TEDxKL 2015

   

    Last Saturday I went for my first ever TED talk. I LOVE the concept of there being a platform for people to present different ideas to the world, and I do enjoy the content and talks they've put together. Surfing through their websites and YouTube for videos, one of the talks I was most struck by was the one by Sangu Delle who was a strong proponent of macrofinance (as opposed to microfinance) in Africa. It left such an impression on me, and since then I told myself that I would attend a TED event the next chance I get. Moreover, seeing so many of my friends attending TED events and even being part of the organizing team, I was curious and excited to see what it's like for myself.

    So arriving at Bukit Jalil stadium, I was prepared to be mindblown by the talks prepared for us. Registration starts at 11am, and being totally green to this TED thing, I arrived at 10.30am thinking that we had to be there on the dot. Turns out though, that the actual event starts at 1pm, so haha I had two hours to burn. But it didn't feel like such a long wait though. There were definitely cool exhibitions to look at, and the stadium had a sort of festival vibe to it. Music was blaring through the speakers, food trucks were lined up right outside, and people were just chilling and chatting around the premises. I was to learn later on that our tickets included our lunch as well, which was provided by the multitude of food trucks hovering around the area. This I really appreciated haha!

    The decor was really cool too: 2 large slabs of blackboard were placed outside the entrance for people to write messages on, and there were paint-filled red balloons tacked onto a wooden board for people to pop with darts.WhatI liked the most were the boards that had "TEDxKL" and "Infinity and Beyond" spelled out using string. (Yes, string! It was crazy awesome).

     I used those two hours people-watching and reading a book, and then I met up with a friend of mine. DiGi had a photo booth there too, so we made full use of it. 

     Finally the event started at 1pm, and I was psyched for it!

     Before the actual speakers presented their ideas though, the organizers played some videos of TED talks from other countries, so that was pretty interesting. (At least it added to my knowledge of 3D printing).

     The talks were really interesting (of course!), and we were spoiled by a wide range of great presenters like James Lee (Malaysian film director), Tommy Tan (breastfeeding advocate), Datuk Ramli Ibrahim (dancer), Afroz Ahmad Shah (earthquake specialist - really important in light of the Sabah earthquake!), etc. etc. And we had performances by local artists too like Sam Triggy and Juwita Suwito. 

     The talks that really drew me in though were the ones by Irshad Mobarak and Dr Kenneth Fong. Irshad is a naturalist but while he spoke a fair bit on the environment, he gleaned his ideas from the ecosystem of Malaysian rainforests and projected these onto a philosophical framework. For example, by explaining to us how the native lagestroma has adapted to the Malaysian climate, he is also encouraging us to be adaptable to changing circumstances in life. It felt like he was giving us a 360-degree sweep across fields of environmental science, history, sociology, and philosophy.

     Dr Ken Fong was a bit more straightforward in delivering his information. Basically, he's telling us about how to prevent myopia and telling us that we need to go outdoors and have a walk to counteract the effects of facing the phone/TV/computer screens all the time. No deep philosophy there, but much-appreciated advice and information.

    Anyway, despite the awesomeness of these speakers, I was really disappointed because the event was running over pretty late. The speakers were supposed to be presented with a gift of appreciation at 5.30pm, but the second session just concluded at that time. So I didn't get to listen to the speakers in the third session!But alas, leave I must.

    Sitting in the LRT on my way home, I was reflecting if there is a need for TED talks any longer. With the internet, information is pretty much accessible to anyone at anytime. With so many websites such as Reddit or Elitedaily or even news hubs curating content and ideas for readers, is it really necessary for an on-the-ground event? Though I would suppose that some may argue that TED talks are different because a wide array of topics have been selected to expose people to subjects they would not normally seek out. 

    But that's an article for another day. All in all, I really enjoyed my first TED talk, and while I was disappointed that I didn't get to see the third batch of speakers, I felt that no talk felt ted-ious (haha) and that every minute was time well spent. I've certainly learnt so much and I personally felt it was definitely an experience not to be forgotten!