Over the next few weeks, we will release one talk every few days under the Media section of our website. Make sure to check back for your favorite talks!

We couldn’t have been happier with the way the event turned out – everyone was excited and passionate about coming to a TEDx event, and we’re just happy to have been able to share the TED experience with more people. While it’s easy to post an organizer’s perspective of TEDxBerkeley, it seemed like a cooler idea to recap the event using our own attendees’ comments, reviews, and photos:

“Doing the Unprecedented” – That bold mantra greeted me and 699 fellow attendees this morning as we entered Wheeler Hall at UC Berkeley. As a first-time TEDx attendee, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, from the Botanical Soda to the TCHO Chocolate samples to the phenomenal speakers. Yet, by the end of the day, I was absolutely certain of one thing: to call the 2010 TEDxBerkeley conference simply “successful” is a severe understatement. – Kevin Gong.

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Session 1 (Insight):
healthpolicygrp: Fabulous acapella start to #TEDxB @ UC Berkeley Go Bears!
arrafiq: Jessica Mah, currator for #Tedxb delivers a powerful and inspirational opening note.
smovahhed: Great talk by Dacher Keltner, stories about Cal students who want to change world.
anjelikadeo: George Breslauer, vice chancellor & provost uc berkeley doing the unprecedented for 39 years!
lloyd_xmas: Great talk this morning by Amit Deutsch on understanding narratives.
mytweetmark: Asma Abbas has a great lesson on how removing suffering from the world makes us less humane.
bkalex: Daniel Kraft’s #TEDxB talk was amazing! (via @KevinMinGong) indeed it was.
cmccann7: love these octet guys, they are so excited about life!! — plus how can you not love the wave?!?

UC Men’s Octet opens TEDxBerkeley with “Down”. Photo by Neil Girling, theblight.net

Wheeler Auditorium packed with 700 Berkeley TEDsters

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Session 2 (Imagination):
pyknosis: Eric Cheng just killed at #TEDxB. Really amazing photos, videos, and message of ocean conservation.
jhnrdgers: Fred Dust from #IDEO is speaking about design, beyond products it’s experience, it changes behavior when it’s good. awesome.
jf0ng: Tulley says heroic experiences in childhood lead to predisposition to try amazing things. Awesome insight!
smovahhed: Jill Tarter of SETI explains SETI mission, saying we are made from stardust and I got chills.
rjenbarr: Surprise speakr! Dr. Jill Tarter, Director of@SETIInstitute, 2009 #TED prize winner
gever: Everybody is up on stage poking brains.

Neuroscientist and Berkeley student Bradley Voytek demoes human brains. Photo by Neil Girling, theblight.net

Professional Magician Robert Strong shows his magic to Berkeley TEDsters.

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Session 3 (Action):
wgaultier: #tedxb listening to the experimental man. wow there’s a lot we can learn from Gene tests.
kcInnovation: Love RossEvans inspiring talk! HoliShift: Intersection of Passion, Purpose and Contribution.
pyknosis: Nothing left of that piano but a smoking heap of wood chips, bent wire, and ivory dust after Eric Lewis finished playing. Dude rocks.
kcInnovation: RossEvans dancing with his lasso to the music of ELEW are rocking the house. Tedsters dancing on stage & going going wild!
colinloretz: That was easily one of the best musical performances I’ve seen.

Artist drawing a picture of Eric Lewis playing Piano.

“When Ross Evans returned with his lasso to accompany Eric, I was curious to see what would happen next. As Eric began playing Coldplay’s Clocks, a chill went through my body. Simultaneously, Ross began doing tricks with the lasso, jumping through it, hopping on one foot and moving it up and down through his body. It was the perfect ending to a well-organised, extremely successful day.” – Phillip Jeffrey

Ross Evans accompanying Eric Lewis in the closing performance.

“One of the most epic endings to a pianist, a performance, and a conference I’ve ever seen.” – Kevin Xu

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“TEDxBerkeley did something today that the individual departments, schools, student organizations, etc. of UC Berkeley could never do. Sure, past guest lectures at Berkeley have included Bill Clinton, Naomi Klein, Daniel Handler (of Lemony Snicket fame), and other high-profile names, but these talks never happened on a single day at a single conference, and as a result, the inspirational and motivational effects of these lectures were dampened by the long stretches of general (college) life that transpired in between. This is what makes TEDxBerkeley so distinct. It packs so many amazing individuals into a one-day immersive conference that the combined experience of it all, from the striking talks to the accomplished attendees to the general atmosphere of the event, simply compells everyone to go out and do something unprecedented.” – Kevin Gong.

Standing Ovation for Eric Lewis and the Closing Performance

While we’re yet to post our talks+performances to the website, here’s a sneak peak of the opening performance by the UC Men’s Octet, filmed by TEDster Renee Blodgett.

Video clip of the ending performance by Eric Lewis + Ross Evans. Credit to Alastair Goldfisher.

To see the rest of our photos, check out the photo album on the TEDxBerkeley Facebook page.

TEDxBerkeley wouldn’t have been without the incredible help of Berkeley students and local entrepreneurs. Big thanks to the students of the Computer Science Undergraduate Association, other local TEDx organizers, and to other UC Berkeley students/alum/professors for helping us put together our program. It’s our hope that students don’t just dream big, but that they take action to turn those dreams into reality.

Cheers,

Jessica Mah
Curator, TEDxBerkeley

Artist Drue Kataoka created “A Small Step” to commemorate the first ever TEDx Berkeley: Doing the Unprecedented. In the spirit of TED, the meaning of the painting is up to you the viewers and TEDxsters. It’s a bear in a space suit, walking on the moon, but what does that mean? This original piece will be signed by the speakers and TEDx team.

Here’s a taste of what she’ll be showcasing at TEDxBerkeley:

Again, big thanks to artist and TEDster Drue Kataoka for her contribution to the community.

Just wanted to let you know that the HUB is hosting a viewing of TEDxBerkeley happening live, and right across the street from the UC Berkeley campus. Good news: they have space, a projector, and internet to host a viewing.

Don’t just watch TEDxBerkeley from home. Bring a friend, pack a lunch, and watch it with fellow members and friends of the HUB Berkeley at The David Brower Center!

To RSVP, please go to: http://tedxberkathub.eventbrite.com/

Recently voted “San Francisco’s Funniest Prop Comedian,” “The Bay Area’s Best Performer,” and “San Francisco’s Best Comedian,” Robert has appeared on CBS This Morning,performed for the United States Congress, and taken his act to more than 30 different countries.

Although Robert specializes as a corporate entertainer, he regularly appears at a broad range of events including conventions, comedy clubs and parties!

No two Robert Strong shows are ever the same! He believes in creating a unique theatrical experience for each audience that is both interactive and simply magical. Robert’s contagious enthusiasm and engaging charisma invariably leave audiences buzzing with excitement and with memories that will last a lifetime!

Drue’s original works are sought after by discerning collectors and investors in Silicon Valley and around the globe. Drue’s non-private commissions include numerous high-profile projects for clients like Nissan, Cisco, SUN Microsystems, Nordstrom, The Koret Foundation, The Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Hoover Institution. Drue recently participated in the first zero-gravity art exhibition in space at the International Space Station. Through her art, she has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for numerous charitable organizations. In 2001, Drue established the endowed Rotary Foundation Drue Kataoka Arts Scholarship.

In March of 2009, Eric submitted the winning proposal to UC Berkeley’s Bears Breaking Boundaries Curricular InnovationContest with the course “The Economics of Philanthropy.”

The proposal beat out twenty-seven other proposals from graduate and undergraduate teams, taking home $5,000 for project implementation. The proposal came to fruition in January 2010 as an upper division course at UC Berkeley.

Thanks to generous support from Doris Buffett, president of the Sunshine Lady Foundation, students in the course will be selecting a Bay Area nonprofit to donate $10,000 to by the end of the Spring 2010 semester.

Burning questions? Not every secret can be revealed (and oh, we have some wonderful surprises to reveal on April 3rd!), but you’re welcome to log in to your Reddit account (or create one – it literally takes just seconds) and join in the conversation!

(And if you like the IAMA thread, please do upvote it so we end up on the front page. ^_^ )