TEDx For Everyone

How do we make TED more accessible to a large audience who may not necessarily attend our events?

We take the event to them! “Mobile Connections”

This was a simple idea: find a maxi (small bus) with a tv, rent it for a morning and show TED talks! What it blossomed into was something we could never have anticipated.

We started in City Gate at 5:30 am; a 5-person team geared with cameras, clipboards, phones, TEDxPortofSpain tees and bags. Destination: Arima.

At first, people did not want to come on our free maxi, the idea of being a part of a “video experiment” was daunting at such an early hour. But the more we explained, the more willing people became and after not too long we got willing passengers to be a part of our salon.

We started off with Afra Raymond’s video. People were very open, voiced their opinions and gave us feedback, positive feedback! There were odd surprises like, the seemingly disturbed army officer who expressed gratitude and best wishes upon departure, the young man who thanked us for the most informative maxi ride he had ever had or the maxi driver who thought he would try to repeat the project every Thursday if we burnt him the DVDs. Imagine if every Thursday maxi’s played TED videos to morning commuters, TEDx Thursdays.

Reflections in the rearview mirrors were squints of interest, eyes of acknowledgement and smirks of recognition. There were smiles of agreement and very few uninterested frowns.

‘Mobile Connections’ was aimed at stimulating conversation about the power of ideas. We embarked on an adventure to share ideas, to spark discussion and we were truly inspired, enlightened and pleased at the end of the journey.