Participants at TEDxYouthNapierBridge that was held last year
CHENNAI: Are you a thinker or an innovator and have ideas that can define humanity? Well, here’s your chance to share your thoughts with like-minded people. Inspired by the annual TED conference, which has hosted speakers as famous as Jane Goodall, Bill Gates, Sal Khan and Elizabeth Gilbert, for the first time, a TEDx Salon — ‘TEDx NapierBridge Salon’ will be conducted in Namma Chennai. We chat with the curator Shyam Sundar to know more.
“This is the first time a TED Salon is being conducted in Chennai,” he shares enthusiastically. But why Napier Bridge? “Well, Napier is an iconic bridge that connects Fort St George with Marina. It’s the face of Madras and we wanted something that metaphorically represents TEDx — a representation of people and ideas in Chennai,” he explains.
With the theme of the first edition of the salon being ‘What Makes Us Human’, Shyam opines that the event will open a novel path for viewing TED talks, performances and short films. “We have a registration process and till now, it’s reached a number that’s close to 50. Usually TEDx Salons limit the number of people to 20-30 people. But since this is the first time, and ours is a big city, we have pushed the bar a bit high,” he explains.
The salon will last a couple of hours and will be a gathering of people from different backgrounds, visions and opinions. “People will be sharing their thoughts on the theme from different perspectives. It can be technology, innovation, art, films and everything that makes us human. It’s going to be a gathering of minds under a single roof. We are sure they will amuse each other,” he chuckles.
A number of curated talks that have been a part of the annual conference in Vancouver will also be screened. “Everybody knows that new ideas come up when there is intellectual stimulation outside. This is something that TED talks and conferences have been doing over the years. Similarly, in the Salon, we will have all these people watching talks together, sharing their thoughts and coming up with ideas that are humane and will benefit the world — ideas we want to utilise to create a better future for all of us,” he explains.
With several sessions, discussions and talks as part of the event, there will also be a special performance by an award winning performer. “We don’t want to reveal too much about the performance now. But, we are sure it’ll be a fascinating watch for the participants, and it will also be in consonance with our theme,” he adds.
TEDxNapierBridge Salon will be held at IIT Research Park on October 2. For details, visit: http://www.tedxnapierbridge.com
