The Low Down & Round Up of TEDxAuckland 2017
Hello world! It has been a long and quiet time on the bloglet again of late...
However on Thursday evening I spontaneously decided to book myself a ticket to the TEDxAuckland 2017 event this weekend - and what a weekend it was!
Since I am rather obsessed with TED talks, and have always wanted to attend one "for real", but at $180.00 I did uhm and ah a bit, quickly justifying it as an early Christmas present to myself!
Well quite frankly, it is the best gift I think anyone could receive, and I would've happily paid that even just to see ONE of the speakers...Life.Changing.
In case you are short on time and want to know which one - scroll straight to the end.
While I wouldn't say this was my favourite talk to watch, as I did really have to pull myself together as not to start sobbing, I do think it was the most important one. So if there's just one you watch - make it his.
Otherwise I have linked all speakers to the TEDxAuckland site, where you can find further links about them, as well as highlighted my other top 3.
I tried to write down what for me was the essence of each talk - so you can kind of feel like you were there as well - and I am perhaps doing my part in further sharing these ideas.
Day One - Friday 1st December
1. Angie Judge - Kiwi tech entrepreneur/leader for data science in the cultural sector
Using artificial intelligence (AI) to collect & analyse data is a necessity to secure the future of our history in museums. Because if we don't know where we came from - how do we know where we are going?
2. Andy Crowe & Rui Peng - Founders of Critical.Design, democratising manufacturing
Co-creative designers empowering underpriviliged neighbourhoods/communities in Auckland, Aotearoa. A country/society is only as great as its weakest links, therefore "everyone is a designer", and should have the opportunity to take control of their future.
3. Shaveer Mirpuri - disruptive startup guru collaborating with Fortune 500
Start up and corporates should join forces for the best of both worlds = innovation. Disrupt the competitive ethos by identifying your biggest competition and collaborating with them, for something truly great.
4. Cameron Sims - New Zealand’s first hemp-based chef/founder of Plant Culture
Hemp for a better world (incl. humans). Explanation as to why hemp/cannabis was banned/stigmatised, with amazing insight into the vast potential of hemp from the clothes we wear to what we eat, including rejuvenation of our natural resources (apparently it actually sucks toxins from the earth!).
5. David Razowsky - Chicago-born, LA-based improv guru
"Sit in it!" - the moment that is. A (laugh out loud) lesson on mindfulness, being present and really truly "sitting" in and being aware of it, rather than thinking about the next "thing".
Day 2 - Saturday 2nd December
6. Sam Stubbs - Founder of non-profit KiwiSaver fund Simplicity
We cannot place all the power/fault in our governments - as shareholders, just like as consumers we have power. Discussing shareholder activism as making conscious company decisions - where your KiwiSaver money really goes (i.e. not towards tobacco, or land mines). "Bad things happen, when good people do nothing - But wonderful things happen when good people care."
7. Anna Faber - University of Auckland Masters student
From Korean boy bands to discussing how South Korea is a success story thanks to its censorship of film & media. Admittedly I know too little about this topic, but I am quite confident I would find a way to argue against that - mind-opening nonetheless :)
8. Nigel Parker - Chief Engineer for Microsoft Asia's Commercial Software Engineering
Harnessing AI to help our lives by giving us choices about change. Combining machines + humans to help us make (positive) change stick and become better humans.
9. Chris Pemberton - Founder Humans of K Road & Humans for the Future
Sparky turned soul-searcher giving an entertaining account of tapping into his - and potentially your own - creative potential: still the mind and focus on your breath for clarity & creativity. The future is as bright as we collectively imagine it to be.
10. Mai Chen - Harvard Masters Law graduate, MP of Chen Palmer, Professor at AKL Uni
AND all-round firecracker of a woman! Exposing her Chinese immigrant heritage as her "superpower" for becoming a champion at adapting - not just to cope, but to WIN. Her life motto: "Throwing rocks at tigers." Facing your fears (tigers), owning your weaknesses and pushing them to the extreme/point of no return(throw a rock at them),forcing yourself to adapt. Smarts & strength won't be enough to "win" in future, but AQ (ability to adapt to change swiftly) and CQ (aptitude for global communication with people from different cultures) will.
