TEDx HAPPENED!

You may have noticed me on Twitter speaking about TEDx. Well, it happened, and it went really well.

TEDx is an offshoot of the TED talks, where a collection of speakers come and do short talks on a subject of their choosing. The x marks the event as independently organised. One of my friends, Tanya, decided we should do a TEDx event. She looked into getting a license, she got one, and plans started being made.

  

We had a mix of students and external speakers and performers, all covering a range of topics.

NON PRATT, author of TROUBLE and REMIX, talked about how we condition generations into genders.

SARAH SKY, author of the JESSICA COLE series, gave us a quick tour though female spies, past and present.

The A LEVEL DRAMA group did part of their performance of Monsters, revolving around the killing of Jamie Bulger

SHONA DIXON analysed  the response to Ebola.

DR GEORGINA NEALL talked about, among other things, how she balances studying, working, and raising four children.

TOM POLLOCK, author of THE SKYSCRAPER THRONE series, examined the media's role in creating fear in the masses.

GABBY WASSER told us about how mushrooms can help, heal, or bring about an apocalypse

CHARLOTTE SPRUZEN was one of two explaining the science of science fiction, looking at how time travel would theoretically work.

SONDER, a band made up of two students, played two songs.

SARAH RABY BUCK gave the second science of science fiction talk, explaining how biochemistry could work on other worlds.

NATALIE RUSSO talked about the importance of language and why it's not too late to learn a new one.

JEANNIE GALSTON , ex Miss Universe, told us what it was like to be a model in the days before Photoshop.

NAFEESA MOHAMMED performed some of her work (she's an amazing slam poet) and what poetry means for her.

I, NINA CRISP, did a talk about why you should diversify your reading. What else would I say?

REBECCA JURDON summed up very eloquently the failings of an exam orientated education system.

All these talks will soon be available on YouTube, so if you missed them and want to see them, or if you want to relive them, you can! I'll link them when they're available.

We had a selection of world food, both main and desert. The highlights were the  cupcakes. We sold books, both the authors' and some diverse ones I highlighted in my talk.

We also had plans to have a bloggers' alley, but it didn't work out because we forgot that devices need to be registered to the school's WiFi system to work, and that the council's service blocks all blogs anyway. Still, it was brilliant to see FAYE (A Daydreamer's Thoughts) and FIONNUALA (Books for Birds).

Thank you, everyone who came and supported us, especially all our external speakers and bloggers who came from a long way away! Also, thank you all the people who worked hard on making TEDx Beaconsfield High a thing. It was brilliant.