TEDxLugano Speakers Update: Passion Here
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The #TEDxLugano2017 CK Countdown
One week into August, and we’re nearing the one-month countdown to the TEDxLugano event on September 9. I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of talking 1:1 with incredible, standout speaker applicants — candidates who are leaders in their fields, people conducting breakthrough research and honing their ideas into stories that come to life on a stage in front of a thousand people.
When I think of our first two confirmed speakers, Dorie Clark, and Kathryn Hess Bellwald one word that comes to mind is passion. I felt it when speaking with each of them individually — their passion for what they do, why they do it, and how they can share it in a way that reaches each one of us.
Dorie Clark, experienced writer, speaker, and business professor, chatted with me for a full 90 minutes, making time at the end of our busy workdays to talk about everything from living in New York, the event in Lugano, backgrounds and the future of jobs and professional portfolios. We live in constantly changing times — what keeps us grounded just might be this type of human connection, which includes everything from humor to hope. I fully enjoyed the conversation with Dorie, as we talked about her speech and also shared stories. I laughed, realizing how quickly time passes when a conversation is so fully present. Given Dorie’s personality and energy, I can’t wait to see what she brings to the stage.
TEDxLugano’s second confirmed speaker, Dr. Kathryn Hess Bellwald, is equally impressive and charismatic. I had already been a fan of her incredible work and her involvement in the Blue Brain Project, which Kathryn’s colleague, Henry Markham, talked about when he gave his remarkable TED talk “A Brain in a Supercomputer”. Now, advancements have led us to a point of even more possibilities for understanding, and Kathryn has her finger directly on the pulse, or in the synapse, as the case may be. She and I jumped on a spontaneous call between her lectures in Chicago this summer, and it was immediate flow back-and-forth, discussing the details of her TED talk and also some of the recent scientific findings that make her…
