Swarm of blood-sucking insects helps spread the word

How's this for making a cause real and immediate:

While speaking at TED about the fight against malaria, Bill Gates released a jar of live mosquitoes into the auditorium. "There's no reason only poor people should have the experience," he said. Then he waited just a few seconds that must have seemed like a long time to the audience and assured him that they weren't infected mosquitoes. (Reported at The Business of Giving.)

Do you think those people came away from that talk bored and disconnected from the cause of fighting malaria?

Gates wasn't fundraising, but I'll bet he motivated some giving that day.

We should all be so gutsy about making our causes come to life.

Here's the talk. It's very good:

(Or see it here.

(Some reaction to the stunt at the TED blog.)

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