Here are a list of things I'd like to see at next year's TEDxHouston

1) Fewer empty seats. My friend Durwin suggests that we employ an airline model using overbooking and standby slots. He also speculated that many of those empty seats were 'complimentary' to speakers and sponsors, and that may require different model, maybe donations to students. 

2) A program that is truly pocket-sized and fatter with empty places to write notes. 

3) A few minutes on the program to spotlight TEDxWoodlands and any other similar activities that the participants could attend. 

4) Emcee Chris Johnson needs to bone up on the facts and figures or cede the job to someone who will. 

5) Although TED presentations have always been sparse on audience interaction, Kurt Podeszwa set a fabulous example. We don't want to bring back the Q&A, but polls and challenges to the audience are fabulous. 

6) Either don't do 'surprise guests' or send out a followup email with their organizational information so we can go deeper. No brain cells will be killed by cutting the program short. Maybe you could fill in with more audience participation. 

7) Substance over style. I know that I'm in the minority on this one, but I have so many entertainment opportunities, and I've attended so many of these conferences… I'm not there for standup comedy or a music performance. I believe it's the job of the curators to find presenters and performers who are unique, not just talented. Tough demand, I know. 

8) Work harder on purging the PowerPoint slides. Another tough demand but the original TED proved it can be done. I enjoyed Tory Gattis' presentation but it was all wrong for the TED format. Was it screened at all? Tell presenters they can't go on until they've submitted appropriate slides. 

9) More careful curation of the goodie bag. Seriously, we'd rather have a few select items which mean something than whatever junk was volunteered by sponsors. It's enouraging a sort of pollution to let that stuff in. 

10) I wish "Hidden Gems" had worked, but it didn't do anything for me. Please keep working on participant games and structured networking. We need them. 

11) More information about the TEDtalk videos being shown. I couldn't find one of them at TED.com. Why not set up the web site so that it would be easy to add all the surprise speakers, etc. after the event? Maybe even invite volunteers to add links and news. 

In summation, the longer this conference goes on, the more pressure the organizers will experience to discover and curate the most valauble speakers. I'm more interested in new information, sincerity and commitment to the format than I am in flash and klout.

I would rather have a black-and-white program printed the day before with more information instead of big pictures and color. And the web site needs to include all the followup information we need. Inspiring graphics do not make up for lack of information.