One quote I particularly loved: "We humans are the only body that knows we will die, but act as though we never will." - so which of your tigers will you be throwing rocks at, and harnessing as your superpower? :)
11. Yoseph Ayele - Co-founder & CEO of Edmund Hillary Fellowship for entrepreneurship
Got kicked out of the States and the Silicon Valley start up he was working for, due to Visa/immigration issues. Lead him to question his definition of success - no longer meant "survival" as it had in his home of Ethiopia, but instead to him success now means service. Turned this into a mission for fighting to put empathy at the heart of institutions, by putting value on human potential. His goal: "NZ as a 'incubation nation' for global impact", and with this he has already helped with the implementation of NZ's Global Impact Visa (GIV) - the most entrepreneur-friendly visa in the world.
12. Liam Malone - apparently he needs no introduction in NZ...
Well, evidently his story did not make the German news, or I was living under a rock at the time, because it blew my mind. 'Blade runner' just seems like an understatement - more like 'superhuman' I reckon. Despite finding it somewhat heartbreaking to hear him talk about how he wished for "normal" legs like his friends everyday throughout school (and despite his success, I imagine even today sometimes), I think what is most impressive isn't the fact that he won some medals, but his pure strength of character. To overcome all that and stand before us telling us how he turned his disability into his greatest ability (he bombards his "tigers" with rocks), with a sense of humour, in a cool, calm and collected manner - well, that takes guts, and he is a very brave man, his parents must be very proud. And there is no doubt in my mind, that he will very soon be "the fastest man on earth".
13. Lisa King - Mother & Founder of Eat My Lunch
28% of Kiwi kids (have to) go to school without lunch - according to Lisa, that is about 300.000 children in our country, not being able to learn properly, due to the rumbling in their tummies. With reasons like "dad doesn't get paid until Wednesday" or "mum says if I eat breakfast I will be okay until I get home", another eye-opening talk. So if you regularly buy your lunch, why not make it from Eat My Lunch - and feed a kiwi kid while you're at it? Since we all got one of their lunches, Frauelein SouldFood can also vouch for the fact that they are super tasty. Oh but the actual point of her talk was: what good is an idea, if you don't do anything with it? So ponder that while eating your Eat My Lunch lunch. ;)
14. Juliet Arnott - Occupational therapist, craftsperson & founder of Rekindle
The vital importance of nurturing a resourceful and healthy relationship with Earth. Valuing the resources we have, by turning more "trash" into treasures through craftsmanship. Craft is "the skilled relationship between us and Earth". Also, knowing your personal resources and valuing/utilising these.
15. Michael Corballis - Psych Professor at Auckland Uni & global expert on human language
The truth about language - a gentle history lesson with a pinch of self-depreciating humour. Discussing human evolution and that of our (from memory around 6000!) languages. Favourite quote: "Writing gives language memory" - or in the words of Anais Nin: "We write to taste life twice." - I sure do!
16. Alexander MacDonald - Senior Economic Advisor at NASA & Program Exec for NASA's Emerging Space Programme
Getting to the moon by human invention - stories as vehicle for ideas. Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon published in 1865, acting as inspiration for future generations to make it happen once technology has caught up. We have to plant the seeds for "utopias" now - so that these stories may shape our future.
17. William Watson - Multi-award winning filmmaker, humanitarian award winner & international peace advocate
Seeing photo of a young girl buried by rubble while sitting next to his own daughter lead him on a mission to save just "one child from the destruction of war". Recounting the "case" of the the Civil War in Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), where after (from memory) 20.000 people died, and 14 failed peacemaking campaigns, guitars & Hakas were what brought peace back to the island.
18. Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom - Co-Founder of SpaceBase & fellow of Edmund Hillary Fellowship
Creating a world where everyone has an equal chance at making their dreams come true - hers is New Zealand as a space economy/nation for a greater future and resources. This one kind of got to me a bit, because I do feel like we should be sorting out this planet first, before potentially destroying another...
19. Cather Simpson - Physics & Chemistry Prof at Auckland Uni & Director of the Photon Factory
Science is boring? Then you should watch this - an entertaining questioning of the role of universities in today's age - not just educating us in the traditional sense, but giving us a philosophy for life. With a bit of dairy cow "sperm sorting" thrown in for good measure.
20. Jahra 'Rager' Wasasala - Award-winning, cross-disciplinary artist
Got a box? Cool - you won't be putting Jahra in it! I don't really have the words to summarise this performance (well I do, but then you would still be reading tomorrow!), except that I found it gut-wrenchingly awkward to watch - in the best way. She is an artist and art ain't always pretty, and is supposed to make you feel. So despite losing her way a few times throughout her talk, her courage of bearing her soul is a stark reminder, that particularly as women, sometimes we have to fight for our identity and beliefs. What stuck: we live in "disconnection, in an era of hyperconnection".
