Harnessing the power of the community

HYDERABAD: Welcome to the dinner party I always wanted to have but couldn’t, said Richard Saul Wurman, author and graphic designer to greet 300 attendees at the Monterey Conference Center in February 1984.  The premise of the conference was to bring together tech enthusiasts to share thoughts on “Technology, Entertainment & Design space.”. This was the start of the acronym (and the organisation) called the TED.

Working concertedly with speakers from disparate industries and backgrounds for over three decades, global TED communities, with their simplified, authentic storytelling are accomplishing their mission of “ideas worth spreading” by delivering concise, impactful messages. While TED events take more of a global approach, TEDx events typically focus on a local communities concentrating on local voices with a certain X factor bringing more thought leaders to the stage. Started in 2015 in the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDxHyderabad, is an independently organised local group comprising passionate volunteers who are dedicated to ideas worth spreading.

Checking all the right boxes, the team SAHE (Society for Advancement of Human Endeavours), the not-for-profit that organises TEDxHyderabad, doesn’t quit after just planting the ideas. Instead, they are striving to build a community of Thinkers, Enablers and Doers. The journey of the impact started with the first TEDxHyderabad Salon event on ‘Civic Responsibility’ which lead to several other socially impactful initiatives; from addressing water crisis and its conservation to cleanliness of the city impacting thousands of residents in Hyderabad seamlessly bringing all stakeholders together.

The community that started with 40 people from a variety of disciplines coming together for the want of doing something and getting inspired with the ideas have since stumbled across many amazing people and causes.

The group realised that a worthy social impact can be created together. The idea became that of mobilising this community’s enthusiasm and leveraging its passions to begin work on a relevant social problem.
While selecting the cause, they go by what people feel very strongly about, what affects them and what will kindle their minds. This has resulted in the community being 4000+ individuals strong now, with each bringing along a will to do something with the ideas that are definitely worth spreading, and not just by talking about them, but by putting them in action! As Coretta Scott King (wife of Martin Luther King Jr.)

American author and civil rights leader said, “The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its member, TEDxHyderabad believes in the power of community creating the right environment – one idea at a time.” The New Indian Express is the media partner for TEDx Hyderabad for this event.

TEDXHyderabad event is slated for Sunday, September 16 and has a host of luminous speakers who will be sharing valuable life lessons. Details: Tedxhyderabad.com