Posts tagged tedxlive

TEDxBaghdad’s event around the live simulcast of TED2012 took place on March 1st in Iraq’s only 3D cinema.  When the simulcast began, only ten people were there — many of the streets in Baghdad were closed because of threats of multiple car bombs.  Instead of going home, many passionate attendees parked their cars and walked up to one and a half hours to the cinema.  A few hours later, the 100-person venue was packed full. The event, made better by music performances from audience members and — of course — popcorn, was covered by Baghdad television stations and served as a testament to the power of ideas and community to overcome threats of violence and terrorism.

TEDGlobal in Aveiro, Portugal: How to learn about “The Stuff of Life” in shade

Smart or not that much, but one of TEDxAveiro team’s characteristics is not to do things the easiest way. That’s how we decided not just to have a live transmission of TED Global conference, but to put it in a wider context, together with other TED-related contents.

Certainly TED is inspiring itself, seen on a little screen, in a bar, at home or wherever else, but, having predicted clear skies and bright Sun for the 13th of July, we decided to make it in the open space. Is there a better place to discover “The Stuff of Life” than in nature? So, park it was!

Aveiro is a small city of 70,000 people and much bigger cities could be proud of the park that we have. Little lakes, willow trees, cut grass, sport courts… And even the most needed element for this occasion: the giant screen!

So, we decided to start with the second session of the day, around 10:45, and already then, around 30 people were in the park with us. Some brought blankets, some even chairs, and everyone brought – a good spirit!

Besides the transmission, the Final Fair of the Project “Professional School of Aveiro makes pupils become entrepreneurs” was going on, so youngsters were, while seeing TEDTalks, having their opportunity to show what they have learnt about entrepreneurism all year long. 

During the breaks, the workshops of beat-box were going on; kids were singing and playing music.

Next to them, there was a touch of science – something that is, in our opinion, a must at any TED-related event! Our partners since the first steps of TEDxAveiro “The Live Science Factory” were doing demonstrations of robots that they constructed. Little puppy and a dragon immediately attracted attention of everyone! For the part of entertainment, we had a few guests. There was a DJ, saxophones quartet playing around the park, and our speaker from TEDxAveiro 2011, Michael Bradke, who produces music in some of the most unusual ways! This time, he installed his giant xylophone made of different materials, and one more time showed us that there are no tone deft people…

All this perfectly fit into the spirit of TED. Even seen on a big screen, TEDGlobal was a real blast. Mikko Hypponen, Pamela Meyer, Marco Tempest and others proved one more time the capacity of TED to inspire, teach, surprise, intrigue… And that is why we love it.

So, thanks, TED, for this opportunity to watch the conference, at least from distance. Thanks for always making our brains work more and better.

Written by Natasa Golosin

TEDxAmsterdamLive: Edinburgh! (from Amsterdam, via Chicago)

At this very moment, Edinburgh is the place to be — an entire week of inspirational talks, activating sessions and grand parties.

TEDGlobal 2011 is hosting 50-plus speakers and performers, set in the energizing city of Edinburgh. Count me in, I dare say!

Alas, I’m stuck in Amsterdam. I can’t make it to the other side of the Channel… or can I? There are actually quite a lot of options to keep track of all the ideas presented on the TEDGlobal main stage over in Edinburgh. There’s Twitter, there’s blogging, there’s a live webcast — every online option to help spread ideas is used to its full advantage.

But then, it’s not quite the same thing to gather ideas by yourself, or to experience them collectively. Any gained knowledge is worthless unless shared; the sharing itself makes an idea grow, and makes you a part of the idea instead of a mere witness. 

So that’s where Chicago comes into play. Boom Chicago to be exact. This comedy theatre in the heart of Amsterdam is the venue for TEDxAmsterdam Live. A possibility to see the speakers in Edinburgh live, via a big screen… together with 200 other TED enthusiasts. This is not about consuming ideas, but more about gaining momentum. About finding kindred spirits to expand upon the ideas, or to generate new ones.

But there’s more: apart from the livecast, there will be exclusive talks on stage. Ranging from “The Future of Health” to “Game development” to “TEDxBaghdad”, and featuring some renowned speakers.

‘Nuff said. I’ll be in Edinburgh (from Amsterdam, via Chicago). Not just listening to great presentations, but adding my own perspective to them and talking to other great thinkers and doers about them. Because that’s what TED and TEDx is really about. And that’s what makes ideas change the world.

And what’s more: I’ll be live-blogging. About all the stuff that’s NOT said and done in the official streams and reports. All the stuff that happens just before or after a presentation, the understanding glances, the whispering at the bar, the schmoozing in the hallway, the laughs at the restrooms — all the stuff that great ideas are made of.

So if you can’t make it to Edinburgh, or Amsterdam, or even Chicago: follow the live-blog and send me any feedback or questions. Use me — to add your own perspective to TEDGlobal and to TEDxAmsterdamLive!

Written by Boy van der Leeden, Organizer of TEDxAmsterdamLive

TEDxLive in Seoul, South Korea

South Korea is an amazing country, with a population of around 48 million.

There are around 50 TEDx events in South Korea, which means that there is a TEDx event for at least every million people! (Japan and China have 13 and 37 each respectively.)

For TED 2011, TEDx Organizers in South Korea could host TEDxLive events — a simulcast event showing TED 2011, live from Long Beach, California.

I came to know about TEDxSeochoLive event through David Choo, one of the event’s organizers. Being a big TED fan, I felt enthusiastic to know about this event happening in Seoul. I decided to attend this event, even though it started at 1am in the morning.

Although the next day was a working day, many people showed up which depicts their love and zeal for TED.

I reached the venue around 10:15pm, three hours earlier than the actual start. I was warmly welcomed and greeted by all the TEDxSeocho organizers, which was moment of rejoice for me.

The architecture of the Club 500 — the event’s venue — resembles the old style houses in Pakistan. It was made of clay with big pillars in between. In contrast to Korean traditional houses, its roof was at reasonable height from ground.

The TED stream began at 1:00am Korea time from a NASA space shuttle. It was the best start of a show I have ever seen!

There are few great speakers lined up for that day — many people were interested the session where Bill Gates was the guest curator. The successive sessions were separated with an hour break — it was a good opportunity to take nap!

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At 5am, everybody was still excited.

I enjoyed the talks from Deb Roy, Bill Ford, Indra Nooyi ,Amina az-Zubair and Salman Khan.

I would say “thumbs up” to the TEDxSeocho Organizers —

In between session breaks, we enjoyed a “cake” celebration, which ignited new passion to listen rest of the Talks. The event was schedule to last till 11:45am, but many people had to leave earlier for either for work or school.


Fortunately this was not the end; we look forward to show simulcast of TEDGlobal in July 2011. This time it is under a different TEDx name — TEDxItaewon.

Written by Hassan Abid, PR Manager, TEDxItaewon.