21. Captain Pete Bethune - Legend behind Earthrace Conservation
So they really saved the greatest until last. What Jahra's performance was gut-wrenching, this was heartbreaking. Again, I was shocked at my own ignorance about not knowing the truly incredible things this man has achieved. I remember seeing a brief story in the news about the time he circled the globe in his powerboat thinking "good for him - so what"...
But did I know that he basically sacrificed himself to the Japanese, and endured five months in high security prison there which as he told us through tears left him "a changed man", in the hope of gaining media attention to stop Japan's whaling in Antarctica? No...
Did I know that he started a TV show with a special forces team scouring the Amazon to raise awareness and take down wildlife poachers, smugglers of endangered animals and illegal fishing in Africa, Asia & Central Amercia? Umm no, no, and no!
Did I know that just a couple of weeks ago he was stabbed by two men in Brazil, as he was getting too close and ruffling some feathers within the smuggling syndicate, and almost didn't get to give his TED talk because he almost had his throat slit? Most definitey not.
His idea: "You haven't lived, until you've found something worth dying for." And that my friends, will change your life.
While of course he takes this to the extreme, I think even if we don't adapt his idea in some way, we owe this man a great deal, because if he wasn't doing this - who would be? And considering that just 3% of the planet's biomass is still made up by wild animals, compared to the 97% which now consists of human and domesticated animals, someone has to be.
I think I can safely say that I was not the only one blown away by this human, as by the time he finished there wasn't a dry eye, or butt left on a seat at the Aotea Centre.
And that concludes my round up of TEDxAuckland 2017.
I think it goes without saying, that I am already looking forward to next year's event, and after this weekend, I have decided giving a TED talk is well and truly on my bucket list.
Which of my many ideas will be worth sharing I have yet to determine, and I figure I probably require some sort of authority on a particular subject first - but I'll make a plan for sure.
In the meantime I need to digest all this myself. Happy Sunday!
Yours truly,
Fräulein SoulFood x
However on Thursday evening I spontaneously decided to book myself a ticket to the TEDxAuckland 2017 event this weekend - and what a weekend it was!
Since I am rather obsessed with TED talks, and have always wanted to attend one "for real", but at $180.00 I did uhm and ah a bit, quickly justifying it as an early Christmas present to myself!
Well quite frankly, it is the best gift I think anyone could receive, and I would've happily paid that even just to see ONE of the speakers...Life.Changing.
In case you are short on time and want to know which one - scroll straight to the end.
While I wouldn't say this was my favourite talk to watch, as I did really have to pull myself together as not to start sobbing, I do think it was the most important one. So if there's just one you watch - make it his.
Otherwise I have linked all speakers to the TEDxAuckland site, where you can find further links about them, as well as highlighted my other top 3.
I tried to write down what for me was the essence of each talk - so you can kind of feel like you were there as well - and I am perhaps doing my part in further sharing these ideas.
Day One - Friday 1st December
1. Angie Judge - Kiwi tech entrepreneur/leader for data science in the cultural sector
Using artificial intelligence (AI) to collect & analyse data is a necessity to secure the future of our history in museums. Because if we don't know where we came from - how do we know where we are going?
2. Andy Crowe & Rui Peng - Founders of Critical.Design, democratising manufacturing
Co-creative designers empowering underpriviliged neighbourhoods/communities in Auckland, Aotearoa. A country/society is only as great as its weakest links, therefore "everyone is a designer", and should have the opportunity to take control of their future.
3. Shaveer Mirpuri - disruptive startup guru collaborating with Fortune 500
Start up and corporates should join forces for the best of both worlds = innovation. Disrupt the competitive ethos by identifying your biggest competition and collaborating with them, for something truly great.
4. Cameron Sims - New Zealand’s first hemp-based chef/founder of Plant Culture
Hemp for a better world (incl. humans). Explanation as to why hemp/cannabis was banned/stigmatised, with amazing insight into the vast potential of hemp from the clothes we wear to what we eat, including rejuvenation of our natural resources (apparently it actually sucks toxins from the earth!).
