TEDxMalagueta took place on the 17th of February in the “Palacio de Ferias” where 1000 people were able to enjoy the live talks and artistic acts full of “ideas worth sharing”. Eight hours in a full to the brim auditorium, each intense minute lived under the motto “Imagine, Involve, Inspire”
The audience enjoyed musical shows by the Gospel Choir IT, marimbas by children using recycled instruments from Torremolinos Orff Ensemble, Victor Jimenez Opera Countertenor, musicians “El Cura Rojo”, as well as plays, augmented reality games with smartphones and prizes, graffiti, acrobats, emotional activities, etc.
One of the most popular talks among the audience was the one by Arun Mansukhani, Psychologist and Sexologist, who through rigor and humour spoke about emotional dependancy in relationships “Let´s learn how to have healthy relationships! How is yours?”
The publicist and filmmaker from Malaga, Fran Guijarro, based in San Francisco (USA), thrilled the audience with the story of Moses, a ‘homeless’ from the Californian city whose life he has been documenting for ten years with the goal of making a feature film. “I brought him to Spain because his dream was to see Picasso’s ‘Guernika’ and I have not seen anyone cry like he did in front of the painting,” he said. He also made us cry.
Fernando Segura, Transplant Coordinator of the Hospital Clinico, with the motto “We are never too old to be generous”, in his talk, compared football with Organ Donation, because Spain has been champion of the World Cup once in history, but has been the world leader in donations and transplants for 26 years. “We are champions!”
For Marta Arce, Paralympic champion, judo has taught her to fall and get up, besides preparing for when things do not go well; the mutual benefit to achieve excellence. She prefers to talk about normalization versus inclusion. There is a phrase to not forget: “The worst disability is the lack of empathy”.
The actor Alex O’Dogherty encouraged the audience to “move”, to bet on “self-management” and to seek their dreams; Of course, he did it with a style very different from the typical motivational talks. “If you fight a lot for your dreams … they may not come true, but you will surely find other things along the way,” he proclaimed. “I’ve been waiting all my life for someone to give me the great opportunity and in the end, that someone was me.”
Memorable also was Orobola Akinradewo´s talk, a Nigerian immigrant with a history of self-improvement and generosity. For her, the solution to Africa’s problems begins with educating women as her mother did with her: “Empower a woman and empower everyone around her,” she insisted.
Toni Nadal one of the most anticipated speakers and, who has been until very recently the coach of tennis player Rafa Nadal, revealed how a champion is forged: based on demand, sacrifice, self-criticism, effort and respect for the opponent. Nadal claims: “Making life so easy for young people does not help at all. Our character is formed through difficulties and the ability to endure is key”.
SOME FACTS:
- The first ticket register was made at 9:16 and in 30 minutes there were already 446 accredited attendees, rewarding the first 200 people to arrive.
- National Trending Topic for 12 hours with #TEDxMalagueta18 with 3000 Tweets.
- 500 people downloaded the TEDxMalagueta App created by the company Meetmaps, generating 25,500 networking interactions.
- 7 of the 15 speakers were rated with more than 8/10 points in the survey and received several standing ovations from the public.
What differentiates a TEDx event from other events is the quality of the talks, since the speakers prepare their intervention for months to condense in such a short time a talk as entertaining as possible, as well as didactic and inspiring. TEDx seeks to give voice to ideas of the world and not necessarily famous people.
“You see many TED talks on Youtube and social networks and you ask yourself: what do those people who live those talks in person on the stages of different parts of the world feel? And you discover that in Malaga you can experience those emotions and feelings firsthand. And it has happened. It has been very exciting!” says Virginia Forero, one of the attendees and a fan of TED.
This success took place thanks to a highly involved organizing team that has dedicated its time altruistically for more than a year to prepare it, as well as the collaboration of companies and entities that have put their trust in this project: DKV Salud, Málaga City Council, Accenture, The Market Productions, Tech Talent South, Victoria Beers, Thyssen Malaga Museum, Librería Luces and a network of more than 80 young volunteers, giving them the opportunity to know what it´s like to work on a volunteer project.
The panel of speakers, in addition to the aforementioned, was completed with talks by: Luis A. Iglesias on economic inequality, the student Sara Rodríguez taught us what the TED-Ed clubs are to encourage public speaking in high schools, the teacher of literature Raquel González who spoke about the need for connection between Poetry and Social Networks, Enrique Fonseca founder of VisualPolitik, voice researcher Emma Rodero; the professor of flamenco guitar Alberto Torres, the scientific disseminator Óscar Huertas and as closing of the day Aitor Sánchez the nutritionist of the blog ‘Mi dieta cojea’ that introduced us to the concept of Dietarchy.
