According to Viiveck Verma, there are two kinds of pandemics that we are going through currently. "One on the health front is COVID-19 and the other is the plethora of webinars," he shares and laughs. We laugh along and have to agree, a slew of webinars have indeed taken over all our social media pages. But these webinars are either work-related, transactional or heavy. There might be motivational ones here and there, but most weigh us down, if not anything else. In a time like this, taking TEDxHyerabad virtual was a brave decision. But when you have big names like Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao, Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India K Subramanian and many others, you can be sure that people are going to tune in and realise that, indeed, this virtual edition of TEDxHyderabad is a class apart. So save the date on May 24 from 3 pm to 6 pm because you are invited to one of Hyderabad's most sought-after events.
Details and discussions
Resilience — that's the theme for the event. "The intention was to give people perspective on how to deal with the current crisis at hand and yet, the event is not focussed on COVID alone. It is also about how to build patience, perseverance and, most importantly, resilience to deal with life itself," shares the Licensee and Curator of TEDxHyderabad. So upon corresponding with the global TEDx team, they came to the conclusion that things are not going to change for months and in this context, their stand on engagement needed to be redefined. Thus, the virtual edition. So, what's different about this inspirational event now that it has gone virtual? The average TEDx talk is for 18 minutes, which they felt might be too long as our attention spans online are even shorter. So each of the nine speakers will be given nine minutes each and the event which usually spanned the whole day has shrunk to three hours alone, with networking opportunities before and after. Apart from these speakers, there will be two performers, panel discussions moderated by Viiveck himself and one surprise element too, which no matter how much we nudge him to share he chooses to remain tight-lipped about, but promising us that we wouldn't want to miss it.
There is no doubt about the fact that the experience of attending a physical event, sitting in an auditorium with several others while crying and laughing over the same things, is different than attending a virtual event as the latter won't have the community feeling, but their intensive curation process, which TEDx is known for, is much more powerful now. "Our focus has always been to not just appeal to the audience sitting in the auditorium, but also when the talk goes up on YouTube, we ensure that it engages million others too. This time too, we are working with speakers to ensure that their message gets across to the people watching them on screen," explains Viiveck. So from 2.30 to 3 pm, the networking starts and then the speakers will share their perspectives on resilience. And the content will continue to remain key.
Because it's worth it
In a world where we have been spoiled by free seminars, TEDxHyderabad has made it a ticketed event. The virtual ticket costs Rs 750 and there is also the Good Samaritans ticket for Rs 10,000, proceeds of which will go to NGOs who are working towards COVD-19 relief. The list of NGOs has not been finalised yet because the needs of the poor and needy are changing every week. But wait, a ticked online event? "As humans and more importantly as Indians, anything free is not perceived as valuable. We learnt this when we organised our smaller salon events for free initially. If it is not paid, you register and if you remember and nothing else comes up, you attend it. But when you put a price to it, it moves up on your priority list and you make time for it, making your experience automatically more meaningful," explains Viiveck adding that the response to their event has been enthusiastic and people are purchasing both the tickets in good numbers. The event will be conducted on Zoom, who are also their partners, and they will be using some premium features of the video-conferencing app to make the experience worth it.
Will more and more events, in general, go virtual? Probably, yes, opines Viiveck but what will most definitely change is education and entertainment he asserts. But he does state that with more corporates being flexible with the work from home option, productivity is at it's best. "Let's just say, I can finish a high-powered meeting then wash the utensils and go back to another meeting. The break refreshes and boosts productivity as well," he explains smiling. And when it comes to TEDxHyderabad, they have ensured that they have curated an event that will make you want to come back for more next year. See you there!
For more information, check out tedxhyderabad.com/tedxHyderabadvirtual
