Rally your TED community to participate in global photo campaign of TEDxChange

Greetings from  TEDxSingapore!

If you have not heard yet, GatesFoundation +TED have launched a

Global 
Photo Campaign called The Future We Will Make...

We in Singapore have rallied  behind this and have put forward a 
challenge to our TED Community to submit 1,000 photos to this 
initiative.

Participating is easy, just ask your communities to:

Print, Pen and Photograph!

Takes 3 mins.

Here is the link and instructions:

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/tedxchange/Pages/photo-campaign.aspx

http://www.flickr.com/groups/thefuturewellmake/

Do rally your TED community and attendees of your TEDx idea events to 
participate in this meaningful global initiative!!

Here are we like to share what we are doing in Singapore:

1)  First of all, we ourselves TEDxSingapore team have participated:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tedxsingapore/

2) At our TEDxSingapore idea events, we are setting up a photo booth 
for all attendees to easily participate.

3) We will take a group photo of all attendees holding up their wishes.

4) We have started a viral email, facebook and twitter  challenge to 
contribute 1,000 photos (see below)

"Print, Pen and Photograph!  We give you a MISSION that meaningful and 
creative and GLOBAL! All your need is your camera and a piece of 
paper. Join in 
and be the first among thousands all around our planet to 
participate.  Do this in your office, your school, your home, do this 
with your friends, colleagues, family, your children: "The Future We 
Will Make" is "The Present Where They Will Live"... what gift will we 
be giving them?

http://www.facebook.com/pages/TEDx-SINGAPORE/27675774958?ref=ts

Carpe diem!

Dave, 
Founding curator,

on behalf of the TEDxSingapore team

~ for passion, for people, for purpose

TEDxChange, Spreading Awareness of the MDG’s Globally: TEDxMadrid

TEDxChange, the TEDx event co-hosted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and TED, and which will address the Millennium Development Goals, will happen in New York on September 20th at 11am EST.
 
To spread ideas and bring attention to the MDG conversation globally, TEDx organizers will be hosting webcasts of TEDxChange, and programming individualized content around the live stream.

One of these is TEDxMadrid, to be held at the Centro de Innovacion of BBVA, and will include a hand-selected audience of representatives from the United Nations, local representatives from the Millennium Development Goals campaign, local philanthropists, social entrepreneurs, NGO's and social funds.

On bringing TEDxChange to Madrid, organizer Antonella Broglia has this to say -- “I believe there are not so many opportunities to unite in the same place so many different professionals, [from] so many different areas ... all of [whom are] committed to the MDG. I believe this is unique.”

The event is also open to the general public, and prospective attendees can apply for a place at the event by describing their involvement in the MDG’s, and what they are doing to disseminate its message.

During the webcast, a visual notes specialist will illustrate the key ideas presented on large boards -- showcasing the ideas in a way that be easily understood by speakers of all languages.

After, there will be a moderated debate around what has been learned in the past 10 years, and key ideas that the group feels are 'worth spreading' for the future.

 

Antonella hopes that her TEDxMadrid for TEDxChange event will foster, “a realistic discussion without cynicism; everyone going home with the conviction that the goals can be achieved, and people ready to do something practical about it.”

 

TED2010 Postcard Upcycling

This past year at TED2010, TEDx Licensees received a few charming additions to their care packages, items speaking to their commitment to the TEDx tribe, family, conglomerate, or other tag of choice. Two of my favourites were the personalized TEDx event buttons and the TEDx postcards from around the globe. The TEDx buttons entailed being given materials to create our own mini TEDx event buttons, and encouragement to swap button bling with other TEDx Licensees. For those of you wanting to learn more about this, I encourage you to talk to Eric Greenspan, who was on tear throughout the entire conference collecting TEDx buttons bling (see photo below).

Personally, I was drawn to the TEDx postcards, which were a stack of about 34 postcards, each with individual TEDx event photos on the front. No postcard was the same, and when scattered out on a surface (which I did immediately after finding them) they create this visual display of global TEDx art. Moreover, the juxtaposition of technology, instant communication, and TED(x) with snailmail postcards is fascinating. In the instantaneous communication world that so many of us occupy, there's something magical about tradtional time-lagged communication. It's quite poetic really... and kudos to the brainchild behind their creation.

I was staring at my set of TEDx postcards for awhile, and finally decided to add them to our guerrilla marketing ventures. What we did was self-address all the TEDx postcards to our office with paid postage, a TEDxKids@TheHill sticker, a bizarre question, and encouragement to write a response. Some of the postcards are being dropped in random places for people to find and enjoy. Other postcards are being strategically placed at local coffee shops, where we gave the staff instructions to watch, observe, and engage with the social postcard experiment. The coffee shop staff are also encouraged to email us any quirky stories or take notes while they were at work. We'll be collecting the findings over the next two weeks.

I encourage other TEDx Licensees whose TEDx postcards are collection dust to upcycle those beauties, try the above exercise (or collect stories), and let me know how it goes.

Happy Monday!

L.

From the TED blog: GOOD contest winner celebrates MDG #4

Congratulations to Francesca Cianfarini of Leftloft, designer of the below poster (see it at larger here), which celebrates one of the Millennium Development Goals — an audacious set of goals for improving the world, set in September 2000 by the UN. Cianfarini’s winning poster focuses on MDG #4: Reduce child mortality. Some aspects of this goal have seen progress — for instance, between 2000 and 2008, measles deaths dropped by 78%. But there is still much work to be done to meet these goals by their target date of 2015.

TEDxChange, on September 20, 2010, takes a look at the MDGs. Presented by TED and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, TEDxChange can be viewed through a live webcast (visit the Facebook page to RSVP for the webcast), or you can join a TEDx event in your area.

Reposted from the TED blog.

First 3 Countries 10 Cities TEDx

TEDxEutropolis September 10th 

Theatre Heerlen (NL)

We are just a few weeks away from the first TEDx-event for 3 countries en 10 cities. TEDxEutropolis! We have some exciting speakers for you on TEDxEutropolis ranging from sustainable energy to food design. And from scenarios for Eutropolis to how to be a better entrepreneur in these 'connected times'. An academy award nominee from Liege and a speaker with his own institute for brilliant failures. Curious? Check out all the speakers right here. Furthermore we are very proud to have TEDxEutropolis opened by Frans Timmermans known for his true European view and roots in Heerlen. Ideas can truly make borders fade on September 10th in Heerlen.


Read the latest on TEDxEutropolis

Stay up to date with news on TEDxeutropolis and become a fan on Facebook or follow us on Twitter The website is regularly updated with new items concerning this unique event. The last updates include the boards favorites video's, experiences of board members en practical information. 


Get your tickets

We have a very limited amount of tickets. So get your ticket now. The ticket includes a day brimmed with inspiration and networking opportunities of course drinks and a great lunch are included. Registering is easy and fast. The price is 65,- Euros excluding VAT. Ideas really can make borders fade on September 10 in Heerlen. Be sure to be a part of it.


Written by Egid van Houtem from the TEDxEutropolis newsletter.

TEDxAmsterdam for TEDxChange: An Interactive Dinner

On September 20, 2010, more than 150 of the world’s leading thinkers and doers will come together in New York for TEDxChange.

In Amsterdam, a remarkable group of individuals will join the live video broadcast from the Paley Center in New York and after, participate in a local event. This will be an interactive dinner for 100 people who will be listening to 8 speakers. These speakers have been selected because of their businesses or projects, and their working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals in their country. They will share their desires and passions, their ideas and achievements, and then ask for support. This TEDxAmsterdam event will be more about acting than about listening. The audience will try and bring the ideas and works of our speakers further. Money will not be requested. The currency at this event will be skills, knowledge and time.

Current confirmed speakers include Arjan Erkel (Malaria No more), Bill Liao (WeForest), Ndubuisi Ekekwe (African Institution of Technology), Pascal Katana (Inventor, Smart Charger), Tonee Ndungu (Wazimba) and Marlon Parker (Social Entrepreneur).

This local event has been designed as a global call-to-action where skills, knowledge and time, as opposed to money, will be asked for. The handpicked guest list will consist of one hundred people who have been chosen on account of their ability to effect change and bring unparalleled skills to the table. If you’re established and successful in business or even if you’re starting out with new energy and ideas, TEDxAmsterdam would love to hear from you about why you would like to attend their interactive dinner around TEDxChange.

Sign up here for the opportunity to attend.

This photo was taken at TEDxAmsterdam 2009. In it is Tonee Ndungu, speaker at TEDxAmsterdam's TEDxChange event, and also the organizer of TEDxKibera.

 

Written by Sasha Noad; reposted from the TEDxAmsterdam website.

Stories from TEDxYouth Events: Victor Choi and Minae Kwon Discuss TEDxYouthSeoul

Victor Choi, organizer of TEDxMyeongDong in South Korea, recently collaborated with Minae Kwon to help her to host her TEDxYouthSeoul event, which featured local youth speakers, and a mix of youth and adult attendees. 

Here, they discuss how TEDxYouthSeoul came to be, finding youth speakers, the importance of a mentor and addressing issues with the current education system in Korea head-on:

 

Victor, How did you come to be involved with the TEDxYouthSeoul event?

When I was preparing TEDxMyeongDong, Minae contact me and she asked me whether she could be involved with TEDx because TED had inspired her to take an action to execute 'Ideas Worth Spreading.' 

I suggested her to be a speaker at TEDxMyeongDong. After a few months, she got a TEDx license to host TEDxYouthSeoul in Korea. 

I wanted to help her to host TEDxYouthSeoul  -- she was very active and a doer.  

 

How did you go about choosing your speakers? 

Victor: This was the first TEDxYouth event in Korea. So it was a little hard to find young speakers.

