Telluride Techies

Scott Brown is no stranger to mountain festivals. He helped start the Telluride Bluegrass and Film Festivals, so believe him when he says the Telluride Tech Festival is different from any other high-country celebration in existence. "It's about being smart," Brown says. "Telluride is isolated, in a sense," he adds...

By Amber Taufen

August 10, 2006

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "12017618",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17242653",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261320",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18838239",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17261321",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Scott Brown is no stranger to mountain festivals. He helped start the Telluride Bluegrass and Film Festivals, so believe him when he says the Telluride Tech Festival is different from any other high-country celebration in existence. "It's about being smart," Brown says. "Telluride is isolated, in a sense," he adds. "In Denver and Boulder, you have a lot of music, a lot of this, a lot of that, but you also have colleges and universities, and if you want to seek out physics lectures, you can do it — whereas here we've had nothing. And it's just unacceptable to me to be the stupidest guy in the room."

So each year they bring in some high minds and have them get down and dirty with festival-goers. "We try to pick people who have changed the world through something they did," Brown says. "I think it's the personal, little things that make it different. You can go hear a physicist this week if you want to, but can you go to dinner with him?"

This year's honorees include science deities Eric Allman, David Sinclair, Robert Sproull, Bob Stein and Robert Winter. The extravaganza started on Friday, but there's still time to catch the final hours of the action today. All lectures are free and open to the public, but for $200 you can enjoy front-row seating as well as cocktails and a picnic lunch with the honorees. For registration and information, call 1-970-728-7000 or visit www.techfestival.org.
Aug. 11-13

Become A Member

BEFORE YOU GO...
Can you help us continue to share our stories? Since the beginning, Westword has been defined as the free, independent voice of Denver — and we'd like to keep it that way. Our members allow us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls.

Amber Taufen has been writing about people, places and things in Denver since 2005. She works as an editor, writer, and production and process guru out of her home office in the foothills.

Contact: Amber Taufen

Follow:

Instagram: @polished_amber_taufen