“The Dream Team” – TEDx

I was on social media about a year ago and saw that my son’s high school (Beaverton High School) was hosting a TEDx. I immediately told Jimi, “You must apply to give a talk.” After Jimi’s talk was accepted and we got more into the planning, we found out the organizer of the event was a Junior at Beaverton High School, and it was going to be a student lead event.

HOW COOL IS THAT!!

Neither Jimi nor I had been involved with TEDx before, well except for watching talks on our iPads. I was clueless to the huge undertaking this teenager was taking on with a teeny, tiny budget (basically relying on students, teachers and adults to donate their time and energy).

Fast forward to today…

Jimi and I owe a huge “thank you” to two very special people!!

Rory Thomas O’Neil AND Michael Truman Cavanaugh

Jimi and I met Rory in 2018 when I blindly hired him off the internet. I needed a local videographer to capture Jimi speaking in Minneapolis, MN for the Scrum Alliance Global Scrum Gathering. We have stayed in touch since then. Rory flew to Portland from Minneapolis, MN to provide his expertise to this event (and some of his own equipment). He operated the main camera but also assisted and supported the student volunteers running the other cameras angles, the audio board, the lighting and the editing.

Michael came into our life by attending Jimi’s CSM & CSPO Workshops in the fall of 2020. He was one of the first recipients to enroll using our Scholarship Program and is now a part-time contracted Scrum Master for Fearless Agility. Michael flew to Portland from San Jose, CA to offer his expertise to this event. Michael’s extensive background as a Stage Manager was instrumental in the organization of EVERYTHING during the entire week.

After asking both of them to travel to Portland for 7 days, we couldn’t let them leave without some FUN!