Interested in sharing your great passion? Want to hear about the passions of others? Check out one of the TEDx Delft Salon events.
Most people are familiar with TED, the popular conference which organizes presentations on “ideas worth spreading.” Two years ago, Delft got its very own TEDx event, organized by Rob Speekenbrink (Online Media Advisor) and supported, in part, by TU Delft. The event was so popular that attendees wanted more.
“The community dissipates when the event is only held once a year. We wanted to do something to keep the community together,” says Speekenbrink. In 2012, Speekenbrink worked with Studium Generale to organize TEDx Salons.
The Salons are a series of mini TED conferences. They are organized once per month and showcase a live presentation and also show a related TED Talk from one of the conferences. All of the talks are in English.
Studium Generale, whose purpose is to support extracurricular activities on campus, sees the Salons as way to give students an opportunity to showcase something they are passionate about. All of the presenters are students at the university and the topics range from democracy in the digital age to concrete. “The presentations typically don’t focus on the student’s research. We want speakers who have a true, personal passion about their topic,” says Lester Larenoye (Programming, Studium Generale).
According to Els Koppelman (Programming, Studium Generale), the students are often nervous about presenting in front of 100 or so people. “We work with them to improve their presentation skills.” Larenoye adds “We even have the TED coach come and advise the presenters.”
The next Salon takes place on March 20th from 12:30 until 13:30 in the Orange Room of the TU Delft library. The title is “Every Bit Of It” but the organizers are being deliberately vague about what that means. “We want to create a bit of intrigue,” says Lardenoye.
If you have an idea worth spreading, or you know someone who does, you can get in touch with Studium Generale at sg@tudelft.nl.
The Salons are open to the public and lunch is provided. You can find the full schedule on the TEDx Delft website, http://www.tedxdelft.nl/and keep up to date by following the TEDx Delft Facebook page, www.facebook.com/tedxdelft.
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