Report- TEDx simulcast at Alliance uty, 2 Nov 2014.

Report of TEDx Gateway Conference Simulcast at Alliance University, Bangalore, 2 Nov 2014

TED is an American non-profit organisation famous for its talks with the theme on "ideas worth sharing". Started in 1984, successful people from different walks of life have contributed the ideas which they hold very close to their lives by way of talks which have become their life mission to be shared with the people of the world.

Student and faculty members volunteer group

About 1800 TED talks have been delivered till date and have generated about 2.5 billion views globally. Each talk of not more than 18 minutes duration is very crisp, well rehearsed, precise and holds the audience spellbound for the duration of the talk. In Management classrooms, TED talks are viewed for grasping ideas on successful social organisations and ideas that make a difference to the people of the world.

The 2014 Gateway Conference of TEDx was happening in Mumbai, NCPA on 2 November from 10 AM to 6 PM. A live feed was arranged by TEDx authorities to Alliance University and accordingly we arranged a simulcast in first floor Seminar Hall in Learning Centre on Sunday from 9.30 AM. The previous day, student volunteers led by Sourabha BK from Jan 13 batch had gone through the site www.tedxgateway.com  and downloaded speaker details and it was well publicised. Total of 29 speaker details were publicised. A google registration form also was arranged by the students to allow easy and fast registration to attend the talk.  The live feed was available at www.tedxgateway.com/live under sopecial arrangement with TEDx Mumbai.

The talk started at 10 AM, with about 50 students and 5 faculty members in the first floor, seminar hall in the Learning Centre. The talks were all of world-class, highly inspiring, each one better than the earlier one. With speakers ranging in their ages from 14 years to 65 years, speaking on topics as diverse as technology, Internet bullying, Dr Anita Hegde spoke about her NGO ARMAAN and on best medical practices in preventing fatalities in infant and maternal health. Stuart Sender who spoke on the word Forgiveness was elaborative on how forgiveness had a financial dimension to it and helped Nelson Mandela help build a strong and prosperous South Africa through the Truth and Reconciliation Mission, Ramesh Raskar from MIT Media Labs elaborated on the arrangements by technology intervention for helping the smooth conduct of Kumbhmela in 2015 to be attended by 30 million Indians and in finding missing children and Madan Padaki spoke on helping the uneducated to aspire for education, acquire it and land in better jobs were some of the interesting talks.

Prof. Nirmalya Kumar from the London Business School spoke on how the Indian diaspora settled in different parts of the world could contribute to India’s growth in under 18 minutes sharp to the wide appreciation of the audience. Minister of State at New Delhi Piyush Goyal spoke on how different perspectives of looking at things will help us solve some of the insurmountable problems of the country. Xenia Tata spoke brilliantly and eloquently on how technology could make our lives better.

Deepak Ramola, the 14 year old boy who spoke of his life mission of learning from other people’s lives,  the Project FUEL, Joe Madiad who spoke on improving the sanitation in Indian villages which would ensure communicable diseases reducing by almost 90% was an eye opener for many in the audience. Jerry Sanders speaking of Skytrains and how it would reduce traffic congestion in the Indian cities attracted good attention from the audience. Young Trisha Prabhu, all of 14, spoke on how youngsters could save themselves by not falling prey to cyber-bullying.

Anuradha Koirala speaking her life’s mission of emancipating women and young girls caught in human trafficking from Nepal to India and other parts of the world and helping in their rehabilitation back in Nepal was by far the most touching and effective talk of the day. The best was kept for the last.

Were it not for the strong support from student volunteers led by Sourabha and team from Jan 13 and July 13 MBA batch, the event would not have been a success. A big thanks to them !!

The talks will all be edited by the professional team from TED and within a span of 3-4 weeks will be released as TED talks at www.ted.com for the world to watch, learn and get inspiration from. The experience was a world-class memorable one and the students are excited about having established a link with the TEDx group in Mumbai so that we can continue to participate in future TED activities in India and rest of the world.