TEDxSwansea 2018 Full Round-Up

This weekend I had the pleasure of attending of my first TED talk at the TEDxSwansea event held at the National Waterfront Museum. I have followed TED talks online for a few years now, so this was an amazing opportunity- and right on our doorstep! TEDxSwansea events are all independently organised so I would like to thank Steven Stokes and Lee Ibbotson for organising such an inspiring event. For those who didn't get a chance to attend (tickets sold out within 1 hour- wow!!), here is a quick summary of all the fantastic talks: 

1. Simon Parton kicked off the event with a very positive and insightful talk surrounding music. He is a music teacher who believes in making music accessible to everyone. He began speaking about his personal motivation for starting this movement and shared with us his very personal story of his autistic brother. He researched into the link between autistic children and making music- and quickly realised the amazing results. He explained that the repeat loops which we often hear in music soothes autistic children and brings them comfort. Spreading his incredibly inspiring story of his younger brother, Simon now gives talks in prisons, hospitals and schools and aims to educate people in all areas of life about the benefits of making your own music and making it accessible to those who would benefit the most.

2. Next we had Professor Mike Philips who talked to us about climate change and the risks associated with it. He summarised years of his research and emphasised how climate change has become the most threatening act in our society today. He finished the talk by highlighting that climate change sits with all of us and that every single person CAN make a difference in helping to reduce the damaging effects of climate change. 

3. Dr Deborah Morgan's talk on loneliness was extremely moving and revealed the need of speaking more openly about loneliness. Her talk was very touching and showed us how one small act of kindness could make all the difference to someone who is experiencing loneliness. No one is immune from experiencing loneliness and as a society, we need to reduce the stigma around it- helping people to open up and share their experiences. One small act of kindness often makes the world of a difference. 

4.  Mark Hendy is a HR professional who gave us an insightful talk all about new technologies and how they will change the workplace. He began by explaining that we are now heading into our 4th industrial revolution and with every industrial revolution- this comes with a change in job roles and changes in the workplace. Technologies such as automation, 3D printing, autonomous vehicles and AI, all contribute to a sense of 'modern living' which in turn, leads to people wanting 'modern working'. Will many of us lose our jobs to new technologies? Who knows. Mark also shared with us a small research project in which he asked his Twitter followers what work means to them. As expected- most people valued human collaboration, relationships, belonging and social interaction, things we all need to experience in order to feel like we are part of something. To many of us, our jobs and workplace are a way of expressing our thoughts and ideas, something which needs to be emphasised in the increasingly fearful era of unknown and new technologies.

5. Sarah Beard from Maggie's Swansea shared with us an extremely moving talk which was all about 'Architecture of hope'. This was particularly interesting as my job involves dealing primarily with architects and housing developers. Maggie used her profession (architect), and with the help of her husband, nurse and doctor, built on her dream which was to provide an uplifting space where cancer patients, and friends and families of those patients can ask questions and support each other. Maggie's husband, the nurse and her doctor turned her vision into a reality and opened up the first ever Maggie's centre in Scotland. They built on her mission which was to create a physical space that would impact on how people felt. Maggie's vision of clever and thoughtful architecture has resulted in 23 Maggie's centres including one centre in Hong Kong, and Tokyo. Sarah concluded that it is possible for architecture and buildings to bring a sense of humour to the very darkest moments. It doesn't matter about what culture you belong to, where you are in the world, or how old you are- we all want a place of safety, a place to connect with others and a place where we can release and be open about how we feel. 

We were also lucky enough to listen to some live entertainment throughout the evening. Clare Ferguson-Walker was a brilliant host and shared with us her performance poetry which was absolutely incredible. Eleri Angharad, a singer-songwriter from South-Wales performed some of her original songs which were truly beautiful.

In summary, this was a fantastic event which gave us so much to reflect on. Looking forward to the next one already!

"Each one of us can make a difference. Together we make change"