Super TEDx

Jeroen Geelhoed presents at Tedx
Jeroen Geelhoed presents at Tedx

Marishka Van Steenbergen investigates the power of disruption at a conference with a difference.

In such uncertain times, with our economy so fragile, our future so unpredictable and our present so problematic, it is refreshing to be reminded that it is out of crisis and disruption that the best ideas and innovators are born.

I recently had the privilege of spending an afternoon at TEDxSheffield, where I listened to some very inspiring people and went home feeling like anything is possible. TEDx is an independent event, inspired by TED, a nonprofit organisation, which brings together the world’s most inspiring, and innovative thinkers.

TEDxSheffield is co-produced by Creative Sheffield and compeered by Herb Kim from Codeworks and this year, Chris Dymond from Technophobia has joined the team.

Jeroen Geelhoed, a partner at the Dutch management consultancy &samhoud, was one of the many inspiring and fascinating speakers. Jeroen’s consultancy has been recognised as the Best Place to Work in the Netherlands for the last 3 years and in 2010 it was also crowned the best small to medium enterprise to work for in all of Europe. Jeroen advocates the use of ‘personal visioning’ as a way to create real and sustainable change in organisations and individuals. Jeroen’s message was that “you are who you become” and we all need to work out a ‘personal vision’ by answering  a series of crucial questions.

Tom Bloxham, from Urban Splash told us about their work restoring Park Hill Flats in Sheffield, one of the largest listed buildings in Europe. Tom said that Urban Splash was about “taking things people think aren’t very beautiful and seeing the beauty inside them.” True to its reputation of being a building which inspires either hatred or love, the renovation of Park Hill has aroused a mixture of responses and it is certainly an interesting debate. You can see either side representedin The Guardian here and here.

We were wowed by Dr Simona Francese, a lecturer in biomedical sciences at Sheffield Hallam University. Simona leads the BMRC Fingermark Research Group, who are applying new chemical techniques when analysing fingerprints. They can now find out new information such as a person’s diet, contact with drugs, gender, ethnicity, hereditary diseases etc. Simona said that this groundbreaking research is her “little way to make a difference”. It was an intriguing talk, which showed the importance and potential of scientific research.

Simona ended her talk by telling us how someone had once said to her, “this is not a rehearsal, this is life.” Everyone needs to be inspired once in a while, to be reminded that the world is bigger than they think, that the seemingly impossible is possible. TEDx is one of those events which proves that ideas are powerful and when we fuel them with passion and belief we are capable of amazing things.

You can find out about the other speakers at TEDxSheffield 2011 here .

2 comments

  1. Many thanks for the writeup! So glad to hear you enjoyed the event. The organisers got alot out of it too and really look forward to 2012.

    Herb

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