---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Richard Adler <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 7:16 AM Subject: TEDxDetroit To: [email protected], Samuel Rose <[email protected]>, Michel Bauwens <[email protected]>, Matt Berlin <[email protected]> So apparently there was a TED event in Detroit last night, but good luck finding out about it. I only know it happened because of tweets posted from the event by a reporter with the Detroit Free Press whom Paul and I met a couple of years ago. Now another tweet provides this link: http://www.detroitmoxie.com/home/2011/1/10/the-super-secret-detroit-ted-even... I've cut-and-pasted the last part of the blog post below. I'm mentioning it because, frankly, it leaves me speechless. Apparently, these people believe the future of Detroit should be an invite-only process? Why, if the city "on the precipice", does it make sense to restrict attendance and quite likely exclude people who might have wished to participate and contribute? RCA -------------------------- *Why the secrecy?* *I have no idea. My thought is that TED (without the x<http://www.tedxdetroit.com/>) is an exclusive brand and Lincoln was aligning themselves with that elite group. Lincoln surely delivered on the slick event; it was top shelf.* *The usual pre-event buzz wasn’t their priority. Instead they had many local Detroiters in the twitterverse scratching their head in a “how did I miss this” type of way.* *To be fair, it is my understanding that the invitation was sent to the entire TEDxDetroit<http://www.detroitmoxie.com/home/2010/9/22/big-thinkers-to-share-at-tedxdetroit.html>database. So, why weren’t those that were planning on attending talking about it? A simple line in the invitation reads:* *Also, please, no blogging nor tweeting this invitation/event before it takes place.* *TED@MotorCity and Lincoln proved that an event doesn’t need the “this event is going to be so cool” buzz to, in fact, be cool.* *Detroit is on a precipice and the people and their actions and decisions are going to decide which way it goes. Our “New Tomorrow” is up to us.* *Feedback, makers, reinvention, connection, and sharing. That is our “New Tomorrow.”* *TED@MotorCity not only delivered world-class speakers but it was world-class all the way around. * -- P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss: http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/p2presearch_listcultures.org Updates: http://del.icio.us/mbauwens; http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens; http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens Think tank: http://www.asianforesightinstitute.org/index.php/eng/The-AFI