TEDx World Tour
On February 19, 2011, Gary Thompson, CLOUD, Inc. Founder & CEO, first spoke at TEDxAustin about “Reweaving the Fabric of the Internet to Transform Humanity.” The recent passing of his special friend, Kethan, and classmate of his children, after a 7-year battle with leukemia sparked this 2013 TEDx world tour to honor his story.
Gary began his TEDx world tour from the stage of TEDxWeldQuay in Penang, Malaysia on Saturday, October 12. “The Internet’s New Palette: Changing the Art of Cancer” was inspired by TEDxWeldQuay’s theme, Artistry Within, as well as Kethan’s own art. Gary’s travels then took him to Rome to speak at TEDxTrastevere on October 16. Their theme, Drops of Life, speaks deeply to the very drops of life at the heart of Kethan’s battle. There, Gary spoke on “The Fight with Cancer: Can a new Internet Change the Human Ecosystem?” Gary concluded this segment of his TEDx world tour in Dublin, Ireland on October 17 at TEDxTallaght. Atelier of Ideas is a perfect capstone to this journey. Gary spoke in Dublin about how ideas spread and their ripple effect in “The Fight With Cancer: Can a new Internet Change the Terms of Battle?” He closed with the challenge, “to make ripples, we have to drop our pebble.”
The following are Gary’s reflections as he spent 60 hours on a plane in the last two weeks journeying from one TEDx stage to the next….
My Tribute to Kethan | TEDx World Tour
My Tribute to Kethan | Arriving in Malaysia
My Tribute to Kethan | Walking on the Other Side of the Street
My Tribute to Kethan | Leaving the Streets for the Plazas in Rome
My Tribute to Kethan | From TEDxWeldQuay to TEDxTrastevere
My Tribute to Kethan | Rainbows, Light and Love at TEDxTrastevere
My Tribute to Kethan | TEDx World Tour Ends in Magic at TEDxTallaght
Our Tribute to Kethan | Coming Full Circle
The whole story comes together in this final post about the journey, its connection to George Monbiot’s TED talk on “Re-wilding the World,” its connection to my wife’s journey through breast cancer and my love for her: