Maybe you’ve never heard of TED? Well, it stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and is a global bunch of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan “Ideas worth spreading”. Founded in 1984 as a one-off event, it’s now spread across the globe, including to South Africa.
I’d heard about it, and as someone who has interviewed live on radio hundreds (yes, hundreds) of motivational speakers over the last 20 years, I was less than enthusiastic when I was asked if I could help coach some of the speakers for the Johannesburg TEDx event on 15 August (the “x” means it’s a locally organised event).
But ... I arrived at the 44 Stanley Avenue precinct – the coaching venue – as a TED sceptic, and left as a TED fan.
“My” speakers were fascinating, knowledgeable, fired with enthusiasm, super-smart and totally original. Mornay Walters, cyber-security expert, convinced me to be ve-ery careful how we use our phones and the social media. Nothing, but nothing is sacred or secret, he warned all of us.
Anthea Pokroy, artist and exuberant redhead, has photographed over 500 redheads over the past three years for her solo exhibition, I Collect Gingers. She gave me lots to think about on prejudice, racial classification and even the prospect of a “ginger utopia”.
Cool, hip, clever and classy filmmaker Sibs Shongwe-La Mer, dazzled me with his idealism, new thinking and fast talking.
Colin Ford, Flow’s writing studio manager, spent the morning with a different group of speakers, and was equally impressed.
“It’s amazing how many clever, passionate and eloquent people we have in South Africa,” he told me. “I was blown away by the ideas that were circulating in the room, and the creative energy that’s gone into developing them.”
These were the people in Colin’s group:
- Strategist/writer Sarah Britten talked passionately about the origins and evolution of online communication and will be using some very interesting props at TEDx to share her thoughts
- Molly Blank has met some fascinating South African educators and picked up several engaging – and surprising! – tales along the way
- Tony Lopes is an engineer who can turn a Coke bottle into a geyser
- Gavin Moffat and Ingrid Lotze have taken their relationship to new ... erm ... depths: 103m below sea level
We all worked together for half a day, exploring what the speakers had to say and how best to say it in 12 minutes, which is the length of time everyone’s been given to get their message across.
Neither Colin nor I can be there for their “big” day, but it’s going to be a blast.