Being a Friend of TEDxBasel

“Short quality content to improve English language skills” was the headline my language coach June used to get me to watch TED talks, at the end of the last decade.

Since then, many ideas worth spreading have become part of my life. TED isn’t just quality entertainment, it is a gateway to global thinking and innovation. TED not only gives new ideas, topics and perspectives, it also shows us how much is done and is possible in a world that often seems grayer than it actually is.

So I couldn’t pass by the chance to participate at the local TEDx event in Basel. And as I sat there looking at the booking site, I came across the “TED friend” button, and I said to myself, “Seeing as TED has given me so much more than I could give back, why not support it a little bit?”

Little did I know that becoming a TEDxBasel friend gives you much more than just the warm feeling of supporting a good cause. It also meant meeting the enthusiastic and dynamic team behind the event and having the chance to chat with all the speakers. Added to that, I was able to bring a friend of mine into the TED world and also meet a lot of the sponsors as well as other TEDx friends. 

“So I couldn’t pass by the chance to participate at the local TEDx event in Basel.”

Having signed up as a TEDxBasel friend, I was asked, “Why don’t you use the opportunity to do a 3-minute pop-up talk yourself?” I thought about it and soon realized that I already had a topic: Open Source and the “Openness” movement has been a propelling part of my life for many years. After some back and forths and a lot of encouragement from my friends and family, I called June who was very happy to coach me in building the talk. 

Having immersed myself in this full experience of a new, major event in Basel - the Basel Idea event of the year - I can only recommend you to become part of it and to support it as a TEDx friend.

The event itself was overwhelming: never had I thought that it would extend to that number of visitors, ideas and it’s perfect storyline that guided us through the whole evening.

“Having immersed myself in this full experience of a new, major event in Basel - the Basel Idea event of the year - I can only recommend you to become part of it and to support it as a TEDxBasel friend.”

Standing in front of the Musical Theater, stepping into the entrance hall filled with stands of interesting things to look at, I had much to explore: starting from varieties of tomatoes, self-built machines by the maker movement to a small TED book shop. 

The pop-up talks were smoothly integrated into the whole process, taking no time away from the event but gathering much more people than originally anticipated to discover some unexpected topics outside the main stage. The pop-up talk audience was already excited and very welcoming. 

The short talks went through a wide range of ideas and one of them, a moving insight into the world of parenting, won the hearts of everyone and was chosen for the main stage.

Moments after that, the main event started and hundreds of listeners were absorbed by the lineup of the main speakers and their ideas. Like every good event, it felt much too short and so we were pulled through a magic world of beauty, empowerment, questioning, entertainment and involvement to be let go back into the outside world with our heads filled with “food for thought” and hearts filled with warmth.

Let your heart be filled with this power and let your head be filled with new ideas - be part of the full experience…