How does “The Best Team in Sports” prepare in the off season?
Join Floyd Reese, senior football advisor to the New England Patriots, for a behind-the-scenes look at what the team has been working on in the off-season and a preview of what to look for on the field in 2010. Following this hour long discussion, enjoy a private tour of Gillette Stadium and learn how this privately financed stadium operates and how it is evolving to stay at the forefront of entertainment.
Report
Other TEDxBoston adventurers had the rare opportunity to tour Gillette Stadium before the Patriots opened training camp to the public and also join Floyd Reese, senior football advisor, for a captivating discussion. The experience proved “off the charts great,” “beyond any of our wildest dreams.” In regards to what Reese shared, one guest insisted, “You simply would not get those types of stories from Floyd Reese in any other setting – ESPN included. It was phenomenal.”
Learn from the Suffolk County Sheriff herself how she is revolutionizing incarceration by providing intensive educational programs and health care to prepare inmates to lead accountable and responsible lives upon release. Ask Andrea J. Cabral, Esq., the first black American female sheriff in Massachusetts history, any questions that you might have about lock-up. Hear first-hand how Sheriff Cabral manages more than 1,000 corrections officers and other staff members and an average of 2,700 offenders each day.
Through a talk and hands-on workshop, learn what factors are leading the way for future development in robotics. Neuron Robotics is lowering costs and easing entry into developing robotics and cyber-physical systems. Join the team at its headquarters for a discussion on the current state of robotics and robotics development, particularly outside the typical lab setting. Then experience what is discussed with the opportunity to work with some of Neuron Robotics’ educational systems.
Gain the perspectives of 20-year Beacon Hill veteran Peter Larkin and a teenage “Doric Dame.” Tour the building that inspired the U.S. Capital and once defined the Boston skyline. From the dome made out of wood, sheathed in copper, and covered in gold to the oldest continuously used constitution in the world, you’ll come away with two unique perspectives on one of Boston’s most iconic buildings.
Climb the steeple of the iconic Arlington Street Church in Boston's Back Bay and learn from a member of this leading UU congregation how the Church has fostered innovative ideas since its inception in 1729. The Congregation's previous church was the site of the Massachusetts Convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution. In the early 1800s, it's Senior Minister was an outspoken abolitionist. And the present-day church, built in 1861, has hosted numerous revolutionary events from a Draft Card Turn-In and Burn-In service during the Vietnam war to the first church- and state-sanctioned same-gender wedding in the United States. Jeffrey Quinlan will even let you ring the bells on which he played "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" in celebration of the Red Sox's World Series Victory in 2004.
See the prototype guitar with the power to revolutionize digital music. The Chameleon Guitar, developed at the MIT Media Lab, is a hybrid machine that combines traditional acoustic values and digital abilities. See videos of the guitar in action, and discuss with its creator, Amit Zoran, how he is revamping the instrument’s electronics to create an even better musical experience.
Experience Boston's ever-developing, 47-mile HarborWalk with the Executive Director of The Boston Harbor Association, Vivien Li. Learn how the cross-sector project bridges diverse environmental, business, and human interests. This intimate walking tour focuses on the South Boston area, and highlights include the site of the tea party that started the American Revolution and the most expensive highway in the world
Follow Mayor Thomas Menino’s research and development team, Chris Osgood and Nigel Jacob, on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Mayor’s Office and City Hall. Osgood and Jacob are revolutionizing urban government with Citizens Connect, an iPhone application that is helping Boston stay safe and clean by facilitating direct communication with the Department of Public Works.
From pledging to land a man on the moon to
bringing the arts to the forefront of American culture, President
Kennedy and his wife Jacqueline developed some of the country’s most
revolutionary ideas. Relive these exciting and turbulent times at the
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, designed by I.M. Pei.
The visit will include a behind-the-scenes tour and museum exhibits will
include a focus on three revolutions: the role of television in the 1960 campaign, the space race, and the civil rights movement.
Hop on your bike to follow Paul Revere's famous Midnight Ride to the Hancock-Clark House in Lexington with Boston's Bike Czar, Nicole Freedman. This will not be your average ride on The Freedom Trail, as Nicole is a former National Champion, U.S. Olympian, and Israeli National Team Member, as well as an MIT and Stanford graduate. This world-class tour will take you to the site where Paul Revere alerted Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the British advance.
Go behind the curtains of the ballet world with Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director of the Boston Ballet, which includes North America’s largest ballet school. The Boston Globe describes Nissinen's transformation of the 47-year-old organization as one of the "biggest arts stories of the decade." With a tour of the South End studios, a special visit to the costume shop, and a roundtable discussion with Mikko Nissinen, learn how he continues to raise the artistic bar and prepare for the upcoming season.
Ask this question and others of world renowned search innovators, Don Dodge, Developer Advocate, Google; Adam Ferrari, CTO, Endeca; Pawan Deshpande, CEO, HiveFire; and Justin Boyan, VP of Web Data Integration, ITA. The impact of search goes far beyond familiar web search, and Boston is one its centers of innovation. On this panel, you’ll hear about the critical facets of search that will shape our future -- technology, business, society, and user experience.
