Part Two of a guest post by OgilvyOne Sydney’s Simon Bloomfield (@dekkard42) giving you the run down of Saturday’s TEDxSydney event. (Part One.)
So it’s not just advertising people who crowdsource these days.
Because this year at TEDxSydney, our lunch was crowdsourced too. I’d been aware in the lead up to the event that they’d enlisted the team at Grow It Local to feed the attendees through a “crowd-farming” approach.
Some 250 TEDxSydney crowd farmers registered to contribute homegrown produce for the event, and before long contributions were received spanning cows, bee hives, ducks, chickens and near every kind of herb and vegetable imaginable. It was truly stunning – best food I’ve ever had at a “conference” of this size (and I’ve been to a few), but beyond the pure quality of it, was the fact that the experience embodied what TED is about – great ideas worth spreading. I don’t know what they do to feed delegates at other TEDx events, but I doubt it would be a (crowdfarmed) patch on that.
Session Three.
And then there was Marc.
The moment I’d been waiting for.
I’d moved to the front of the Concert Hall and was just a few rows away from the stage. Then I noticed the pair of low chairs.
Huh? They’re TED talks aren’t they? Not TED chats.
But that appeared to be the case – unlike the other speakers for the day, Marc Newson wasn’t delivering a talk, but an “in conversation” piece with curator Julian Morrow. It was surprising, and I’ll be honest, a little disappointing. What it came down to though, was that his work says more about him than his words do. Which is probably why the highlight of this session was when two gloved men carried the Lockheed Lounge out onto stage. Newson did liken releasing the original piece from styrofoam to Michelangelo releasing David from a lump of marble.
And I’m sure there was some degree of modesty in there.
Next up was another candidate for most obscure job title, with Biologist Designer, Andrew Parker. I’ll be honest and admit I only understood about 10% of what he was talking about. Biomimetics, photonic crystals and nanostructures were just a few of the terms being thrown around in his look at colour in nature and the potential applications for technology.
Slam poet/rapper Omar Musa followed and received a standing ovation for a striking look at Australia through his eyes, before Marita Cheng, Engineer, founder of Robogals and 2012 Young Australian of the Year took to the stage. And what a bundle of energy she was. “Mind=blown.”
Next came David Sinclair, a geneticist, who pulled at the heartstrings of all parents of young children in the room by reminding us that we are going to die and our kids will be sad when we do. Of course he then launched into details of his work on slowing the aging process. Not to the point of us living til we’re 500, but at least ensuring that if we make our 90s+, we do so in a much more productive state. And a good starting point: the longevity genes he’s uncovered apparently shut down when we eat hamburger. So you can put that burger down right now.
Closing the session was Australian singer-songwriter, Kate Miller-Heidke, and whilst I haven’t dwelled too much on the “Entertainment” portion of the day, she was undoubtedly responsible for the quote of the day. After performing a song that featured some of her trademark operatic moments, she informed us that her singing teacher directed that “when you’re singing that high note operatically, your wide mouth should be an echo of your wide vagina.” And of course that is all she can now think of when she performs that song. I won’t tell you the title, lest you be scarred similarly.
Session Four.
There are plenty of times when you see a person on the TED stage who intimidates you because of their intellect. Somewhat rarer are the occasions when you’re just plain frightened, but I think that was possibly the case for a few of us during Environmental Activist, Damien Mander’s talk. Having made the transition from Special Operations Sniper to founder of the International Anti-Poaching League, Mander prowled the stage like the wild animals he protects, delivering a primal attack on our priorities in a world where those who have no voice are rarely heard. Coming so soon after a lunch break where animals were consumed that had been slaughtered for our benefit, it was quite a challenging moment.
Social Researcher Rebecca Huntley followed, and while she had some very interesting things to say about language and the Australian consumer – I was still trying to compose myself after the animal attack.
The last “real” speaker of the day was Architect Paul Pholeros. Paul presented the story of Housing for Health, a campaign he’d been working on for some time in remote indigenous communities to improve health standards, through healthy living practices. The ideas were innovative and the results were truly striking.
TEDx traditionally wraps up the day of intense ideas with something a little more lighthearted. This year, it was Dr Justine Rogers, a comedian and academic specializing in the “sociology of the elites, professional identity and ethics.” This was comedy TED-style, and featured Rogers’ “9 Point Plan to TEDtalk success.” It was funny and at times very insightful, but I could only think of one thing:
It was nearly time for a well-deserved drink and a toast. Here’s to TEDxSydney 2013.
Simon Bloomfield is the Creative Brand Guardian – American Express at OgilvyOne. Part One of his review of TEDxSydney. Simon’s other pieces for Nextness include Why all copywriters should tweet and The future of 1dent!ty. Follow Simon on Twitter: @dekkard42.