In Akure, Nigeria this TEDxYouthDay, TEDxKids@Akure brought together children between the ages of 5-12 to celebrate the future they will create in their home country and across the world.
Event organizer Joel Ogunsola praised the ingenuity and boldness of the youth speakers, including one young speaker, Feyisayo Anjorin, who spoke on the importance of backing up your dreams with action. Joel described Feyisayo’s message as a call for young dreamers to remember that, “coupled with [your dreams], you must possess passion, belief, preparation, practice, focus, perseverance and the ability to learn.”
Other speakers included a computer programmer who called for kids to set their goals high, and an educator determined to change world education.
Between speakers, TEDxKids@Akure featured technology demos, an art exhibition of works by local youth, and a spelling bee.
“All in all,” said Joel, “the event created awareness in the young minds their ability to do whatever they set their minds to achieve.”
Farming ideas at Colombia’s first rural-minded TEDx
Guatavita, a small town in the heart of rural Colombia was the home of the first TEDx event in Colombia focused primarily on issues facing rural areas, TEDxGuatavita. Themed, Hay Campo en el Campo, which in English roughly translates to, “there is space and opportunities within rural areas,” TEDxGuatavita’s ideas filled up their stage almost as much as the haystacks.
“It took us 7 months to prepare TEDxGuatavita,” said organizer Felipe Spath. Many residents of Guatavita had never heard of TED before. “It was a great challenge to express the nature of an event of this kind, and the immense opportunities deriving from it…We had to meet several times with [groups] to explain what TEDx was all about, choose the speakers, and prepare the [talks]. At the end, eleven speakers where chosen, eleven ideas which can inspire people from rural areas, and the city, to create sustainable models at the countryside,” he said.
TEDxRabatSalon’s beautiful tent venue — which organizers created themselves — in the heart of the Ben Abid forest, just outside of Rabat.
Attendees enjoyed TEDTak videos on biotechnology and visited a seaweed farm.
Building TEDxBelfast 2012: A Titantic undertaking
This June, Belfast TEDx’ers took over the newly-opened Titantic Belfast, a museum-cum-Titanic-reproduction in the heart of Northern Ireland, where the famed ship herself was built and set sail.
The TEDx event, appropriately titled “Titanic Ideas,” was pulled together by Davy Sims, self-described as “notoriously difficult to please.” These are his notes on the TEDx experience:
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“Two weeks until TEDxBelfast, I’m really psyched!” I can’t remember who posted this on Twitter, but it shook me. On 26 January, I announced on Facebook, “UPDATE: Good news, a few minutes ago we received an email from TED in New York renewing the Belfast license for TEDx. We are beginning to discuss use of a very impressive venue. More details as they emerge.”
