Our John and Rebecca Short were thrilled to attend the third annual TEDx Waterloo event. TED is a non-profit organization that spans across the globe. The ‘x’ stands for independently organized events.
Events, similar to the one held in Waterloo, are being held all over the world. There are 2000 of these events taking place, this year. These events have been held on every continent, including Antarctica. A TEDx event was even held on Mount Everest! Canada can boast that we are the third most populous in TEDx events worldwide. There have been 168 of these events in our country. Not all of the events are as large as the one held in Waterloo, 1500 attendees, but they all share the same message: Ideas worth spreading.
TEDxWaterloo was a success with social media, especially Twitter. #TEDxWaterloo was almost instantly trending and quickly become the top trend in Canada. Almost all of the speakers for the event also made the top 10 list of trending Twitter topic for the nation.
The event was split into three sessions. The theme of the first session was that ‘from disconnected we get to connected disciplines.’ There are too many highlights from the event to fit into a reasonable sized blog but we will share a few of them.
The first speaker, Scott Chantler, a comic book writer, explained how content is what is truly important. If the content is interesting and grabs the attention of the viewer, the form of media will fade in importance. He also showed through sketches that taking a step back allows for emotion.
Next was playwright Shannon Blake. She shared the importance of artist-community interdependence. She explained, “In artist-community interdependence, the art is excellent. It’s real art… The artist realizes that she needs the community and the community realizes that they need the artist.”
Bilge Demirkoz, from Turkey, spoke via an electronic link. She talked about what it meant to be a scientist and how this stereotype is evolving. She also discussed how science and art are linking more now that ever before.
Then we saw Matthew Ho, the high-school student who, with a friend, sent a Lego man into space. He wanted listeners to think about reasons why people saw, “I can’t.” He narrowed it down to two reasons: the fear of failure and a lack of passion.
We also heard from Angela Belcher. She gave United States President Obama a periodic table. He replied, “Thank you, I will review it periodically.” She also expressed her desire to have a virus-powered car and the new possibilities that our future holds.
The final speaker of Part One of the TEDxWaterloo event was Krister Shalm, a swing-dancing physicist. He had a special guest help him to explain quantum entanglement, a magician with an intriguing card trick. He also used a chessboard and M&Ms to explain exponential speed. He finished off the first part of the conference with by participating with a dance group to illustrate quantum entanglement.
He explained, “Dance is a very powerful way to illustrate these ideas.” He was joined electronically on screen, by over 300 dancers worldwide in 64 countries.
As the first session ended and everyone went for break, the announcers encouraged everyone to shake the hand of someone they have not met before. That is truly the way that we can spread ideas worth sharing to cover the world.