Guest AuthorPavan Soni

TEDx SIBM Pune- The Start of Fantastic Things

By | Dr Pavan Soni | IIM-B Innovation Evangelist

They say some of the incidents in life remain with you, and one such incident transpired at SIBM Pune last week when they hosted TEDx. I have been to a few TEDx events, spoken at one at BITSGoa, but this one was indeed very special. For starters, look at the lineup of speakers. I won’t talk about what they shared, as you can watch for yourself in a few days on TEDxTV and get inspired!
Set of speakers for TEDx
Anand Chulani, the Laughter Doctor as one may like to call him, was just too good for the audience and could keep them hooked on till the very end. I happen to attend his talk, and surely the work he is doing with ‘kids’   of all ages in making them happy and positive is quintessential in these stressful times. What would you grow up to become seems to be a question that we must keep asking as we grow. Though I missed out on Dr. Bhatkar’s talk, but was told that how he painstakingly made some very complex concepts amicable to our enthusiastic audience, a hallmark of attainment. I met him for the very first time, but he instantly enrolled me into his grand vision on education, creativity and science. 
Warren Mendonsa, a prolific, prodigious musician, too helped strike the chord with audience on how music is born and invented over and over again. Another talk that I missed out on and could only hear about later. 
Kartik Desai, a young Wharton graduate and a social entrepreneur, was very impressive during the short conversation I had where I learnt about the way his team works towards social change and inclusion. Jayesh Sachdev, an artist and that too extremely creative, was another center of attraction for most audience, where he spellbound them with rather contemporary style, emerging from everyday chores. A visit to his website, would surely be an unforgettable experience.
Rahul Verghese, an athlete by body and heart, shared his experiences on creating a clan of people who are passionate about running and the way he left a rather fascinating job to follow his heart and encourage a thousand others.
The talk which I happen to attend was that of Arhan Bezbora, a social activist and a football freak. A member of Teach for India and brainchild behind Just for Kicks, Arhan too left a rather attractive career in dedicating himself to teaching children in slums. Football, came along as a method of keeping students fit, competitive and engaged.  
In front of collage, with TEDx momento
An equally impressive deed, perhaps primary feature, about the event was its organization. A gang of just about the dozen of students pulled along a stunner. The event started on time, finished before time and experienced no rush of schedule or nerves. By far one of the better organized events that I haven been to. Good thing was also that the audience were limited to 100, enabling a better interaction and cerebral exchange.
Needless to say that the picturesque campus that SIBM Pune endows makes the day even more so. 
The common denominator that defines the TED or TEDx is : Ideas Worth Sharing. Let me add to it, another equally important prong being Celebrating Unsung Stories. Events with known faces talking about almost known deeds aren’t that exciting, owing to a low Surprise Quotient. TED as a platform attempts to spot those everyday heroes and help share their ideas to inspire a thousand others. In this vein, TEDx SIBMPune did a fantastic job.
The college was painted RED on the day of TED

Republished with permission and originally published at www.pavansoni.com

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