TEDWomen. What A Step.
I am really psyched about TEDWomen, coming this December to DC in a two-day conference to focus on women from around the globe and their issues, innovations, insights, the whole shebang. Considering we’re talking about 50% of the population from around the globe - statistically slightly more, even - it’s sort of amazing and mouth-dropping that focusing on women is called “an emerging story,” but hey - TED calls it like it is, not like it should be. From the website:
Over the last several years, our ideas about women have changed. Investing in women and girls was once seen as a radical notion; today, its value is clear. A new lens reveals women as powerful change agents: In developing nations, women and girls hold the vital link to economic growth, public health, political stability. In the West, generations of educated women are forging new directions in the sciences, arts, business and beyond.
To track this emerging story, the first-ever TEDWomen will explore in depth: Who are the women who leading change? What ideas are they championing? How are they shaping the future? TEDWomen will also reveal how women and men, in concert with one another, orchestrate different but complementary approaches to ideas worth spreading.
The cross-disciplinary, cross-generational program will focus on how women think and work, communicate and collaborate, learn and lead—what this means and why it matters to all of us. Speakers from around the globe—from anthropologists to artists, scientists to soldiers, bankers to builders, farmers to futurists—will share their ideas in the world-renowned TED format, creating a program that surprises and inspires.
I’m already surprised and inspired. And excited. Will the dudes come? They should. Not only will it be a sweet pickup joint (ladies in the house holla!) but there is major money to be made off understanding the needs of 50% of the population - oh and also tapping into their brainpower. See you there, Fred Wilson!