The TED experience

TEDx Sheff

Ever heard of TED? The series of events with the tagline ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’? Well apparently some of you have never heard of it, some of you are vaguely aware and some of you might as well sign yourselves up as the poster children of the TEDx series of events. Leanne Buchan went to TEDx Sheffield to see what all the fuss was about.

Having been to a couple of Leeds TEDx events and watched a few on the hashtags I think I know what they’re about. For me they are a random collection of people doing ‘stuff ‘ who are prepared to stand up and talk about it.

The format is a series of presentations roughly 15-20 minutes each, from a mixed line-up of local experts and national practitioners on the speaker circuit, punctuated with a number of videos from the TED library. I have enjoyed the Leeds events but find the speaker lineup hit and miss. Not through fault on the organisers’ part but through the nature of a TEDx event. The idea is that it brings together an eclectic variety of speakers from technology, science, design, art, entertainment and much more. This means with the best will in the world there will always be something in the mix that’s just not for me.

So I head off to Sheffield with mixed feelings. I’m interested to see how it differs to the Leeds one or if it’s pretty much the same thing different place, I wonder if the speakers will give me an insight into what’s going on in Sheffield and whether or not I’m going to get the familiar feeling of conference fatigue half way through because the line up just isn’t doing it for me.

From the off this one is different as it takes place all afternoon not in the evening as I’m used to, so I’ve had to make a commitment to be out of the office all afternoon. Oddly this means my expectation is higher, evidently work time is more precious to me than my personal time.

We enter the Crucible Theatre and immediately this feels more like a conference where I might learn something. Not only is it in work time, it’s at a serious venue and the format is very conference-like with a short coffee break not a three hour lunch for ‘networking’. Due to my inability to read a train timetable we are sat up in the gods with the other late comers and everyone is very attentive.

The first presentation we hear is about the Listening Project which almost makes cry. It aims to create a bank of intimate conversations that will be aired by the BBC and archived by the British Library. The idea being to create a picture of our society in rawest emotional form for future generations. We take our seats just in time to hear Fi Glover making the project personal by sharing the example of someone who recorded a conversation with their grandmother who since passed away.

Next up is an art project based at Site Gallery in Sheffield which introduces the idea of a ‘Technologist in Residence’. We’re used to hearing about artists in residence enriching working environments with art and culture but a technologist in residence who goes around fixing things and creating robots and clever solutions to problems we never knew we had, I like the sound of this!

It’s all part of the Happenstance project across galleries in Sheffield, Brighton and Bristol aiming to ‘make arts organisations digital by default’. Leila and James, the Sheffield technologists in residence, have created Heathcliff, a sort of printing cat. You can send a text to him and he prints it out providing and instant on the move point of contact with the technologists.

The presentations continue in quick succession with and mix of roller derby, natural sciences, bio-chemistry and mechanical engineering. That is until one women clad in red tights takes the stage and declares that she wants to talk to us about her period.

The room shifts uncomfortably in its seats and prepares for a pre-menstrual onslaught. Mercifully it doesn’t come, instead Chella Quint reveals herself as a very funny fanzine and performance maker. She undertook the 24 hour fanzine challenge, which as you might expect is to make a 24 page fanzine on a topic of your choice in 24 hours. As you may not expect her theme was menstruation. Her serious message is about the power of advertising, how the industry uses shame to sell and can illicit a fear in the consumer that is a tad sinister. It just so happens that her presentation is punctuated with witty one-liners such as “… and here is a red dot appearing in an advert. It’s the first sign that we have blood, not that weird blue stuff they menstruate on the TV.”

One of the most moving presentations of the day is the final offering in the form of a brief preview of the film ‘From The Sea To The Land Beyond‘, charting more than a century of film of the British Film Institute archives to the haunting melodies of British Sea Power. Producer Mark Atkin talks us through the process of selecting the footage and the soundtrack, working across film and music to create a beautiful record of our relationship with our coastline. Although to be honest I’m not listening. I’m close to tears again and mesmerised by Victorian men in top hats diving into the sea with umbrellas

A few of the presentations passed me by, mainly because they were the science bit and that’s not my bag. It’s at this point that that I realise the beauty of TEDx events. They are a treat.

They aren’t, nor do they aim to be, industry standard conferences where you go back to the office with a long list of learnings to share with your colleagues and apply to your day job. The TEDx events are a great way to find out about interesting stuff happening on your doorstep and to meet the people doing those things. It suddenly dawns on me that I’ve been doing it wrong. I’ve been going to the Leeds TEDx event because I knew they were about technology, arts, design and other things I’m interested in. What I should have been doing was mixing it up and going to the Sheffield event one month, the Manchester one the next, then maybe back to Leeds for the one after that.

This is the true value of TEDx. You never know what you’re going to get, you book the time, pay your ticket and rock up ready to explore knowing that although it won’t all be for you, there’s a very high possibility you’ll see one of the best presentations you see all year.

Image: Simon Wilson

2 comments

  1. Great review Leanne. Like you I’ve been to a lot of TEDx. Have to say that was easily the best one I’ve attended. Herb Kim, the organiser, always puts together a great line-up but this time he out did himself. For my money events like this should be compulsory.

    1. Thanks for the speedy comment!

      As a business owner would you rather send your staff to events like this or to conference that have one specific focus related to their role but often cost more?

      Interested in whether or not people think events like this have a ‘business’ value or are more about something you do for your own development and information?

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