TEDxSydney 26th May REFLECTIONS

   TEDx is an event associated with the [2] annual TED events held in the US and the Sydney one has a creative team behind it that's headed by Remo Guiffre. REMO is well known in Sydney for his now Bondi based online store. It was originally an iconic retail location in Oxford St.
   The TED slogan is 'ideas worth sharing' and revolves around TALKS presented by interesting people without a corporate agenda. The basic idea is an 18 minute talk but different people are given anywhere from 6-11 minutes with some a full 18 and very special presenters might be given longer as an incentive to 'step up.'
   TEDxSydney was again held at the former Eveleigh Railsheds known as 'Carriageworks.' It's across the railyards from Sydney Technology Park and there are various Bays or large sheds set up as theatres. The front area provides a massive foyer to front end any event or make for community space as part of whatever is on.
Bay 17 had a large black stage with screen and red velvet curtain. At each end were simple LED lights and it was backed by an ARKAOS curtain. The seating was traditional tiered theatre style for approx 800 people and the building had a great side door design to several stairwells to quickly move a crowd in and out.
   There were approx 15 verbal presenters who spoke along with images or short video clips as part of their TALK. These were interspersed with approx 6 musical acts or soloists. A number of creative groups had been approached to make short videos for the day and they were exceptional. Some will appear on the TEDx site and I'm going to chase others via the companies listed in the program...
   Registration was smooth and well organised with tote bags and name tags to collect. You name tag was the front and back cover of the program and info book for the day, with a lanyard and hook keeping it together. The totes had minimal paper, a cool water bottle and two pens... one which was made to clip to a nametag lanyard easily and securely.
   Two MCs shared simple introduction duty and the musical acts broke up sessions otherwise puncuated by morning and afternoon tea, lunch and finger food dinner for ticketholders. 800 punters were selected to create an 'interesting audience' and we were asked to pay $160 for the priviledge...
   The day began with a simple but effective 'acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the land' with clap sticks, words and 'sorry' for National Sorry Day... the first music was then provided by the 'Stiff Gins.' Amazingly one song was in the singers traditional historical language and was written based on a blessing she discovered in a book about the 1880s. In the end it meant it was a song about words that would have been used to bless her own great grandmother... poignant and moving!!
   The atrium/foyer was set up with big screen so punters could turn up and watch 'outside'. It was also simulcast on the TEDx website and recorded by ABC Big Ideas... Radio National broadcast live post lunch at the rear of the foyer.
   ZIP water provided a chilled water [4] tap station to refill water bottles, coffee and snacks were for sale through the venue kiosk.
   While your name tag invited conversation around chosen topics there was nothing 'organised' to prompt that except space to initiate it yourself. The theatre was darkened for the TALK sessions and no time was left between talks for 'small talk'... conversation time was in the breaks...
   As a super introvert that was fine with me!! I did think it strange that the theatre was so dark as to be using your ipad, Mac etc made you shine like a beacon...

   This was a group of 800 aged 18-80 with most in the 25-40 age range by my guess. You self select to be there so I guess it was a group keen to listen but I was struck that the format was still 11-18min TALKS with a few pictures and maybe three presenters introduced a youtube type clip as part... interesting...
   The food was all healthy, recycling was in play and most products fostered Australian companies [the water bottles were good enough to be a cute exception.
  
   Presenters were all exceptional... what some lacked in lively presentation skill they made up for with the actual topic... others thrived in catching the audience attention with wit and personality. Each had one central idea to share and made a 'proposition' that their wisdom spoke to.
   Many were intuitively addressing other than religious perspectives in their topic and making a case for wonderment for it's own sake, not as the result of a sense of the creator. Some openly delighted in science, thought and ethics for their own sake or from their early Greek roots as opposed to a Judeo-Christian apologetic. In this sense it was engagingly refreshing and reinforced for me the importance of giving the listener credit for doing the listening. It's OK to 'teach' wisdom or give people tools to unpack or question or act on things themselves... just don't patronise or 'preach' in the sense of a manipulative agenda...
   Lastly my highlights included: Mandyam Srinivasan talk about his research into the cognitive functions of bees, and the exciting new prospect of monitoring physiological responses in bees to determine if they feel joy, fear, anxiety and love and Kate Burridge's talk on euphemisms was brilliant!! Tim Freedman stole the afternoon with just two songs and Katie Noonan was better than I expected. That said perhaps the most poignant music was 'Four Play' rendition of "Sabotage" covering 'Beastie Boys' as a tribute!!

Things I want to remember for other events or for their own sake:
- 800+ people sustained their interest and listening from 9am to 6.30pm
- the interspersed music was a brilliant way to do information heavy sessions
- the Zip chilled water station was a winner... as would $4 bottles/$1 refills be
- food kiosk open all day for food/drinks was great
- the inner and outer spaces served different crowds and different forms of connecting
- the table of newspapers with seats was winner and wasn't overrun
- video shooting and other displays modelled interactive sidelights
- Open source input or a variety of speakers is helped by an application/selection process
- bench seating or stackable individual chairs would have helped on breaks
- good coffee and a cafe space give people social space to hang but still engage
- the simple but effective 'acknowledgement of the traditional owners of the land' with cap sticks, words and 'sorry' for National Sorry Day... and the follow up music was worth modelling on
- I did spend the day thinking lots of random thoughts about youth event worship or gathering ideas despite trying not to...

   TED has launched a new brilliant idea called TED Ed where they are giving great teachers access to animators and graphic people to produce material of their best stuff and put it on the web so the world can share their lessons. They are also offering tailored space for uploading videos and group modified questions or tasks for groups...

I'd be interested to see if stories, talks, discipleship materials, leadership sessions etc could be added with discussion/follow on tasks... [that may be too agenda driven or may OK].

It was a great and inspirational day cappd by cheeseless pizza from Newtown and a relatively quick trip home with one quick view of a 'Vivid' Opera House...