Among the passengers stranded by the volcanic ash wreaking havoc on European air travel were a group of geek philosophers from all over the world, in London for a forum on social entrepreneurship. One of them decided to capitalize on the chaos and he setup an impromptu conference under the banner of the TED conference of ideas: TEDxVolcano.
Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of a web startup called Asset Map, and he organized the spontaneous gathering.