I was out at the first annualTEDxColumbus Tuesday night, a local event that parallels the national organization. It was a night of inspiration, focusing on how people here in Columbus are using Technology, Entertainment and Design to be a part of the global conversation around some of our most pressing needs.

A number of high-profile speakers from around the area were there:

Ann Pendleton-Jullian talked about using game play as a means of exploring the tacit skills that can be developed to solve a given problem. She used architecture as a platform to explore this idea, and used games to explore ecosystems of thought and interaction and apply that thinking to cross-disciplinary activities.

John Mueller talked about his book Atomic Obsession. He wonders about our obsession with nuclear weapons, and argues thay are useless and a waste of talent and money. One of his key points was that more people have died trying to stop people from getting nuclear weapons than have died because of nuclear weapons being used.

Norah Zuniga Shaw talked about Synchronous Objects, a project at OSU that used design and visualization to explore the relationships of dance. She focused on the idea of counterpoint as a means of describing the hidden relationships inherent in many activities.

John Glenn talked about his trips to space, about his work in the senate, and about his concerns for the future. He talked a lot about how the policies we are putting in place today will affect future generations.

Reade Harpham, a design manager at Battelle showed us how he is using prototypes as a physical representation of a “what if” question. He talked about the One Lab global design initiative, which is a non-profit organization for the development of prototypes.

Chrystie Hill, from OCLC, talked about how the global distribution of information is changing library science and how more and more libraries should be about community building, as much as they should be about books.

And finally, Art Epstein from OSU talked about plastics and their current and future and role in many of the daily activities we take for granted.

There were also three TED Talks shown: 

• Jacek Utko designs to save newspapers
• Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity
• Aimee Mullins on running

All in all it was a good night, and a very interesting start to what I hope is an annual event.