Hyderabad: When did you last hear a talk that inspired you so much. It may be a tough call to recollect one.
With TEDx talks, it is a different experience. You experience talks that stir your curiosity. TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world. It’s no secret that millions love TED Talks in India and abroad. India is caught on with TEDx movement very well. In 
the words of Chris Anderson, the man behind the TED talks, “India is said to be the most active country for TEDx events all over the globe”.
Through 24 events organized in the past four years, TEDxHyderabad has impacted more than 9000 Hyderabadis through 67 exceptional speakers. The official TEDxHyderabad Talks vidoes have been appreciated with a viewership of more than 4.2 million.
More than 2500 curated audience are expected to witness talks of some 20 plus distinguished speakers share their ideas worth spreading.
Says Viiveck Verma, Licensee and Curator of TEDxHyderabad, the latest edition of which is scheduled this September in Hyderabad, TEDx is ushering change through the medium of talks. Each year hundreds of curious minds come forward and share their groundbreaking ideas across the world. The TEDx speakers are highly respected, Viivek adds.
TEDx Hyderabad which is in fifth year, is working towards lining up some impressive speakers for this season. As the city is gearing for the next edition of TEDx, we talked to some cross section of TEDx fnas, ardent TEDx attendees, what it means to them?
“When I am low or feel being challenged at work I listen to TED talks. They are an inspirational resources”, says Vikram, an event manager.
“Ideas are new age currencies says Dr. Anitha”, an Entrepreneur.
“TED has been educating and enlightening audiences all over the world with TED Talks” says Namita Rao, an Artist cum Educator.
“TED Talks set the bar so high and are rare to encounter. They inform, engage, educate and even entertain us. They even ‘move’ us internally which helps us reshape our careers, transform our businesses and change our lives for the better”, shared Anuja Rao, a Home Maker.
The biggest impact is probably at the individual level where people who listen to TED Talks are inspired by the talk and they view life with a greater sense of responsibility, opening up to various distinct possibilities for themselves.
Take for instance, the theme of this year is “Limitless”. A very abstract subject. But, many distinguished speakers present a different perspective of them, informs Viivek.
What is pin-drop silence? How often do you get to experience it in our meetings?
We had one such experience some time ago at TEDx Hyderabad-2015, where I was an attendee shares D.Ramchandram, an ardent TEDx attendee. When Zena El Khalil, a Visual Artist from Beirut/Lebanon presented her talk, that was the time I felt that even a “pin dropping” could have been heard then. We use this phrase ‘pin-drop-silence’, very often. But, how often we experience it. It was “should have been there to be believed” situation. You could have heard a pin drop then.
Lebanese artist, writer, pink warrior and TED fellow told the gathering about her work, what it meant to be a women in the Middle East and her struggles to promote free speech in the Arab world. She told how she expressed herself through every artistic medium – painting, performance, writing, film etc and carried out her work in the war zone, which not many dare to do.. There was a complete silence. 500 plus attendees were totally involved in her speech. The silence was so silent that even a “pin dropping” could have been heard. Kudos to the speaker, Ram says
The phrase ‘pin-drop-silence’ seemed justified at that very moment, Ram added.
It is not just talks, but the subjects chosen by the speakers which speak volumes. Another such subject was Ken Robinson’s talk “How Schools Kill Creativity”, which received a global appeal, garnering nearly 17 million views on You Tube itself
TEDxHyderabad is a boon for the students in Hyderabad. Students willing to explore life beyond the classroom and campus through multi-dimensional perspectives shall meet people who have accomplished something exceptional and get ready to discover the hidden leader within themselves. Through such practical inspiration, students may initiate a spark within them to showcase their skills in the future. Many students dream of experiencing TEDx Talks in person, and TEDxHyderabad is ready to welcome exceptional students to transform their lives.
TEDx is a global platform for Ideas worth sharing. It began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged. But, today it covers– from science to technology, entertainment to global issues — in more than 100 languages. TED Talks videos generate 2.5 billion views annually. Every year TED conference and its associated events add 300 plus talks. The TED is run officially. But, there is another event, TEDx that is run independently by licensees and volunteers. These TEDx events add another 20,000 videos. The internet repository has 2,600 main TED Talks and TEDx, held across 190 countries, and reached almost 100,000 talks a month. Nearly ten TEDx events are held every day.
TEDx has office in New York. But it is spread all over the world and is driven by passionate volunteers. The city of Hyderabad has hundreds of volunteers and diehard fans and well-wishers of TEDx. The real workforce of TEDx is volunteers. There is more than 50,000 all over the world.
If you want to experience talks that stir your curiosity, and the phrase “pin-drop-silence” talks, be there at the 5th edition of TEDxHyderabad on September 22.
