TEDx talks was themed on 'reflection'

This year’s TEDx Copenhagen 2013 came to town last Thursday the 26 September. The conference, titled ‘Mirror Mirror’, was held at Bremen Teatre. The event attracted many guests and online live-feed viewers, including many University of Copenhagen students as volunteers and attendees.

See the gallery of photos from the event here.

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan “ideas worth spreading”. With conferences held in many cities worldwide, TED has become a household name for academics, professionals and activists.

Servings of Tears and Laughter in Equal Measure

Students from UCPH and DIS were involved in the event as volunteers and attendees. Michelle Lee, a Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) student volunteering at the event says she learnt of the event through posters and flyers on her campus. She emotionally recounted her great day of fun and learning, saying of a talk by Mads Ananda Lodahl, an LGBT activist, “It was amazing to hear that by hiding the aspects of ourselves that make us different, we give power to idea of normal making it hard for others to express their queerness”.

Our reporters had a chance to interview some of UCPH student attendees. Simas Mickevicius, a student at the Niels Bohr Institute said “I liked that not only we had the chance to witness some inspirational talks, but we could mingle with the speaker just after their talks and ask questions” when asked about his experience of the day. This sentiment was repeated by various interviewed students, with Will Wright, another student reporting that he attended TEDx as a learning experience on making public presentations.

Attendees were treated, not only to an exciting and interactive learning experience, but also a great serving of laughter. From hilarious one-man mimes to a talk about teaching a monkey how to control a robot with its brain, laughs were to be had all around. However, tear-jerking moments were also experienced with a famous Danish stand-up comedian, Geo, recounting his fight against cancer.

Never too Young to be a Star

While still in high school, self-confessed ‘mega-nerd’ Sara Naseri set off to cure, or at least prevent, skin cancer. Together with her friend Emilie Kjeldsen, she invented a new chemical compound that offers 99.99 pct. protection from the UV radiation, a terrific improvement over traditional sunscreen. Sara told how everyday after school she would try to call the office of a Nobel laureate in chemistry and leading expert in the field, until she finally got him on the line. He was enthusiastic about the idea, as were several others after him. Today Sara is CEO of her company, Bucky’o’Zun, and travels the world to develop her project.

Our reporter who caught up with her after the event was able to get this inspiring message from her especially for our own UCPH students “You are never too young and it’s never too early to start something. I think this is an important message to get out there, because I’ve been told that a lot. I was told to focus on my high school curriculum rather than go out and change the world. You’ll have to step out of your comfort zone to do something.”

universitypost@adm.ku.dk

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