Its one of the most eye-opening few days you can spend. Next week (April 7-9) is the 5th annual EG (entertainment gathering) conference in Monterey. Host Michael Hawley (Media Lab Professor. Musician. Impresario) pulls together a remarkable group of presenters from the worlds of design, arts, music, technology, education, performance, film making, and leaders. Its a celebration of creativity and whats possible!
EG has great dynamic range--- impassioned talks, evenings of performance, parties, creativity in all its forms and always great conversations. The conference is a was crated by the originator of the TED Conference, Richard Wurman, and maintains the intimacy that TED had when it had only few hundred attendees.
I was trying to think of what you call such a thing since "conference" is such a pedestrian term. Mike, I'd say you created a kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria! (1)
There are a few seats left. Register & learn more here: http://the-eg.com
This Preview Video gives you a sense for the experience.
Some details from an email Michael sent me:
It is a truly wonderful group. I hate to single out highlights, but, gosh: private premieres of the new BBC epic HUMAN PLANET — and of Pat Metheny's new 3D "Orchestrion" movie. An evening at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. A full evening, live, with FROM THE TOP. A sneak launch of Discovery's CURIOSITY project — the most ambitious effort they've ever undertaken. Incomparable talents, like RIta Moreno; household names, like Scott Simon; true heroes, like Somaly Mam (who has rescued more than 6,000 girls from the horrid world of human trafficking). The world's dominant ultramarathon runner. The curatorial genius who brings the Museum of Natural History to life. The inventor of Google's AI-driven cars. An amateur pilot who has flown his little Cessna to most of the countries on Earth. A full evening designed by some of the most inventive magicians in the world. Incredible animators, including stars from Pixar. The first female director of DARPA.
It is really a mistake to rattle on about this because it leaves out so many incredible, industrious, passionate talents. Even by EG standards, this is one of the most wonderful programs we've seen. Browse the presenters for yourself: http://the-eg.com/presenters
(1) Note: I stole kaleidoscopic phantasmagoria. NBC President Pat Weavercoined the term in 1955 when he created Monitor, a spectacular radio show that went on all weekend, every weekend with contributors from all over the world. It thew out everything that was known about radio formats, did what TV couldn't, and aggregated such a large audience over such a large time period (which 15 minute network radio shows were really bad at by then) that advertisers loved it and it saved NBC radio for another 20 years. Many say it presaged the web and NPR. But that's another story. Though I touched on at when I spoke at EG a few years ago in a talk called," How The Computer Ambushed Televsion"