5. David Razowsky - Chicago-born, LA-based improv guru
"Sit in it!" - the moment that is. A (laugh out loud) lesson on mindfulness, being present and really truly "sitting" in and being aware of it, rather than thinking about the next "thing".
Day 2 - Saturday 2nd December
6. Sam Stubbs - Founder of non-profit KiwiSaver fund Simplicity
We cannot place all the power/fault in our governments - as shareholders, just like as consumers we have power. Discussing shareholder activism as making conscious company decisions - where your KiwiSaver money really goes (i.e. not towards tobacco, or land mines). "Bad things happen, when good people do nothing - But wonderful things happen when good people care."
7. Anna Faber - University of Auckland Masters student
From Korean boy bands to discussing how South Korea is a success story thanks to its censorship of film & media. Admittedly I know too little about this topic, but I am quite confident I would find a way to argue against that - mind-opening nonetheless :)
8. Nigel Parker - Chief Engineer for Microsoft Asia's Commercial Software Engineering
Harnessing AI to help our lives by giving us choices about change. Combining machines + humans to help us make (positive) change stick and become better humans.
9. Chris Pemberton - Founder Humans of K Road & Humans for the Future
Sparky turned soul-searcher giving an entertaining account of tapping into his - and potentially your own - creative potential: still the mind and focus on your breath for clarity & creativity. The future is as bright as we collectively imagine it to be.
10. Mai Chen - Harvard Masters Law graduate, MP of Chen Palmer, Professor at AKL Uni
AND all-round firecracker of a woman! Exposing her Chinese immigrant heritage as her "superpower" for becoming a champion at adapting - not just to cope, but to WIN. Her life motto: "Throwing rocks at tigers." Facing your fears (tigers), owning your weaknesses and pushing them to the extreme/point of no return(throw a rock at them),forcing yourself to adapt. Smarts & strength won't be enough to "win" in future, but AQ (ability to adapt to change swiftly) and CQ (aptitude for global communication with people from different cultures) will.
One quote I particularly loved: "We humans are the only body that knows we will die, but act as though we never will." - so which of your tigers will you be throwing rocks at, and harnessing as your superpower? :)
11. Yoseph Ayele - Co-founder & CEO of Edmund Hillary Fellowship for entrepreneurship
Got kicked out of the States and the Silicon Valley start up he was working for, due to Visa/immigration issues. Lead him to question his definition of success - no longer meant "survival" as it had in his home of Ethiopia, but instead to him success now means service. Turned this into a mission for fighting to put empathy at the heart of institutions, by putting value on human potential. His goal: "NZ as a 'incubation nation' for global impact", and with this he has already helped with the implementation of NZ's Global Impact Visa (GIV) - the most entrepreneur-friendly visa in the world.
...Phew! Take a breather, you're halfway there! :) ...
12. Liam Malone - apparently he needs no introduction in NZ...
Well, evidently his story did not make the German news, or I was living under a rock at the time, because it blew my mind. 'Blade runner' just seems like an understatement - more like 'superhuman' I reckon. Despite finding it somewhat heartbreaking to hear him talk about how he wished for "normal" legs like his friends everyday throughout school (and despite his success, I imagine even today sometimes), I think what is most impressive isn't the fact that he won some medals, but his pure strength of character. To overcome all that and stand before us telling us how he turned his disability into his greatest ability (he bombards his "tigers" with rocks), with a sense of humour, in a cool, calm and collected manner - well, that takes guts, and he is a very brave man, his parents must be very proud. And there is no doubt in my mind, that he will very soon be "the fastest man on earth".
13. Lisa King - Mother & Founder of Eat My Lunch
28% of Kiwi kids (have to) go to school without lunch - according to Lisa, that is about 300.000 children in our country, not being able to learn properly, due to the rumbling in their tummies. With reasons like "dad doesn't get paid until Wednesday" or "mum says if I eat breakfast I will be okay until I get home", another eye-opening talk. So if you regularly buy your lunch, why not make it from Eat My Lunch - and feed a kiwi kid while you're at it? Since we all got one of their lunches, Frauelein SouldFood can also vouch for the fact that they are super tasty. Oh but the actual point of her talk was: what good is an idea, if you don't do anything with it? So ponder that while eating your Eat My Lunch lunch. ;)
14. Juliet Arnott - Occupational therapist, craftsperson & founder of Rekindle
The vital importance of nurturing a resourceful and healthy relationship with Earth. Valuing the resources we have, by turning more "trash" into treasures through craftsmanship. Craft is "the skilled relationship between us and Earth". Also, knowing your personal resources and valuing/utilising these.
