TEDxSummit (fot. James Duncan Davidson)
In mid April, while Kraków was still shaking off winter, our marketing and PR manager Kasia Triantafelo and curator Ewa Spohn travelled to Doha to take part in the first ever TEDxSummit. The TEDx programme has only been going for 3 years and in this time, around 3000 events have been held. Given that the TED team thought that there would only be a few events a year, the growth of the programme has been extraordinary.
So the purpose of the TEDxSummit was to bring together this diverse group of change agents from around the world and to get them to meet, talk and exchange ideas, as well as to discuss the future of the TEDx programme.
It was a full week! We started off with some pre-event tours to some of the most interesting things happening in Qatar. From E.M. Pei’s Museum of Islamic Art, to the Shell R&D facility where they are turning natural gas into liquid that remains liquid at atmospheric temperature and pressure and F1 Williams’ facility, where one lucky member of the TEDxWrocław team got to try out the simulator used to train the Williams’ F1 drivers.
The Summit itself was no less interesting. With over 800 TEDx organisers to meet and talk to, two TED sessions at the beginning and end (including a talk by the much-loved Hans Rosling) and a day in the desert where we discussed regional collaboration in Eastern Europe and Russia, self-organised an unconference on over 30 different TEDx-related subjects and swam in the Persian Gulf. It was a rollercoster.
We had the opportunity to learn from the TED staff about the practicalities of organising an event (yes, even Chris Anderson and Bruno Giussani sometimes struggle to get speakers to prepare) and each other about what works and what doesn’t (thanks in particular to TEDxAthens for a great session on using social media).
We also did a bit of future planning, so watch out for the turning-ideas-into-action website, regional lens for finding TEDx events and talks from your region and how-to-TEDx videos. It’s quite amazing what we managed to achieve in just a few days and it made us realise how powerful we are when we act together, not alone.
We came back to Krakow refreshed and recharged, with lots of ideas for how to organise our event and build our community. We can’t wait to see you next week at TEDxKrakowCinema and over the next few months!
See you on Tuesday!