The Idea Festival - What It’s ACTUALLY About
By Luke Murray
For three days every year, some of the most brilliant innovators in the world converge in Louisville, KY to attend The Idea Festival - a TED-esque conference that comes in the form of a series of lectures and performances by leaders in all areas of left and/or right-brained professions. I decided to join them this year to answer one seemingly simple question: “Why?”
Unfortunately, I found out very quickly that “Why?” was actually one of the most complex questions I could have asked. Each person I spoke to had a different answer. Some were from the University of Kentucky Gaines Fellowship Program or the UK Chellgren Undergraduate Fellows Program. Some of these students were simply there to broaden their perspective, while others had specific interests in a certain lecture as they pertained to research they were doing. The University of Louisville School of Medicine had several students attend as well. Some were attending as musicians interested in hearing Dr. Kogan - a world-renowned psychiatrist and pianist. Others were attending as clinicians hoping for a balanced life, wanting to hear how Dr. Kogan has successfully pulled off juggling two careers. The list, of course, goes on. There were several hundred people in attendance…I only got to ask thirty or so…
…But then there’s the event organizers themselves. Kris Kimel of the Kentucky Science & Technology Corporation, the conference’s organizer, often answers this “Why?” question with answers like: “to share ideas”, “to make ideas open and available to people”, “to make ideas open source”. Hmm…no attendees talked like this?
At first glance it sounded like the reason people came to the conference and the reason the conference was put on were different. This is not unusual. Oftentimes people come together to make a transaction for completely different reasons. We go to McDonald’s to buy a hamburger because we’re hungry. The people that work at McDonald’s are there to make you a hamburger because they want to make money - nothing wrong with that…because everyone ultimately gets what they want. However, in this case I found that the desires of the organizers and the attendees ultimately did come together if you asked “Why?” and listened long enough.
Why do the organizers put it on? So that people can share unique realizations (i.e. Dr. Kogan sharing his discovery that Tchaikovsky was most likely clinically depressed through studying his letters, journals, and music)…or not so unique realizations but from a unique perspective (i.e. A.J. Jacobs learning about the importance of focus by Unitasking for four months). Why do they want to do this? So that others can hear about them. Why do they want others to hear about them? Well that’s where the desires of the organizers meet the motives of its attendees.
The Idea Festival is not about ideas.
Why do people show up? It’s not simply to be exposed to a new thought, something they’ve never considered before. Yes, it’s interesting to know that possums have 13 nipples (thanks Mr. Jacobs) but having this piece of knowledge shared with me isn’t why Kris Kimel and his wonderful staff spend all year preparing for this event. The point of the Idea Festival is to create inspired ideas, that do teach us something but ultimately will change our behavior in a way that benefits the world.
Dr. Kogan played the piano beautifully and I was thoroughly interested in his stories about Tchaikovsky’s personal, professional, and mental life, but what I ultimately took from his playing and his presentation is the realization and the intention that I too can choose to inspire, educate, and entertain the world in ways that “fit” my interests and talents - no matter how unique. Mr. Jacobs gave me the idea AND the inspiration to spend a month living with my grandparents, something I’ve always wanted to do but thought was too ‘crazy’ of an idea to try. After hearing about his experiences with living biblically for a year, reading the whole Encyclopedia Britannica, and becoming a woman - taking some time “off” with no other purpose but to learn didn’t sound nearly as impossible or unreasonable.
An Idea doesn’t make the world a better place and everyone that attends or puts on the Idea Festival knows that. But an idea coming from a person that embodies its principles can ultimately catalyze someone to take action on it in a way that motivates them to change their world. That’s what the Idea Festival is ACTUALLY about. Unfortunately for me, the “Inspired Ideas Festival” doesn’t have nearly as nice of a ring to it 
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