TEDx Bunbury 2017

A few weeks ago I was excited to be able to attend my first TEDx which was being held in our home town. You might have heard of TED events. You might have even been to a TED event. But perhaps you have heard about them but never attended because you don't really know what TED is all about? 

 So what is TEDx you may well ask? 

TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.

Please click on the link to learn more -  Ted - Ideas Worth Spreading


 You can experience TED for yourself here - The most popular TED talks of all time

So our TEDx  was an independently organised TED event. 



I decided for my blog post this week I would share some of what the speakers talked about at our local event. Just a few notes..... have you ever tried writing notes in the dark? My tip is to keep the thumb of your opposite hand on the edge of the page and move it down as you write each line. It worked fairly well for me, except those instances where I wrote over the preceding line!

 
The theme of our TEDx was "wave" - waves of appreciation and love, the spreading of shared ideas, to spark conversation, to inspire action. The more you put into your TEDx experience, the more you take out of it.  

I must tell you now, as a huge departure from my usual posts, none of the photos below here are mine :) Thank you to Facebook and the internet and YouTube! 

Our host Rebecca Cotton did a fabulous job of introducing the speakers and keeping the event moving along.  We even did a "Chinese whispers" exercise across the rows of the audience with very interesting results! 

Whilst in the intermission we were treated to fantastic piano playing by 11 year old Louis Rebeiro that had us all tapping our feet and wanting to start dancing. You can see and here Louis here - Louis Rebeiro on You Tube

First we had a "welcome to country" by Noongar elder Phyllis Bennell, followed by a talk by Charmaine Councillor, who is an Education Officer at the Noongar Languarge Centre in Bunbury. Charmaine is also a Noongar language teacher, an author and artist of five children's books, as well as a singer and guitarist. 

Charmaine's very interesting talk centered on how language can empower a nation, the importance of "mort" - "family", the extended family and community, and the importance of continuing our cultural languages. The "lore" that governs people, protocols, how to conduct yourself. Giving respect to elders as there is much we can learn from them. They have the knowledge, but we must take time to connect with them and listen to them. Our languages are only as good as the next generation. Language is a part of your identity, and we must teach our language to the next generation so it is not lost. 

The second speaker was Joel Whitwell, who talked about the positives in his life despite his facial disfigurement which he was born with. Joel talked about the important of letting go and moving on. Don't judge people by looks but by what is in their heart. Set goals and go after your dreams. You can achieve anything you want in life, the only thing holding you back is yourself.

We were then treated to a fabulous high energy performance by world champion spoon player Deb "Spoons" Perry.  If you've never seen anyone play the spoons just look up Deb Perry on UTube. Amazing! Deb Perry on Australia's Got Talent

The next speaker was Rachel West, who suffered chronic pain in her early 20s, and talked about the idea that pain is an experience made by your brain. Evidently one in five Australians have persistent pain, and $34 billion dollars is spent on pain in Australia every year. But Rachel believes we don't have to be continually taking pain medication which only reduces pain by 30%. There is another way through a multi-disciplined approach - mindfulness, pacing your activities and using Yoga to manage persistent pain by rebuilding pathways, breathing, and calming the nervous system.  

Following Rachel we were treated to an amazing energetic dance performance by Nathan "Nitro" Phillips who owns and teaches urban and hip hop dance at South West Urban Movement. 

We then viewed a video of Derek Sivers talk from TED in the USA - on how to start a movement and the importance of the first follower. You can see the video by linking here - Derek Sivers - How to start a Movement.  

I urge you to take a look at it via the link, which Derek showed to demonstrate his point that a movement starts with one person, who might be perceived as a lone nut at first, and how the first follower has a crucial roll. Once there is one follower, more people join in and as more people join it becomes less risky to join, and it becomes a movement. And then if you don't join in you may be ridiculed. 
So it is important to nurture your first few followers.

 We then heard from Wendy Perdon from the Ferguson Valley on "be careful how you protest". Gnomesville which has been in the Ferguson Valley for 21 years started as a little protest, and now has over 10,000 gnomes and is the third most popular free roadside stop in Australia! I blogged about Gnomesville last week - you can read about it here if you missed it - Gnomesville, down in the woods today.

It was actually Wendy's talk that encouraged me to visit Gnomesville after not stopping there for quite a few years. I was amazed! 

The next speakers were Julie and Menzies "Ming' Goyder who talked about Alzheimers, and their life with their husband and father who has Alzheimers. 

They emphasized that people with dementia are among the loneliest people in the world. A person with dementia is not dead and gone.  It is important to engage with them. A conversation with a person with dementia is still a conversation. Go with the flow. Don't contradict them. It might not always work however, so diversion tactics might help. 

I really related to their talk as I watched my mother-in-law decline through dementia, and I think my own mother was in the early stages when she passed away. 

Next up was Jeremy Hedley and his topic on local journalism - a topic which actually affects us all. Jeremy said that the future of journalism is in our hands. Freedom of the press is only for those who own a press - but we are in fact all citizen journalists through social media such as Facebook and blogging, but we must make sure we do it responsibly. 
Some points Jeremy made were - 
1 - The difference between journalism and public relations. A press release is only an indication that there might be a story. 
2 - Empathy (identifying with) does not equal sympathy (being affected).
sympathy is feeling compassion, sorrow, or pity for the hardships that another person encounters, while empathy is putting yourself in the shoes of another
3 - Framing - take the story apart and put it back together. Think outside the box - there is no box! 
4 - How to tie up loose ends. A lie may benefit an individual, whereas the truth benefits everyone. 

 We were then treated to a video demonstration by Bobby McFerrin at the World Science Festival demonstrating the power of the Pentatonic Scale with a live audience. You can see the UTube video here - Pentatonic Scale - you must watch it! 
You might know Bobby from the song "Don't Worry be Happy". 

The last, and I must say, hilarious presenter, was Lucy Peach, as she through song, science, and stories, accompanied by her husband Richie's doodling, shared how she was able to transform her menstrual cycle from a curse into her own personal life coach. 
You can see more of Lucy here and where to catch her shows - Lucy Peach on Facebook

 

  Congratulations to Susie Delaporte, the TEDx Bunbury Licensee, for bringing TEDx to Bunbury and for everyone who participated in putting together this fabulous event.

Thank you so much for stopping by. Have you ever been to a TED or TEDx event? Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in the comments. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

Mosaic Monday 

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

Through My Lens 

 Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at 50 Shades of Age

Sky Watch Friday

Life in Reflection

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