If we go by the saying 'third time lucky', this year should be a phenomenal year for TEDxHyderabad. But it was just last year that the forum was touted as one of the most innovative events at the TED Summit in Banff, thanks to their innovation of doing a TEDx event on a moving bus. Viiveck Verma, the co-organiser and partnership lead, was there representing the community. So what do they have in store for us this time?
First off, the theme this time is DO. Viiveck tells us how they have moved from the 1,500-capacity Sandhya Convention Centre to the Gachibowli Stadium, which will be completely transformed by September 24. "The aim is to not organise an event, it's about curating an experience," he says. Last year, the first ever bio-metric activation of SIM cards and UberPool were launched from the platform of TEDxHyderabad. And Viiveck keeps us wondering about what we can expect this time.
Viiveck Verma, Co-organiser and Partnership Lead
Redefining roots
TEDxHyderabad, backed by the non-profit organisation, SAHE (Society for the Advancement of Human Endeavours), remains true to its roots at all times which is something that they are quite proud of. They work with the speaker to curate the idea better (and those who don't agree to the process are dropped). No one can nominate speakers and they try to keep the speakers slightly off beat, "that's why a Mark Dharmai was chosen." Attendees too are curated.
TEDxHyderabad chooses to adhere to all this, while some other TED community events let it slide, Viiveck tells us. This is why TEDx, which originally stands for Technology, Entrepreneur and Design while the ‘x’ stands for an independently organised event, for Hyderabad means, "Thinkers, Enablers and Doers with that little ‘x’ stands for ‘one idea at a time’," says Viiveck. And the core team of six to seven members simply see themselves as the enablers, while the community is the real doer.
Last year, they started Revival of the Lake, where they geo-mapped and comprehensively tried to revive the 3,000 odd lakes in the city and not just clean the plastic out of them. You must also remember the Plant a Ganesha initiative that even captured the Telangana Chief Minister’s attention, which was the only reason it came to the limelight. "We want to be a real social impact through the community we are building," he says.
Ultimately, Viiveck and the organisers want to make September 24 an experience for you and he invites all of us to, "join us on this journey of experiencing and then creating this experience for others."
Reach Out: tedxhyderabad.com
