3:30...Presentation followed by discussion
5:30...Event formally ends
6:00...Library closes
June 1st, 2013: Charity Redux
Activist and fundraiser Dan Pallotta challenges us to change the way we think about changing the world.
"The nonprofit sector is critical to our dream of changing the world. Yet there is no greater injustice than the double standard that exists between the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. One gets to feast on marketing, risk-taking, capital and financial incentive, the other is sentenced to begging,” Dan Pallotta says in discussing his latest book, Charity Case. This economic starvation of our nonprofits is why he believes we are not moving the needle on great social problems. “My goal … is to fundamentally transform the way the public thinks about charity within 10 years.”
Pallotta is best known for creating the multi-day charitable event industry, and a new generation of citizen philanthropists with the AIDS Rides and Breast Cancer 3-Day events, which raised $582 million in nine years. He is president of Advertising for Humanity, which helps foundations and philanthropists transform the growth potential of their favorite grantees.
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May 4th, 2013: No event this Saturday due to annual spring banquet
April 6th, 2013: Great Leaders Inspire Change
Simon Sinek, beginning as a student in anthropology, turned his fascination with people into a career of convincing people to do what inspires them. Through his struggle to rediscover his excitement about life and work, he made some profound realizations about how great leaders inspire action.
Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers.
March 2nd, 2013: Sound Affects-- Listening or Not?
Julian Treasure is the chair of Sound Agency, a firm that advises worldwide businesses -- offices, retailers, hotels -- on how to use sound. He asks us to pay attention to the sounds that surround us. How do they make us feel: productive, stressed, energized, acquisitive? We will view two short talks by him. Five ways to listen better & The four ways sound affects us.
In our louder and louder world, sound expert Julian Treasure says, "We are losing our listening." In the first short talk, Treasure shares five ways to re-tune your ears for conscious listening -- to other people and the world around you.
In the 2nd brief talk, Treasure shows how sound affects us in four significant ways, using sound effects which are both pleasant and awful. Listen carefully for a shocking fact about noisy open-plan offices.
February 2nd, 2013: Institutions vs. Collaboration
TED favorite, Clay Shirky, is an American writer, consultant and teacher on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. In this talk, Shirky shows how closed groups and companies will give way to looser networks where small contributors have big roles and fluid cooperation replaces rigid planning. He argues that the history of the modern world could be rendered as the history of ways of arguing, where changes in media change what sort of arguments are possible -- with deep social and political implications.
January 5th, 2013: Smart Failure
The world is changing much more rapidly than most people realize, says business educator Eddie Obeng -- and creative output cannot keep up. In this spirited talk, he highlights three important changes we should understand for better productivity, and calls for a stronger culture of "smart failure."
December 1st, 2012: Architecture
This month we will be discussing two short TED presentations on innovations in architecture.
Metal That Breathes: Doris Kim Sung
Modern buildings with floor-to-ceiling windows give spectacular views, but they require a lot of energy to cool. Doris Kim Sung works with thermo-bimetals, smart materials that act more like human skin, dynamically and responsively, and can shade a room from sun and self-ventilate. Sung is a biology student turned architect interested in thermo-bimetals, smart materials that respond dynamically to temperature change
Using Nature's Genius in Architecture: Michael Pawlyn
How can architects build a new world of sustainable beauty? By learning from nature. At TEDSalon in London, Michael Pawlyn describes three habits of nature that could transform architecture and society: radical resource efficiency, closed loops, and drawing energy from the sun. Pawlyn established the architecture firm Exploration in 2007 to focus on environmentally sustainable projects that take their inspiration from nature.
November 3rd, 2012: The Power of Introverts
"There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas."
In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring extraordinary talents and abilities to the world, and should be encouraged and celebrated.
October 6th, 2012: Finding the Story Inside the Painting
September 1st, 2012: What We're Learning from Online Education
Daphne Koller is enticing top universities to put their most intriguing courses online for free -- not just as a service, but as a way to research how people learn. Each keystroke, comprehension quiz, peer-to-peer forum discussion and self-graded assignment builds an unprecedented pool of data on how knowledge is processed and, most importantly, absorbed.
August 4th, 2012: How to Expose the Corrupt
Some of the world's most baffling social problems, says Peter Eigen, can be traced to systematic, pervasive government corruption, hand-in-glove with global companies.
Eigen worked in economic development for 25 years, mainly as a World Bank manager of programs in Africa and Latin America. Stunned by the depth and pervasiveness -- and sheer destructiveness -- of the corruption he encountered, he formed the group Transparency International to take on some of the main players in deals with corrupt officials: multinational corporations.
July 14, 2012: Why Do Societies Fail?
With lessons from the Norse of Iron Age Greenland, deforested Easter Island and present-day Montana, Jared Diamond talks about the signs that collapse is near, and how -- if we see it in time -- we can prevent it.
Jared Diamond is an award-winning scholar of ecology, biology and history, and best-selling author of Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.
June 9th, 2012: The Antidote to Apathy
This month's topic: Local politics -- schools, zoning, council elections -- hit us where we live. So why don't more of us actually get involved? Is it apathy? Dave Meslin says no. He identifies 7 barriers that keep us from taking part in our communities, even when we truly care.
Dave Meslin is a "professional rabble-rouser." Based in Toronto, he works to make local issues engaging and even fun to get involved in.
May 12th, 2012: The Global Power Shift
Paddy Ashdown claims that we are living in a moment in history where power is changing in ways it never has before. In a spell-binding talk at TEDxBrussels 2012 he outlines the three major global shifts that he sees coming.
Paddy Ashdown is a former member of the British Parliament and a diplomat with a lifelong commitment to international cooperation."
April 14th, 2012: Trial, Error and the God Complex
Economics writer Tim Harford studies complex systems -- and finds a surprising link among the successful ones: they were built through trial and error. In this sparkling talk, he asks us to embrace our randomness and start making better mistakes.
Each month we view a recorded, ~20-minute presentation by a notable person who has interesting things to say about some aspect of the world we live in. Then we take over and talk about the subject.
We can’t promise the presenter’s ideas will change your life—maybe not even change your mind—but knowing many of our group’s members, we can safely say that you will be in for some stimulating conversation, and most likely learn something new. And any day that happens is a day well-spent, so come join us!
