When I woke up yesterday it was still dark. After a short but deep night of sleep I was all charged up for the day which I had envisioned 1,5 year ago. This day was the result of a meeting in May 2014. Daniëlle Dietz, Menno van Rosmalen and me met for the first time to share our aspiritions of bringing TEDx back to Breda. Now, 18 months later, it was all coming together.My short night wasn’t because of any form of nervousness. There wasn’t any. No, that’s a lie. I should include the abundance of excitement. The day before we had had our dress rehearsal and it had shown me our preparations were perfect. Not perfect in the sense that everything went smooth, no that’s impossible. The perfection showed itself in every time something went different than our dreams and plans had foretold. I saw relaxed faces, action and teamwork. The captain in me saw our ship being seaworthy, including rough see.Today was the result of a team of only volunteers. And volunteers get paid in joy. I got paid a lot. The tasks the event manager planned for me allowed me to observe the talks and the reaction of the audience and crew as a silent observer and actively engage with them during the breaks. My TEDx experience was amplified by being attentive for the experience of others and sharing.Joy flowed in me every time I saw the playfulness of the crew and host, the smiles of our sponsors and the animated faces of those who approached speakers during the breaks. We envisioned TEDx to be somewhere between a conference and a festival. I saw that we had succeeded.Personal highlights? Of course! Having published in a scientific journal I cannot deny my need for intellectual stimulation (or obsession if you will). I could go on and on about the wonderful talks that were presented, but boy oh boy was I impressed by the dance act of De Stilte and the performance of gitarist Bram Stadhouders. It were the TEDx Talks without words that got me the most this time.And you know what… I slept even less tonight. The excitement and joy kept me awake and made me get up early to continue the efforts to spread the ideas we listened to. And there is even more excitement in the realisation that this is only the beginning.This TEDxBreda was the first edition with this completely new team. A fire sparked in me when seeing the ship sail, full of potential to be developed in the coming year. I promise here and now to do whatever I can to build on the fundament that has been delivered by this wonderful team. And I invite you to join. TEDxBreda is not only a team of volunteers, speakers, sponsors and partners. No, everyone who is inspired by TEDxBreda is part of our team. It is those who spread the ideas that are the most vital in our cause. So I invite you not to hold back when the videos get on the Youtube channel and to share, share and share some more. Not to make us famous, but to embrace the potential these wonderful Talks can give us!
