I suppose you could have a newbie lunch or other meeting, and invite oldsters to come and mingle, and that might help break the ice a bit — let the newbies see that we’re all just human.

And you know what, it’s daunting. You can try very hard to play it cool, but if you have dorkish tendencies (like I do) you find yourself kind of staring dumbly. And wondering what on earth you have to say to John Hodgman, though you suspect you have a lot in common, only if you knew where to begin the conversation.”

Peter – now that you’ve had some insight into how “first time attendees” feel towards the luminaries – do you think its possible for conference organizers to effectively assist newbie/luminary mingling or is it just too much social engineering?

(Here’s one for you Peter. If the event was great for the most part don’t finish on two examples of bad presentations. It leaves the reader with a negative outlook on the event. I would suggest to come back with a highlight that really summarizes your experience.)

From my standpoint – and again, I never been to the conference, so take it with a grain of salt -, TED is great because the barrier for speakers is so high that they all look to excel on stage, delivering mind-blowing and touching presentations.

Would I, as a 25 year old european who’s never faced death, ultimate epiphany or grand wisdom, have anything to contribute? I don’t really think so. But the deep dive, that I would love. Luckily for us on the outside, Chris and the rest of the TED crew have been diligent in getting materials out on the site – it would be a shame if all that great thinking never left that niche of a little over 1.000 people.

Anyway, I’m rambling – all this to say I’m envious of you Pete