Snapping into action

What do you want your life, your world, to look like? The theme of TEDxCanberra 2012, An Optimistic Challenge, puts the onus on each of us to strive for something bigger, better, more!

Don't get us wrong. We here at TEDxCanberra believe in quality over quantity. But we also believe that people, as individuals and as a society, have incredible, indescribable, and unfathomable potential. This year, we want to challenge you (and us), more than ever, to explore that potential.

Speaking of which, TEDxCanberra licensee Steve Collins has just returned from the TEDxSummit in Doha, where over 650 TEDx organisers have been exploring the potential of TEDx. See below for his report.

But clearly the question on everyone's lips is: 'How can I get involved in the Optimistic Challenge right now?' This June, the TEDxCanberra team will be taking on their own personal challenges, and we would like you to join us. Keep reading to find out how.

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An Optimistic Challenge

Here in the nation’s capital we have the opportunity to shape future conversations not only nationally, but globally. This year's theme, An Optimistic Challenge, encourages our speakers to ask thought-provoking questions rather than provide all the answers, which will hopefully agitate our audience just enough to make them go out and contribute something positive to their local communities.

For the TEDxCanberra team, the theme clearly articulates Steve Collins' vision for the event:

"I want TEDxCanberra 2012 to be the most affecting, effective, and profound event people will attend this year. If it isn’t, then we haven’t done our job."

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TEDx ideas impacting the world

This inspiring video of TEDx organisers from TEDGlobal 2011 shows how, all over the World, the TEDx community is growing, spreading ideas, and making positive changes to their communities.

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TEDxSummit: A mind-altering substance

This report is from TEDxCanberra Creative Catalyst, Steve Collins.

Last week was a pro­found expe­ri­ence for me; I attended my third offi­cial TED event — the TEDx­Sum­mit for TEDx organ­is­ers, held in Doha, Qatar.

Bring­ing over 650 TEDx organ­is­ers from in excess of 90 coun­tries together in one place (and maybe one of the few places in the world where this was pos­si­ble), the TEDx­Sum­mit gave us talks from TED speak­ers includ­ing Hans Rosling, Maz Jobrani and Juan Enriquez, as well as the oppor­tu­nity to col­lab­o­rate and work with each other in pow­er­ful ways; we had the oppor­tu­nity to spend two very immer­sive days speak­ing with and learn­ing from each other.

The organ­is­ers did me the honor of ask­ing me to con­duct two sep­a­rate work­shops; one for new TEDx organ­is­ers and another for intermediate-​​advanced organ­is­ers. The feed­back I received directly from other par­tic­i­pants was extremely pos­i­tive. I’m keen to hear and read the offi­cial feed­back when it comes in.

Trav­el­ling nearly a day each way to spend a week in a coun­try where every­thing is unlike your home is a strange expe­ri­ence (not because you’re in the Mid­dle East, which is incred­i­bly inter­est­ing, but because Qatar is a nation in flux where a soci­ety is still pass­ing through Tuckman’s stages of group devel­op­ment and will emerge at some point in the near future into what I imag­ine will be a pro­foundly inter­est­ing norm­ing and per­form­ing phase).

It’s not hard to spend time with peo­ple you like a lot and share head space with. Though it does mess with you emo­tion­ally (in good, bad and some­times con­fus­ing ways).

What is hard is the very real emo­tional ampli­fi­ca­tion that goes on at an inten­sive, immer­sive event like TEDAc­tive or TEDx­Sum­mit. I think it’s pos­si­bly a form of Stock­holm Syn­drome; though one with a big­ger up side (does such a phe­nom­e­non have it’s own name?).

There needs to be some post-​​event intro­spec­tion to come down off the high and to ensure that the whole “drink­ing the Kool-​​Aid” prob­lem doesn’t per­vade our post-​​event thoughts. I’ve done these events three times now and it doesn’t change, but con­scious aware­ness to the effect these events have on you is critical.

Some con­certed, objec­tive self-​​analysis helps you make a bet­ter set of post-​​event deci­sions on the actions you need to take. I still have really good friends from my trips to TEDAc­tive. I imag­ine I’ve made another set of friends (and rein­forced old friend­ships) this time.

Thank you to all the fan­tas­tic peo­ple I met in Doha!

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K.I.S.S.

Change does not need to be big; it just needs to be meaningful. Over the past month, we've made a point of watching some of the shorter (less than six mins) TED videos. Our conclusion: the simple ideas are often the most effective. They are easy to articulate, easy to understand, and easy to do. Which means they get done.

Watch Matt Cutts to find out how how even small changes can make a big difference.

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What will your challenge be?

Our June challenge: Try something new for 30-days, Matt-Cutts-style. How?

Step 1: You have the rest of May to choose something you want to do everyday, for 30 days.

Step 2: The challenge starts on 1 June, for the 30 days of June.

Step 3: Visit us on Facebook and share your challenge journey with the TEDxCanberra community.

We'll be awarding seats at TEDxCanberra 2012 for the best accepted and acted-on challenges.

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A not-so-simple idea

Even if simple ideas are more effective, that doesn't mean we shouldn't shoot for the stars. Neil deGrasse Tyson explains why he thinks we should be aiming at the moon and beyond.

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Get challenged. Stay optimistic.

Just one final reminder: change does not need to be big to be worthwhile. Make sure to let us know how you're going setting your 30-day challenges.

Until next month,

The TEDxCanberra Team

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