TEDxRampur was held at the Rampur School in the Chitwan District of Nepal. The theme was, “Together For Better Education Access” and students, parents and speakers all came together to participate.
Ideas spread in Antarctica: TEDxAntarcticPeninsula
In one of the most remote, unhospitable places on earth, ideas are spreading with TEDxAntarcticPeninsula. The event — the second TEDx event ever held in Antarctica— took place March 6th. 70 people from 19 different countries gathered in Ushuaia, Argentina the southernmost city in the world, a week before the event in order to prepare for their trip.
Before leaving, attendees met famous Polar explorer and environmental advocate Robert Swan, whose Antarctic expeditions are designed to bring people together and inspire them to protect Antarctica’s fragile ecosystems. TEDxAntarcticPeninsula was a “solar event”, and was powered off of a wide array of solar chargers. Their goal was to have an event that ran on 100% renewable energy — even attendees brought their own solar lanterns. Having an event on the Antarctic Peninsula meant there would be unexpected challenges: It is a 500 mile (800 km.) trip from Argentina to the icy continent; the event could was always at risk to be cancelled due to a blizzard.
Nevertheless, TEDxAntarcticPeninsula was a memorable event in an inspiring, exciting location. There was even a penguin registered to attend the event — aptly named TEDdy.
TEDxPeachtree 2011: A Love Story
I am a huge TED fan, and when I heard that a TEDx event was in my neighborhood, I knew that I had to attend. When I say it was in my neighborhood, I mean that the conference was held in the Southeast region of the United States. You see, I live in New Orleans. The event was the TEDxPeachtree conference in Atlanta, Georgia! When I told my colleagues I intended to drive for eight hours, spend a night at a hotel, attend the conference the next morning, and then immediately return home, they shook their heads. They were impressed by my determination, but were concerned that my ROI (return on investment) of time might not be what I had hoped.
Fortunately for me, thanks to Al Meyers, Nwandi Lawson and all of the TEDx volunteers from greeters to presenters, the conference far exceeded my expectations. From the moment I walked in, and was greeted by warm, friendly, and obviously, intelligent volunteers, the “hum” of brilliant minds and creative conversation filled the air. Impressively, but not surprisingly, the conference ran exactly on time. Nwandi Lawson was a gracious and eloquent emcee, who laced the day with pertinent comments and graceful segues between presentations. Of course, in typical TED fashion, the speakers and presenters were as varied in content as they were in delivery, creating quite an intellectual and emotional tapestry. I imagine, like any event, with so many moving parts, there must have been a few glitches and near misses; and yet, to those of us who attended, it was a seamless event that was ran smoothly and catered to everyone’s special needs. Even the snacks and lunch items seemed to follow the TEDx agenda and were as satisfying as they were healthy and diverse!
At the end of the day, as I walked away, I was mentally weary. I felt like I had a good mental workout; indeed, I had flexed and stretched my brain and imagination and was ready for a “mindless” break (8 hours of driving back in darkness). I looked forward to the quiet; and enjoyed the way the ideas of the day washed over me and deepened as I had time to reflect upon the multi-faceted implications. I also felt encouraged, inspired and uplifted after having met so many interesting people with incredible ideas and sometimes, controversial viewpoints. And I felt “full,” full of new ideas and perspectives and a sense of wonder at the richness of a gathering such as this one.
Would I do it again? That is, would I be willing to drive for twice as long as I engaged in the entire event to start to finish? You bet. In a heartbeat!
Written by Dr. Tina Thomas, edited by Desiree Scales of the TEDxPeachtree team.
Award-winning speaker, Dr. Tina Thomas, aka “Dr. T”, is an innovative and enthusiastic leader in the field of human potential and has a reputation for helping people reach their goals in an elegant and dynamic way. She is known among friends and colleagues as a “professional fairy godmother” who delights in empowering others to create their dreams come true. She holds a Ph.D. in biopsychology; is also a registered nurse, a board-certified social worker and a certified Gestalt therapist. Since she traveled the farthest to attend TEDxPeachtree, and team all wanted to know what motivated her to drive more than 8 hours to the event.
The first TEDxTanta was held on October 22nd at Tanta University in Egypt.
A group of young people living in Tanta seriously adopted the idea and began planning and coordinating in order to hold a TEDx conference in Tanta.
Almost all big events and ideas take place in Cairo, and sometimes in Alexandria. Many cities and small towns of Egypt carry within them great thinkers, and smart visionaries who usually do not get a fair shot only because where they come from. TEDxTanta was planned to change the old wrong concept of centralization.
Speakers were carefully chosen, and varied from performers, to cinema artists, visionaries, and of course pioneers of many fields. Speakers included Mustafa Hemdan, who spoke about his project Recylobekia; Ammar Abo-Hassan, one of the founders of Qabila group; economic consultant Injy Amr; and Kareema Khalil author of the book Messages From Tahrir. Performers included Mohamed Mohsen, Ramy Essam, Egy Lions Family and 050 Band.
The day ended with a song from the Egy Lions Family called “Tanta Tomorrow”, and a great applause, hugs and wide smiles from both the audience and organizers.
