #Greenpeace founder: questions #climatechange, #green, renewble NRG, advocates 4 sustainable, clean NRG #TEDxVan #TED #cop15
• Whether u agree #climatechange is real, there should b no debate: we MUST reduce our consumption + footprint.
• @CherylCran: Gen X, Gen Y + Baby Boomers are out there, but so are the Zoomers (refuse 2 age)! #TEDxVan #TED
• Alden, #CBC #Diversity Mgr, talks Multiculturalism 2.0: #vancouver has highest mixed-#race marriages in N.America! #TEDxVan #TED #canada

Check out further Tweets @masalapuri or @eastofmain

East of Main would like to thank you to organizers, speakers, volunteers and all the participants for making the first event such a success… It was definitely Ideas worth spreading!