Take a tour of Dorchester (the largest and most diverse section of Boston) with the CEO and co-founder of one of the area’s most respected non-profit organizations, The Codman Square Health Center. Codman Square, the center of Dorchester, is a neighborhood that burned and was written off until the mid-90s, but has experienced resurgence both physically and socially. You will tour tough, striving areas and gracious Victorian sections, which are located just streets apart from each other. You also will see a Health Center that views the major disease it is treating as “poverty,” and uses unorthodox methods to connect health care to “treatments” that can help cure the disease, from group visits that stress early childhood education to the only school located within a health center in America.
Find out how City Fresh Foods is revolutionizing the food industry by feeding the state and creating jobs and ownership opportunities in Boston’s economically distressed neighbourhoods. Tour the 11,000-square-foot facility of this nationally recognized food service company with Founder and CEO Glynn Lloyd. Sample delicious food, and see first-hand the cutting-edge work City Fresh does to prepare and deliver 8,000 affordable, healthy and tasty meals each day.
Hop on a trolley for a nighttime tour of the places that mark Boston’s history. Tour guide Christian Vanderslice will lead you through The Cradle of Liberty and the Birthplace of Freedom as a DJ serenades you with a soundtrack of the city. Learn about the competitive tourism industry in Boston while visiting revolutionary sites include Charlestown Navy Yard and the USS Constitution.
Gain an unprecedented view of the sites that make Boston such a revolutionary city with a scenic helicopter flight. Meet your pilot at either Lawrence or Beverly Airport, and be whisked above some of the city’s oldest and newest neighborhoods, monuments, and parks. Highlights include Boston’s two tallest buildings (the Hancock and Prudential Towers), Fenway Park, and the seaport/waterfront district of the future.
Join Boston College Professors Noah Snyder of the Geology and Geophysics department and Zygmunt Plater of the Law School for an interactive briefing on the situation in the Gulf. Professor Snyder is the director of BC’s interdisciplinary Environmental Studies program. Professor Plater served on the State of Alaska Oil Spill Commission during the Exxon Valdez crisis; he has been involved with Alaskan efforts to assist Gulf communities in the aftermath of the BP Gulf blowout and attempts to draw systemic lessons for the future from the Exxon Valdez and the BP blowout. We also will be joined via Skype by Cesar Harada, a former MIT researcher in New Orleans. Ask critical questions about environmental science and law, as well as some of Harada’s other ambitions, from creating the International Ocean Station as an open-source architecture project to crowdsourcing environmental data on the web.
Jump behind the scenes into the new WGBH headquarters with a network Vice Chair, Henry Becton, Jr., to learn how WGBH uses a revolutionary process to create programming on air, online, and on the go. Becton, former longtime president of WGBH, led the decision and process to consolidate the station from a dozen buildings to two. See the new TV studios, edit rooms, radio performance studios, master control, and more as you step inside the building where so many of your favorite iconic broadcast series are produced. Think Frontline, American Experience, Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Curious George, 89.7fm and more. The Polshek Partnership building’s innovative design includes a digital mural, which uses slow-moving LED lights to display dynamic images.
During a private tour, 2009 TEDxBoston presenter Ryan Chin will update progress on the development of sustainable urban mobility systems at the MIT Media Lab's Smart Cities group. The research group recently kicked off the manufacture of the GreenWheel electric bicycle and has secured a partner to industrialize the CityCar project. Ryan will present the latest developments on these projects along with the group's Mobility-on-Demand concept. He also will briefly highlight the key areas covered in Professor William J. Mitchell's latest book, Reinventing the Automobile: Personal Urban Mobility for the 21st Century (MIT Press).
Find out on a rare visit to DEKA Lab in New Hampshire, where engineers work alongside founder Kamen, inventor of the Segway and National Medal of Technology winner. From the DEKA robotic arm to the Stirling engine, you’ll see first-hand how the DEKA lab is revolutionizing science. Later cross the street for a tour of the world headquarters of FIRST, a non-profit organization that each year changes how over 200,000 young people view careers in science.
Join Tarun Khanna, author of the bestselling Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China and India Are Reshaping Their Futures and Yours, for an interactive discussion focused on how emerging markets are revolutionizing the global economy. Join The Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor at Harvard Business School as he discusses his groundbreaking theories and latest book, Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution. Khanna, whose work has been recommended by businessmen, consultants, and a CNN anchor alike, hopes that TEDxsters come prepared to engage in a lively conversation.
Live the future with a rare behind-the-scenes tour of the MIT Media Lab led by Mitchel Resnick, LEGO Papert Professor of Learning Research and head of the Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten group. Sneak a peek at Dr. Resnick’s own team’s innovative technologies, from Scratch to Programmable Bricks, as well as some of the work of the twenty-two other groups at the Lab. The tour includes visits to the 1985 I.M. Pei Wiesner Building, as well as the new Maki and Associates-designed complex.