Minae had already found some speakers from her online community, Youtheca. But, we wanted to be fair and decided to create a contest for potential speakers that we might not have noticed. We chose six speakers from 20 candidates that applied on the TEDxYouthSeoul website. 

Minae: I knew that we had a huge pool of talented and inspiring youths in Korea. Locating them was a challenge because it was hard to find students who are TEDish and who are talented youths.

I went to Youtheca, which is an organization of action-driven students sharing their extra-curricular activities.  I went through each and every one of the activity leaders' actions and concepts, and started making phone calls explaining TEDx and asking for more information on their activities -- I ended up inviting six speakers. As Victor said, we wanted to expand our search further and held a contest to select six more speakers.

 

What was your goal with organizing this event? Do you feel as if you accomplished your goals?

Victor: Our theme was 'Entertain Your Dream'. The reason why we picked this theme was because there are too many students giving up their dreams because of the competitive education system in Korea.

In Korea, students must compete against each other to enter a good university -- it kills their diversity and creativity. We have to make an environment where students can entertain their dreams without any pressure. The fact that our young speakers have taken an action to follow their dream absolutely really inspired the audience. 

Minae: My goal was to spread the inspiration that I had gotten from TED to my peers in Korea. I also wanted my peers to start being courageous and active, which is something not easy to be in a country where conformity to norm -- especially in the local school system -- is valued.  

I am hearing a lot of positive feedback from children, teens and parents about how this event has transformed them. In our culture, going to the trouble of filling out a long non-anonymous feedback form is also not common, but they are already taking action to express what they have felt and even making suggestions.  I think I can do much better next time, but yes, I think I have accomplished my goals.

 

Minae, how did you feel having Victor, organizer of TEDxMyeongDong, as a mentor on your event? Any particularly helpful advice that he gave you?

 I feel tremendous gratitude to Victor who was there for me with every step of the preparation and decision making. We had weekly meetings and he was always available for questions and discussions. He was particularly helpful with the technical aspects since I had no experience with the audio/video.  He was also helpful with polishing the speakers' presentation slides and making the online brochure. I would like to learn more from him in the future.

 

Minae, were there any unique challenges that you encountered as a youth organizing this kind of large-scale event?

Being 15, I am younger than all of the speakers except one.

In our culture, especially in our age group, age differences matter a lot. During the process of preparing the speakers, I was at first overwhelmed and afraid while working with them but they were all so cool and did not place my age before the issue at hand.

I also had to work on a regular basis with adults such as Victor, and a representative from the venue provider, Everland.  Later, I think I overcame feeling uneasy and just concentrated on getting the job done.

Another challenge was the finances.  Finding cash sponsors was a problem -- we had to make the best with what we had. We decided to give up printing paper brochures and just made an online brochure. People with smart-phones were encouraged to download them before coming to the event. Everland printed out the tickets and stickers that we put on the gifts.  

As for the stage design, we used recycled cardboard boxes that we spray painted. Thankfully, my mother ended up paying for the printing of the TEDxYouthSeoul letters in the stage design.   

I now have a team of students who worked with me as volunteers. They took care of the stage design, ticket and sticker designs, and overall manual labor such as reception, registraton and cleaning.  Without them, I could not have pulled this through. They are going to stay with me through our future events, whenever that may be. I feel so lucky to have had so many people help me. 

To learn more about the other talented youth organizers of TEDxYouthSeoul visit their 'Team' page here.

From the TED Blog: TEDxChange -- Learn more about the Millennium Development Goals

On September 20, live in New York and webcast around the world, TEDxChange will examine the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs. (Watch TEDxDubai’s video, above, for a preview.)

Established 10 years ago in September 2000, the eight MDGs are an audacious set of goals for changing the world — with an equally audacious target of 2015 to reach them all. The UN has been tracking progress on the MDGs since 2000, watching as the economic slowdown pushed some goals back (like expanding access to education), while other goals inch forward (like increasing access to antenatal care). But throughout the list, much work remains to be done. You can find out more about each goal below; follow the links to reach the data-packed MDG Monitor mini-site for each goal, with stats, maps and individual success stories:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Develop a global partnership for development.

Cohosted by TED and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, TEDxChange will look at how the world is doing on these goals so far, and energize the world for next five years.

You can watch TEDxChange live via webcast (visit the Facebook page to RSVP for the webcast), or you can join (or host) a local TEDx event.

And you can join the conversation on the MDGs right now on the new Gates Foundation community page >>

Interview with TEDx speaker Simon Sinek "Start with Why"

At TEDxSingapore's  idea event called [ i ] on 21 August 2010, we featured Simon Sinek's TEDxPugetSound talk posted on TED.com "How great leaders inspire action".   

Paul Dunn, TEDxSingapore's Brain Trust member interviewed him from Singapore in his home in Los Angeles, California.

We like to share this insightful inteview with the TEDx community.

Go to Paul's website to hear this interview.


Written by organizers of TEDxSingapore