TEDx Youth Hyderabad

Gayatri Vatsaval from grade 8 attended a TED talk in Hyderabad recently and this is how she summarised this exciting experience:

I’ve been watching TED for quite a few months now. It’s the reason why I was so excited when I first heard about TEDxYouth@Hyderabad, which took place on 15th November at T-Hub, IIIT Campus.

TEDx celebrates human imagination by bringing in speakers who are achievers in their own way. ‘Ideas worth spreading’ that is what every TED event aims to achieve.

The event started off with a Meet & Greet that lasted for an hour, where all the attendees got to interact with each other and sign each other’s postcards. This one hour gave all the attendees a chance to make new friends. 11-year-olds became friends with college students and soon, everyone’s postcards were filled with signatures.

A main stage was filled with bean bags, mattresses and chairs, in which we spent most of our next 3 hours of fun. These 3 hours had a series of talks from innovators who spoke in New York, a few fun games including BINGO, two live talks from innovators from Hyderabad itself, a musical performance and a skit on child labor.

Sarah Parcak spoke about observing the big picture all the way from space, to find the small places that archaeologists usually miss. Raymond Wang, probably prevented a possible future disease epidemic from breaking out because of one person who sneezed on a plane. Danit Peleg changed the future of fashion. She actually has a jacket that you can download and 3D print it. The audience was very excited. Betsy McIver Cho introduced the same thrill that one gets after going on a ride by becoming a Disney Imagineer. Carla Pugh has worked to develop the efficiency of how a surgery is performed.

Nikhil and Shebaz from 10th grade, Glendale Academy developed the “Arm of God”, a machine that increases your strength and also helps paralyzed people. Navya Gudimetla from Oakridge International used solar power to fuel three appliances all in one. She made a multipurpose mosquito swatter, which had a torchlight, a solar power unit and a USB charger attached to it.

Then two of the attendees complemented the evening with a musical performance of Skyfall by Adele and Happy by Pharrell Williams. To close up the event, there was a short skit on Child Labor, with a simple story, but a strong message.

All the attendees, organizers and speakers then went up to the second floor of the T-Hub building for a final picture, which marked the end of TEDxYouth@Hyderabad 2015.

Thank you for sharing, Gayatri!