Last month my daughter Amy and I attended TEDx Auckland 2015 at the Victory Church Convention Centre.
It was a beeeautiful Saturday with lots of us turning out for a bevy of speakers gathered for this annual event. We nabbed a front row seat and didn't relinquish it for anyone!
The speaker topics ranged from Lego to Hip Hop from Medicine to Climate Change and back around to Leadership. We listened to talks about cartoons and activism and DNA and all sorts of ideas worth spreading. The only common threads were the quality of presentations and the enormous heart all the speakers brought to the stage.
Siouxsie highlights how Lego has changed over the decades since she used to play with it as a kid and how the modern Lego is creating more gender bias in what genders do for careers. Award-winning scientist Dr. Siouxsie Wiles describes herself as a microbiologist and bioluminescence enthusiast but to others she is "that pink-haired science lady".
Grant argues that in the modern world there should be more public citizens involved in shaping public health. Grant Schofield is Professor of Public Health at AUT, and director of the University's Human Potential Centre. Grant's career has focused on preventing the diseases of modern times, and seeing what it takes to help people live a long, healthy and happy life.
When Steve put his daughter Riley as the front person for the show, his idea started to take off. Riley was a far better communicator to other children than an adult presenter. Riley Hathaway is a passionate 14-year-old ocean ambassador, who is already presenting her own TV series called 'Young Ocean Explorers'.
Steve has led an astrobiology research team collaborating with NASA for over a decade, and broadened his interests to consider the societal impacts of discovering life on other planets: How will this change our perception of humanity? What practical steps should we consider in preparation for this?
How Hong has managed to fight blindness with 20$ and a smart phone and in the process is changing how we think and create medical equipment. Dr. Hong Sheng Chiong is currently an eye doctor in Gisborne hospital.
Tom Scott explains what the words freedom of expression mean to him and how he as a cartoonist is an activist for peace and freedom of expression. Tom Scott (ONZM) is an award winning political columnist, editorial cartoonist, documentary maker and dramatist. Six collections of his satirical writings and five collections of his cartoons have been published.
Uploaded by ajamjar on 2015-05-03.
I'm so glad I managed to keep relatively steady for this video of Hip Hoperation - they were incredible and had us all on our feet. Hope you enjoy it too.
Sir Bob's involvement in leadership, creativity and his passion for the environment will be the foundation of his TEDx talk.
Tame explores how the old saying of "Te ka nohi ki te ka nohi" (Dealing with it eye to eye) creates a far more productive space for open dialogue around any issue. Tame Iti (Ngai Tuhoe/Waikato/Te Arawa) is known as many things... Activist, Artist, Terrorist and Cyclist.