Thank you for a great day.
If the job of TED is to spread ideas worth spreading, and the job of TEDx events are to reach further into diverse networks and geographies and expose more talent and reveal more ideas worth spreading, then I think the first TEDx Brighton was very fucking good.
I’ve heard different people say different talks worked for them – the beauty of different tastes and the cross-pollination of new ideas from other worlds – but for me the talks which gave me the most were David Bramwell’s talk on Utopia, Dr Judith Good’s talk on Learning & Technology, George MacKerron’s talk on Mappiness and Sarah Angliss’ talk on music and machines.
There are some thorough overviews written up by participants there on the day:
- iTibz
- Victoria Richardson
- Travel Blather
- Ros Barber
- Jodie Oliver
- Katie Piatt
- Erocdrah’s wicked little sketches – have a click around
And some excellent accompanying notes from fellow speakers Antony Mayfield and Sarah Angliss:
Isn’t great how people create such useful content eh, audience and speakers alike?
As a side note, it must be blooming hard to organise successful events.
Personally I never regret handing over good money for a great event and respect the job of organisers – so much prep, so much stress, people grumbling about wifi and coffee, speakers cancelling last minute, equipment suppliers forgetting to deliver the right kit.
So a peak of activity – one shot to get it right. And when it does – BOOOM! A high for everyone.
And then those magic unicorns that are fantastic events with no or a very low cost attached. Crazy cool. I’m thinking of Interesting, The Story. Stuff that good.
For me, TEDx Brighton was up there with these. And that was the first one – the prototype – and inevitably I imagine there will be things to roll into the next one, of which it sounds like there is already talk of…
So I’d like to say thank you – to Tom Bailey the producer and his team of volunteers, to the audience and other speakers, to the sponsors. The whole enchilada, Mother Nature and the UNIVERSE. Thank you.
And for me personally a massive thank you to my team – usually when I do speaking gigs, it’s a very solo experience from inception to delivery and the knackered journey home. There wasn’t a single person in our team who didn’t help with the TEDx talk – I did 3 practice run throughs (!) – yep, it was too important to wing it out without some proper PREPARATION! Loads of moral support and back up. It was cool to feel massively supported.
That event was and will continue to be great for Brighton. Thank you.
Will McInnes 
3 whole runthroughs? You *must* have been nervous Will….well done for doing an undoubtedly brilliant job.
Looked like a fantastic event and I’m sorry that I didn’t get to attend but looking forward to reading the summaries from other speakers and delegates.
Your talk was one of the reasons I attended in the first place.
You really inspired me, as not only am I a digital media student but also interested in entrepreneurship and the business side of this industry.
Thank you!
Goodall – yep, I most certainly wanted to give it my best shot and was nervous, mixed with a very big dose of excitement 🙂
Thibault – thank you for saying so, and for your excellent write up. I really appreciate your support.
Great talk Will and glad to see the presenters got as much from it all as the audience.
As I promised on my blog I went bounding in to see my boss on Monday to talk about making happiness changes – but now need to think through some tangible things we can do.
Regarding your (internal) open salary information, do you think that would work better or worse somewhere like a University where you are paid according to post and not the person? There are also not the same opportunities for pay rises when you do well. I think it should be easier as it almost is public already due to standardised pay scales.
Oh, and I recommend this paper on ‘Play in the Workplace’ which has the same emphasis as you on happy emplyees – library focussed but the business examples are good (or just read my summary!):
http://katiepiatt.blogspot.com/2010/10/power-of-play-in-workplace.html
Katie – thanks for the comments; definitely gonna check out the Play in the Workplace link – sounds right up my street 🙂
On the salary info, in Universities is everyone on the same rate when they occupy the same post?
I don’t know, but I know in other organisations that there’s usually a range for a post, so even when the range is generally understood, there can be quite big divergence in two people doing the same job. That divergence is what leads to time wasted second guessing and an unnecessary and cumbersome gap between what’s real and what’s imagined.
If so, I’d say get it open if you can.
And I agree with you, it should be easier.
Did I understand your question right?! Hope so.
Will I didn’t get to say on the day but I thought your talk was excellent! Existing as I do in a world where business/company structure or models and management styles features very rarely on my radar I didn’t know what I would make of your subject. But I found that you had a valuable message for everyone no matter the background or walk of life. Great!
Thanks Morgan 🙂