Ted! Ted! Ted!
Akil Hirpara
With Margie Parikh
The name never failed to amaze me. Every time I heard that word it made me appreciate the non-profit organization that provided platform to those who usually do not have one. It is that platform where wonderful people with their amazing stories, knowledge, expertise, and ideas, come forward to share them with others. I see a lot of TED talks. Do you?
TED talks are always short. Some are even less than 18 minutes. But what beauty is packed in those 18 minutes or even less! A whole idea or a possibility is presented. I always wondered if I would ever get chance to see a TED talk in person, much less be a part of TED somewhere at some point in life.
What did I know.
TEDxGujaratUniversity was happening right under my nose — in my university.
In case if you are confused between TED and TEDx, read the brief here.
We got the license!
One day after my 1st semester mid-sem exam, Margie ma’am (faculty & organiser of TEDxGujaratUniversity) came and announced in the class that she was looking for people interested in brainstorming over the theme of — yes, you guessed it right, a TEDx event in our university. We had got the license the previous day. Next, we needed to look for a theme. She was inviting people from different programs and batches for brainstorming sessions.
Committees!
One Google form was shared. It had the names of a bunch of teams. Someone had to be in charge of selecting a theme, to start with. A page on Facebook opened and gathered some tens of likes immediately.
Some external people showed interest in becoming our promotional partners to take on the tasks like search, communication, curation, even grooming, and more. But we were doing those things and more by ourselves. What is the point in outsourcing everything? There is a lot of scope for partnering around a TEDx.
I chose the search team (our committee for searching ideas and the speakers). Many people volunteered for all the committees — just the name of TEDx brought excitement. We knew, though, that we will have to be committed to the preparations along with classes — you know the life of a PG student: there are classes and workshops, quizzes and assignments — and projects — and some more.
According to the TEDx rules, you should first look for ideas. Think about why that idea needs to be sharing. And then look around for the best person who can talk about it. But the ideas could be found if we had a theme.
The brainstorms!
That idea of volunteering and brainstorming really excited me and many of my friends. You have read the stories of how we found the theme and how it was rendered visually in our Logo. Brainstorming session for theme search was all set, already in our committee room for deciding our theme.
The first round of any brainstorm focuses on generation of ideas without filtering. Within the given time, everyone writes down as many ideas as they can think of. The ideas could sound silly and stupid, but no one is to judge. Then all the ideas are collected and taken up one after the other for analysis and evaluation.
Some guys are really prolific. In a single chit we had some ten-odd suggestions. Some guys are really — well, what to say. We still have a little laugh at some of the suggestions. But we were not really judging people. One has to evaluate if the expressions conveyed what we had in our minds. People agreed, disagreed, supported, rejected, and such.
Why I see leadership as an eternal journey!
When my turn came, I suggested the theme “Leadership: An Eternal Journey”. It got the highest votes. I had written a couple of other things as well, but this one was the best — or so the folks thought. My thinking was that leadership is one thing common through the ages. From Vedic period and the description of mighty kings down to the present-day movers and shakers, leadership was a make-or-break element.
According to me leadership was one thing which kept everyone going through the times. My philosophy is also that everyone is leader and follower both. At some place if someone is leader, then it is not necessary that he is a leader at every place. At some other place he might be a follower. This is the law of nature. So, leadership is one thing which always walks hand in hand with time eternally.
I have worked since my late teen years as a volunteer member who takes up the responsibility of teaching kids in the villages. In those places, every bit of teaching, teaching assistance, and other help is welcome. You can’t imagine how a little bit of goodness can change lives. I have followed my seniors and mentors who give up their leisure time for this cause. And I believe I also do my bit in leading the process of educating a young mind. I have seen and felt leadership flow from one person to another. It is indeed a journey.
People in our committee room had some issues with the word ‘leadership’. Some said it was everywhere and it was overused. Everyone was thinking if it could convey the meaning without beating the same word again. After some time, my colleague and friend Namrata suggested the Sanskrit word for leadership, which is ‘Netrutva’ — a Sanskrit word for leadership.
It was the theme that struck us all. Majority was at one shot convinced with the theme. No further discussion took place. We all remembered it was 9:00 pm and we were hungry.
But we had our final theme, “Netrutva: An Eternal Journey”.
TEDxGujaratUniversity acknowledges its partners: these and growing!
Website: http://www.tedxgu.co
Facebook: https://www.fb.com/tedxgujaratuniversity
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/tedxgujaratuni
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tedxgujaratuniversityAnd for formal conversations, ping us on tedx1gu@gmail.com
For booking TEDxGujaratUniversity pass: https://allevents.in/ahmedabad/tedx-gujarat-university/139067693432558
