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Maria S. Topalova 

My meeting with TED was love at first sight. You know that bittersweet pain in the stomach when you realize that your life will never be the same. Something similar happened with me and TED. Our meeting, as most encounters today started virtually. From the first moment I felt that TED is able to open a magical world for me that has always attracted me irresistibly. 

You might be wondering who is this TED and how did it swing Maria’s head away. The NGO Technology, Entertainment, Design started its business in California a few years ago with one main goal - to spread ideas that are worth hearing. When in 2009 I found out that Athens is one of the first cities in the world which have received the right to organize TED events, I could not believe my ears. Unfortunately, for the last two years when the event was taking place in Athens, my job always took me outside of the Greek capital and I missed it two times in a row. 

Chance smiled at me in Thessaloniki. TEDx Thessaloniki (x indicates that the event is an independent organization) was held under the slogan "Why not". Some man see things as they are and ask why. Others dream things as they never were and ask why not. I was not surprised when I saw huge queue of people waiting to register for the event in front of Theatre “Olimpion” on Aristotle Square, while others tried to find other means of buying a ticket.

TEDx differs from known conferences because it collects only the restless minds with ideas for which they want to tell and are keenly interested in the ideas of others. The atmosphere is truly optimistic and the feeling - that you are surrounded by happy and accomplished people - unforgettable. If I say that today’s people with ideas are tomorrow’s people with money, I am going to sound simplistic and even vulgar. There is real magic in communicating with individuals who have made something big in their lives. The meeting lasts 7 hours, but they fly away imperceptibly. My only concern is to concentrate to the maximum to manage to remember all that is said. So, what kind of people and ideas were on TEDx Thessaloniki 2011. 

Each story is unique and has nothing to do with the others. Michalis Zouloumidis established his first business plan at the age of 18... for construction of a Formula 1 track near Thessaloniki. Shy, he shows it to his university professor, who after reviewing it with caution, offered... a partnership. The track was never built but Michalis rushes into the next adventure. Immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall he decided to open a clothing factory in Bulgaria and even admonished two senior officials to leave their jobs and do business with him. In less than two years as the business grows, it creates 450 jobs and produces so many clothes per year, as similar establishments in Greece. During the peak of his clothing business Michalis meets three Bulgarian scientists who have just returned from work in the Soviet space base at Baikonur, and they reveal for him the almost unlimited food qualities of algae Spirulina Platensis. In 1991 he starts producing it on a farm near Seres and today Spirulina Platensis is an integral food for astronauts. 

Tim Bradshaw introduced us to the secrets of London Silicon Roundabout - a small area around Old Street in east London, which in recent years has become the home of over 130 high tech companies. Everything started as a joke, at a party over pizza and beer of two-three small businesses, neighbors in Old Street Roundabout. Joking, one of the businessmen says that the region has the potential to become London's Silicon Valley, Tim Bradshaw liked the joke and put it as a title to one of his articles in his blog. The idea is taken by all the major English newspapers, which publish articles about the potential of the area. Hi-Tech businesses gradually begin moving to Old Street Roundabout, and a renowned consultancy firm “Mackenzie” makes a special research of the area, which emphasizes the virtues, if a company opens its office there. Among the many companies, which opened their offices there recently, are the last two hits in the virtual world - the children's version of Facebook moshimonsters.com and the popular dating site badoo.com.

Another emotional theme was the story of actress Eleni Dimopoulou, who while preparing for the role of her blind heroine, decides to spend two months in complete darkness and covers her eyes with a black cloth. How good her performance was is answered by a phone call, which she gets few days after the premiere. The Thessaloniki organization of the Union of the Blind asks her to manage a theater group of the union. Having met with her co-actors and after a long talk with them about what play they would like to do, Eleni discovers that in the past her new colleagues have played on stage and are not satisfied with their amateur performances, and that at this point they want to make a real professional play. Then Dimopoulou gets the idea of ​​making a mixed troupe of blind and sighted actors, who will portray a true theatrical performance, in which the actors do their best on stage - moving, dancing, singing, and talking. Despite the many difficulties, the play succeeds and the troupe cannot bear another name but "Optimists".