From Staff Reports 

The organizers of TEDxAsheville, who said in mid-January that the local ideas conference’s future was in doubt, did a turnaround a week later and noted on their website, “Let’s keep it going.” 

During a recent TEDxAsheville 2015 Expose at downtown’s Altamont Theatre, organizers said the most frequent feedback heard from attendees was: “I didn’t hear about it!”

The Jan. 17 conference at the Altamont reportedly was heavily attended, with tickets for 90 of the 100 seats sold in less than a week. The event was organized by Brett McCall, Jack Derbyshire and Tim Scroggs.

“I like to do things like this in threes,” McCall said before the event “The first time, I feel like that’s when I can make all the mistakes and learn all the hard lessons. The second time, I can start to figure out what those lessons are. And then the third time is all about stretching and giving it away so it can carry on beyond us ... 

“I do have a small hope that someone would come to our event this year, and get excited enough to decide to produce  TEDxAsheville 2016,” McCall said.

“We had been a state of growing and growing and growing, and it became exhausting.”

TEDxAsheville started in 2009 as a spinoff of the popular California-based TED conference, which stands for technology, education and design.

Enthusiasts have expressed hope that another TEDxAsheville event will be held in Asheville and that there is demand for it in this area.