Do we get ideas or do ideas get us?

That’s what Mary Ann Kristiansen, Executive Director of Hannah Grimes, sought to explain in her TEDxFargo Talk in July.  The answer? We are all possessed by idea demons. Kristiansen introduced “idea demons” as the powerful but friendly ideas that give ordinary people the ability to do amazing thing against all odds.

The opening of Hannah Grimes Marketplace in 1997 was the result of an idea that possessed Kristiansen to create a marketplace for local producers to sell their products and sustain their businesses. The idea demon did not stop there, proven by the opening of the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship in 2006 to support small businesses to start up, grow, and thrive in the region. Over a decade later, Kristiansen is still being possessed by ideas.

The inaugural Radically Rural Summit on September 27th & 28th, began as an idea to shape and share ideas in rural regions across the country. The annual summit is designed to discuss the opportunities and challenges of rural living in business, media, agriculture, arts and culture, food, Main Streets, and more.

Kristiansen talks about how ideas shape people and give them the skills needed to get the work done – they shape us as we shape them. She talks about how vital new ideas are for our communities and encourages the audience to allow themselves to be “possessed by an idea”.