TEDx marks the spot

Indian colleges are holding independently organised TEDx events with live speakers to enable direct access and networking for local audiences.

TED talks (the TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design) are known to offer enlightening thoughts and ideas from across fields — researcher and storyteller Brené Brown shot to fame after her TED talk on vulnerability; Monica Lewinsky did one on shame (and bullying). There have been others on failure, entrepreneurship, magic.

TEDx events organised by colleges help them bring unique ideas from the local community to a single platform. These events can be organised by students or staff by obtaining a licence from TED. (TEDxIITBombay)

All TED talks can be viewed online for free, but in an effort to make direct access and networking a possibility locally, TEDx talks have been held in cities around the world since 2009.

Now, in a step further, independently organised TEDx university events are bringing the ideas meet to colleges. And Indian institutes are lining up.

These events are organised by students or staff that work in different teams; curation, design, sponsorship, production, public relations, logistics, hospitality, marketing.

Rules remain stringent to keep standards high. “I had to complete an application through the TED website and answer short essay questions to apply. A Skype interview followed. Once they deem your college capable of hosting a TEDx event, they issue a licence for an event,” says Shreemoyee Mukhopadhyay, an MCom student at HR college and organiser of TEDxHRCollege 2017. “The licensee after me only had to write an essay and answer a few follow-up questions, to get registered for another event.”

Any current student or staff member can apply for a university licence from TED. The licence is free, valid for a year and can be used for one TEDx event.

SPARKING IDEAS

“TED guidelines say that the theme of the event needs to be broad enough to cover many different topics. Our theme this year was ‘Catalyst’ and how one epiphany can drive people to pursue something,” says Zainab Kader, a third-year BMM student on the curation team for TEDxHindujaCollege 2019 (held on January 30).

She has recently applied to be the licensee for the next Hinduja College TEDx event.

Vartika Nanda, in her talk at at TEDxShivajiCollege in Delhi this year, shared her experiences as a prison reformer.

“The IIT Bombay (IITB) community has more than 10,000 people, including faculty, students and staff. Our event had to be invite-only to adhere to the guidelines while keeping the audience composition as diverse as possible,” says Rusheeda Rajamohanan, industry liaison executive at the office of the dean (research and development), IITB, and organiser of TEDxIITBombay 2019 (held on January 19).

In each college, speakers are chosen by an in-house curation panel — in some colleges, people can also nominate themselves or others through email or social media. The curation team then helps speakers refine their talks to ensure they adhere to TED standards and fit the theme well.

“One of our speakers this year was Sushil Chaudhary, who saw that remote villages often lacked entertainment and started a travelling cinema that he takes to villages,” says Kader. Other speakers included Rizwan Shaikh, an ethical hacker; and Dr Hozefa Bhinderwala, a psychiatrist who spoke about the need to destigmatise mental illnesses using popular songs.

Meanwhile, the TEDx theme at Delhi’s Shivaji College for the event held on November 5 was ‘Resonate’. Speakers included Naghma Sahar of NDTV, who spoke on integrity; and Sonia Jain, a competitive motorcyclist, who shared her experiences as a woman biker.

Some colleges add entertainment to their events. TEDxHindujaCollege, for instance, started theirs this year with a short play introducing their theme.

TEDx university events are usually organised by multiple teams of students or staff, because there’s a lot to be done — curation, design, sponsorship, production, public relations, logistics, hospitality, marketing. This offers more opportunities for learning.

“Having a TEDx event can be great for your college’s reputation. It also helps the students organising it get hands-on experience and enables growth by improving their management skills and confidence,” says Kunjana Gupta, a BCom student from Shivaji College who was a licensee and organiser of the 2019 event.

“It’s a very enriching experience for attendees as well because there is a lot of intellectual elevation in the same place,” Mukhopadhyay adds.