It's been almost 2 weeks since I woke up at 5am, got the coach to London and made my way to my first ever Ted event and I have to say it's one of the best things I've ever done. I left feeling so inspired, full of ideas and motivated to make an impact. It took place in the Indigo at the O2 on the 24th of June. Whilst on the tube I was so close to not getting off at my stop because I felt so nervous about spending an entire day with strangers. Luckily TedxTeen created an app beforehand for attendees and speakers, so reading other people's messages on the chat about how they were going alone and felt nervous, made me feel a lot better. Plus the theme for the day was #BoldMoves and I considered this to be mine!
Once I got in the O2 I went through security, got my snazzy lanyard that made me feel super important and found a seat. At first I sat alone in the middle of an empty isle but quickly it filled up and it began. As I was so nervous I didn't attempt to make conversation with any of my fellow attendees but before we began any talks everyone stood up, put their arms around one another and we did a minute silence for the Grenfell Tower victims. After that the ice had broken and immediately we all started chatting and introducing ourselves.
The TedxTeen app gave us the opportunity to book office hours with different people succeeding in their industry. I chose to meet Taylor Trudon, the Youth Special Projects Editor at MTV News, she was so lovely and encouraging to us budding writers and future journalists with the focus of the office hour being 'going viral.'
A personal highlight of the day for me was the masterclass with the legendary Nile Rodgers and The Smith's Johnny Marr which was absolutely insane. There were 20 of us sat in little wooden director chairs, it was so intimate and something I will remember forever! They sat in front of us, jammed out and told us the #BoldMoves they had made that had impacted their life. Johnny's was deciding to get the bus to Morrissey's house and asking him to start a band.. pretty damn cool.
It's hard to believe but Nile Rodgers is even cooler in person. He took the time to explain how he came up with the riffs from his most famous songs and he even told us a white lie he told Diana Ross when convincing her to release a certain song. Please excuse my sweaty, nervous appearance but I even got a photo with him eeeeee!
All the talkers and performances throughout the day were awe-inspiring but the people that stood out for me were Muzoon Al-Mellehan, Jake Davis and Tyler Dunning. Muzoon is the youngest Goodwill Ambassador for Unicef, I felt so privileged to listen to her passion for education (when she left to go to a refugee camp in Jordan she only took were her textbooks!!) Jake told us about the positive aspects of the hacking community, he was hilarious whilst doing it and even told us about the mischief he'd got up to during his time with 'Anonymous' and 'LulzSec.'
Lastly Tyler's talk about his journey with death, whether it was his own suicidal thoughts or it happening to those closest to him, his views on death were so thought-provoking. His story about his quest to visit all the U.S. National Park's and live his life to the fullest left me feeling uplifted. I wanted to go home and hug all my friends and family straight after.
So that was my day at London TedxTeen! I'm finding it hard to sum it up because I left speechless and I feel like no amounts of words will do it justice. But all I have to say is if you're into social justice, tech or you are just a curious being who wants to be inspired I couldn't recommend it more!
Go alone or go with a group, as Shia LaBeouf would say 'JUST DO IT.' When I first walked in and saw people sat in groups I felt so intimidated but quickly I made friends and we spent the day together! The next one is taking place in NYC for their 10th anniversary so go go go!!
Claudia x