Review: TEDx

You know when you go to an inspiring movie about an Olympic ice skater or angsty teenager turned Broadway star and walk out desperately wanting to be the next Kristi Yamaguchi/Barbara Streisand? Well, TEDx gave me that same kind of feeling. Except this was with real people who spoke about eye-opening ideas and who have accomplished amazing yet surprisingly attainable life goals. 

The atmosphere was sophisticated and professional. Guests were welcomed with bottomless cups of tea, goodie bags and conference passes in the shape of something other than a colored wristband. This TEDx meant business. There were cameras and camcorders all over the place with TEDxUniversityofStAndrews stickers on everything in sight. However, the host, Geordie Stewart and a surprising amount of comedic relief from all of the speakers softened the mood a bit and made the conference very welcoming.

Held in the medical building this weekend (actually though, why do the arts students get the crappy lecture halls?), the TEDx conference welcomed a very diverse range of speakers. Each talk lasted 18 minutes or less, which was a perfect amount of time to keep the audience engaged yet still left us asking for more. No two talks were even remotely similar but all related back to the same theme: To the next 600 years. Speakers ranged from our own St Andrews students (whose life accomplishments at the age of 22 have completely put me to shame) and treasured lecturers to scientists and a BBC correspondent. Topics ranged from robots and Kate Middleton to kissing medieval manuscripts and chocolate-run buses. Believe me when I say that every talk was interesting. Every one. This coming from a group of mostly students spending a beautiful day in a lecture theatre after having just finished the last week of classes.

Not only did each speaker have incredible ideas worth spreading, but were all commendable presenters as well. Each speaker made it continuously more difficult for the next act to follow. I was definitely afraid that I’d be bored by the end of the day. But the hand picked speakers and well thought out lineup kept my attention the whole way through. The last talk, given by a comedic motivational speaker donned in a superhero cape, wrapped up the conference perfectly.

Apart from what seems to be inevitable technical difficulties at happenings in St Andrews, TEDx completely crushed it. Unlike other balls or events costing about the same as a TEDx ticket, this affair was worth the price of admission. And there wasn’t even free booze there! If you didn’t participate in what was probably the only game of hide-and-seek to have ever been held at a TEDx Conference on Saturday, I would definitely purchase a ticket for next year’s event.

Images © TedxUniversityofStAndrews