The Write Alley

By now, most people have heard of TED Talks as many of them have gone viral on the internet. TED Talks came from the widely popular and influential TED conferences which have now spawned the first TEDWomen Conference:

And now the TEDWomen’s conference in Washington DC Dec. 7 and 8 is offering an all-expense paid chance to attend.

Tell TEDWomen how you want to change the world, and you could win an all-expense paid trip to attend TEDWomen in Washington, DC December 7 & 8, 2010 and a BlackBerry^® Torch^TM 9800 smartphone.

You have 500 characters to share your Big Idea and you have to submit it today! Here’s mine:

I help women get out of their cars and onto their bicycles to improve their health AND the health of our planet. I want women to see that cycling is fun, safe and family friendly, that bicycles can be comfortable, easy to operate, and carry children as well as groceries.  In my regular mom’s body, without fancy clothes or gear, I show women how it’s done. I’d like to bring my bike and share photographs of the rides I lead to spread the word of women led and organized bike rides.

Here are three currently highlighted on the website

From Heather H.: I founded and run the organization ‘Reach the World’. My two great passions are education & travel; I wanted to find a way to combine these to benefit at-risk youth who have few opportunities to interact in the global community. RTW builds long-term relationships between young students and world travelers. We’ve created a new way of learning geography called GeoGames. My talk would focus on the power of personal connections to help build ‘mental maps’ of the world and become empowered global citizens.

From Iris D: I would like to empower all women to feel their beauty through health and wellness. I am a 66 years young personal trainer and it continually amazes me how many women have no idea of their worth, after leaving themselves almost without identity after bringing up children, being married and allowing themselves to be swallowed up for years. Through exercise and great social interaction, it never ceases to thrill me to see women emerge even more beautiful than in their youth.

From Nichon G: The modern camera is a wonderful thing, but it’s nice to remember how simple the mechanism can be. You CAN strip away technology until there’s little left but the abstraction on which those sophisticated machines are based. I’d like to talk about the pinhole manifesto I am currently writing. In our world which is increasingly perceived through pixels, the hands-on act of creating pinhole truly preserves, and reflects reality in a way that feeds the constant growth of the creative process.

While I may not win, the discipline of writing the idea and making it fit into the 500 characters was an excellent task!

TRY THIS:

Can you convey your “big idea” in 500 words? How about in 500 characters? How about in 500 characters including the spaces? How does the process of making your idea “shorter” allow you to say more in fewer words?