This question originally appeared on Quora. 
Answer by Amy Robinson, idea machine
TED.
I spent every penny I had (and then some) getting to a TED Conference when I was 24. It changed my life.
I was organizing a TEDx in Huntsville, Alabama, where I'm from, when I learned that in order to have more than 100 people at your event, you have to go to TED. Like, go to TED. Real people actually do that and you can too.
At the time, I was working in environmental management and bartending on the side, i.e. not your typical millionaire attendee. It was April, my TEDx was slated for November and TEDGlobal was happening in early June. TED Registration was closed, so even if I could have afforded it, I couldn't apply.
Then came Tod, a now close friend and mentor at TEDxAtlanta who I reached out to for advice. We talked extensively and he convinced me that I should do everything in my power to go. He wrote letters to TED on my behalf and landed a nonprofit rate (yes it exists; you can only use it once in your life). I spent everything in my savings to buy that ticket. I had to fly standby because I couldn't afford a real flight.
I don't really know how to explain it ... the sheer joy, inspiration, and openness of ideas that is TED. Big ideas from the stage coupled with extraordinary audience members is the perfect storm with which to disrupt yourself. Conversations blew my mind. I talked with executives, researchers, explorers, entrepreneurs ... I met people from all walks of life from all over the world, something I had not much been exposed to while growing up in Alabama.
TED audience members are all people who go to great lengths and expense to immerse themselves in Ideas Worth Spreading. I was nervous and intimidated but I forced myself to suck it up and walk up to strangers and ask them things like "What talks inspired you most?" In part because one of the first interactions I had at TED was with a stranger who walked up, said hello then asked point blank "so what inspires you?" So, that can happen. It helped me realize I can catalyze amazing, thoughtful conversations by asking intimate, important questions. TED was the perfect environment for it. I learned never to be intimidated and to just relax and talk about ideas that matter. The editor of WIRED and Shell's Sustainability Director are all people, too, and if you just ask interesting questions with an open mind, they might surprise you with perspectives you never even imagined.
I realized how little I knew about the world and how much, even in my state of perpetual optimism, I had underestimated the infinite opportunities in it. TED connected me with ideas and people that have helped shape who I am today. Involvement in TED and my expansion into TEDx has heavily influenced how I organize projects and even got me into crowd sourcing, which I now do for MIT. It is my duty to use my time here on Earth to make it a better place, and TED has played an instrumental role in shaping how I take action along those ideas.
Now, three years later, I am Creative Director of EyeWire, a game to map the brain at Sebastian Seung's Lab. I met Sebastian at TED. I started the TEDx Global Music Project -- it was catalyzed in part by TED. I cannot quantify the multitude of things that this engagement has brought to my life. I've kept going to TED and expanded to TEDMED and many TEDxes.
I wrote this story out because TED can be anything. I followed my passion for ideas and caliber conversations and I invested everything so that I could take action - it started because I wanted to put on a big TEDx event. You can find your TED (and it may be cheaper!) and when you do, I hope you have someone like my friend Tod to tell you to throw caution to the wind go for it. And if you don't, I will be that person for you.
You must take risks. I overdrafted my bank account while at TED (ahh FML, but it was worth every penny I didn't have). My parents had to wire money over because I didn't even have a credit card. That's the TED attendee story you don't hear! Money is a means to experience. I don't buy prada bags. I buy plane tickets. It's true. Put your pocketbook where your heart is -- better, where your head is. Invest in your passion. I use my money, limited as it may be, to facilitate action, interaction, collaboration, side projects and I rarely live a day without experiencing awe at just how much my life has changed since I signed away my savings to attend a dreamy conference in England.
More discussion on TED: