No sé on vaig llegir fa poc que hi ha una mica de repetició en moltes de les jornades que s’organitzen sobre el món 2.0 i sobre màrketing digital (pere exemple). Per això en el recent #TEDxUdG, del qual en sóc organitzador en el marc del Programa UdG 2.0 (ajudat per la secretària executiva @mferres), vam voler que els ponents fossin de la pròpìa universitat i expliquéssin el que fan i el volen fer, per a un públic local però també internacional.
Em trobo ara que acaben d’aparéixer dues entrades que van en la línia que vam proposar per al #TEDxUdG. A l’Inside Higher Education, un post titulat TedX: The Speaking Equivalent of Blogging. Afshan Jafar exposa el procés que la va portar a parlar al TEDxConnecticutCollege (amb el lema Rethinking Progress es va fer el 14 d’abril d’aquest any). Jafar fa interessants reflexions:
This was no academic talk at a conference. Far from it: I would actually need to be concise (what academic knows how to get their point across in under 18 minutes?), entertaining, and intellectually stimulating at the same time! I had never spoken in front of such a large audience before, and then the thought of being video-taped… to be honest, that was intimidating. This will be around forever! What if I screw up? I feared the exposure: my thoughts will be out there in the form of a video, I won’t have control over this “product” once I put it out there.
Jafar compara el fet de parlar al TEDx amb mantenir un blog: queda per sempre, i tothom pot comentar-hi el que vulgui.
So, what do I have to share with my fellow academics and bloggers about the experience? You know the thrill that you get when your blog post is about to go live? Now multiply that by about a hundred and you’ll get a good idea of what this kind of public speaking is like. It was an exhilarating experience. It gave me the same sense of freedom that blogging does. You can be funny, even if you’re discussing something serious; you don’t have to worry about quoting important scholars endlessly to prove to everybody that you know what you’re talking about; and you can (and should) leave the audience thinking instead of providing them with neat little conclusions that they must accept because you bombarded them with data and evidence.
Perhaps most importantly, it taught me that just as we, as academics, feminists, thinkers, have turned to blogging because “we have something to say”, we should also consider using public speaking opportunities to say what we want to or need to say. It’ll help us reach a wider audience than any academic conference we’ve attended, especially, as in the case of TED/TEDx when those talks are made available to anyone with a computer connection.
En un altre post del propi blog delTED, s’hi diu 5 reasons why you should bring TEDx to your University. De fet es tracta de donar “5 reasons why TED is a great match for your campus” des del punt de vista d’un professional d’afers d’estudiants (el post és de Ross McMillan, TEDxYorkU). Les 5 raons són:
- Congruence in Purpose
- Collaborate Across Silos
- Access to live streaming of major TED events for FREE
- TEDx Format and Support
- Showcasing the Awesomeness
McMillan esmenta com han evolucionat en el TEDxYorkU:
I view this as an ongoing process. For example, in 2010, our event was mainly driven by staff with faculty and some alumni as speakers. It was a neat in that we connected to some of our best researchers and were able to share their work and how it is making a difference but it did result in a limited amount of community engagement. In 2011-2012, we built a larger community and actively engaged students as organizers and speakers. We also partnered with our on-campus video production unit to improve the quality of the videos. The end result has been a stronger community and higher profile across our university but there is still room for improvement.
Esperem poder-ho fer nosaltres també al #TEDxUdG! I m’afecta especialment (i a la @mferres) la darrera frase:
As an organizer, you have the privilege and responsibility to showcase the amazing people that are part of your community. After all, the talk is your event’s lasting artifact.
I és veritat: és un privilegi i també una responsabilitat mostrar que la nostra comunitat universitària té fent increïble. I cada xerrada és el catalitzador de la reacció química que suposo la difusió permanent del #TEDxUdG.
No tenim encara a punt els videos, però segur que valdrà la pena seguir-los. Aviat. I caldrà repetir el #TEDxUdG, sense cap mena de dubte. S’ho val.