15. Michael Corballis - Psych Professor at Auckland Uni & global expert on human language
The truth about language - a gentle history lesson with a pinch of self-depreciating humour. Discussing human evolution and that of our (from memory around 6000!) languages. Favourite quote: "Writing gives language memory" - or in the words of Anais Nin: "We write to taste life twice." - I sure do!
16. Alexander MacDonald - Senior Economic Advisor at NASA & Program Exec for NASA's Emerging Space Programme
Getting to the moon by human invention - stories as vehicle for ideas. Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon published in 1865, acting as inspiration for future generations to make it happen once technology has caught up. We have to plant the seeds for "utopias" now - so that these stories may shape our future.
17. William Watson - Multi-award winning filmmaker, humanitarian award winner & international peace advocate
Seeing photo of a young girl buried by rubble while sitting next to his own daughter lead him on a mission to save just "one child from the destruction of war". Recounting the "case" of the the Civil War in Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), where after (from memory) 20.000 people died, and 14 failed peacemaking campaigns, guitars & Hakas were what brought peace back to the island.
18. Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom - Co-Founder of SpaceBase & fellow of Edmund Hillary Fellowship
Creating a world where everyone has an equal chance at making their dreams come true - hers is New Zealand as a space economy/nation for a greater future and resources. This one kind of got to me a bit, because I do feel like we should be sorting out this planet first, before potentially destroying another...
...but don't ponder that too long - only three more speakers to go...
19. Cather Simpson - Physics & Chemistry Prof at Auckland Uni & Director of the Photon Factory
Science is boring? Then you should watch this - an entertaining questioning of the role of universities in today's age - not just educating us in the traditional sense, but giving us a philosophy for life. With a bit of dairy cow "sperm sorting" thrown in for good measure.
20. Jahra 'Rager' Wasasala - Award-winning, cross-disciplinary artist
Got a box? Cool - you won't be putting Jahra in it! I don't really have the words to summarise this performance (well I do, but then you would still be reading tomorrow!), except that I found it gut-wrenchingly awkward to watch - in the best way. She is an artist and art ain't always pretty, and is supposed to make you feel. So despite losing her way a few times throughout her talk, her courage of bearing her soul is a stark reminder, that particularly as women, sometimes we have to fight for our identity and beliefs. What stuck: we live in "disconnection, in an era of hyperconnection".
21. Captain Pete Bethune - Legend behind Earthrace Conservation
So they really saved the greatest until last. What Jahra's performance was gut-wrenching, this was heartbreaking. Again, I was shocked at my own ignorance about not knowing the truly incredible things this man has achieved. I remember seeing a brief story in the news about the time he circled the globe in his powerboat thinking "good for him - so what"...
But did I know that he basically sacrificed himself to the Japanese, and endured five months in high security prison there which as he told us through tears left him "a changed man", in the hope of gaining media attention to stop Japan's whaling in Antarctica? No...
Did I know that he started a TV show with a special forces team scouring the Amazon to raise awareness and take down wildlife poachers, smugglers of endangered animals and illegal fishing in Africa, Asia & Central Amercia? Umm no, no, and no!
Did I know that just a couple of weeks ago he was stabbed by two men in Brazil, as he was getting too close and ruffling some feathers within the smuggling syndicate, and almost didn't get to give his TED talk because he almost had his throat slit? Most definitey not.
His idea: "You haven't lived, until you've found something worth dying for." And that my friends, will change your life.
While of course he takes this to the extreme, I think even if we don't adapt his idea in some way, we owe this man a great deal, because if he wasn't doing this - who would be? And considering that just 3% of the planet's biomass is still made up by wild animals, compared to the 97% which now consists of human and domesticated animals, someone has to be.
I think I can safely say that I was not the only one blown away by this human, as by the time he finished there wasn't a dry eye, or butt left on a seat at the Aotea Centre.
And that concludes my round up of TEDxAuckland 2017.
I think it goes without saying, that I am already looking forward to next year's event, and after this weekend, I have decided giving a TED talk is well and truly on my bucket list.
Which of my many ideas will be worth sharing I have yet to determine, and I figure I probably require some sort of authority on a particular subject first - but I'll make a plan for sure.
In the meantime I need to digest all this myself. Happy Sunday!
Yours truly,
Fräulein SoulFood x
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