What happens in-between TEDxTUM events?

Our team puts a lot of love and energy into organizing our events, but we don’t stop there. Driven by our passion for spreading ideas and engaging people’s creativity, we put on smaller, invite-only events and activities as well as interactive, fun online and offline campaigns. We also highlight our past talks along with other ideas from the TEDx universe and beyond in themed editorials. This is our blog, where we collect and document all of this.

Do you have a fun, interactive idea for us to do, or an impactful project for our team to contribute to, or would you like to get involved yourself? Use the contact form to get in touch.

EDITORIALS

Images courtesy of Shutterstock.

The global mindset (Editorial #27)

The global mindset (Editorial #27)

This month we want to lift the curtain to take a look at the mindset of TEDx organizing.
Between the 20th and 22nd of May, we had the opportunity to host the TEDxWeekend, an event for TEDx organizers around the world to assemble in one place to share experiences and advice. Picture this – a whole bunch of people from all walks of life, different ages, nationalities, occupations, and – even within the TEDx community – completing entirely different tasks in their teams. And yet, in the end, those people are all connected in their mission to spread ideas worth sharing. So what does it take to do so?

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Redemption (Editorial #26)

Redemption (Editorial #26)

As the world celebrates Easter and Ramadan, it seems fitting to dedicate this month’s editorial to the very core of what they stand for – redemption. We have all failed, made mistakes, done things that we regret, we may have been judged and condemned for our actions… but, do we truly let our past define us? Are we forever expected to live under the shadow of our misdeeds? We bring to you stories of people, who like us had their trials and temptations. It may even be fair to say that they have had it harder than many of us. What makes these speakers stand out is that despite their misgivings, they have accepted their shortcomings instead of running away from them. They have found a way to heal, not only themselves but also those around them. Remember this – the light at the end of the tunnel is not the illusion. The tunnel is. Our failures don’t define who we are; we are all worthy of redemption

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Tipping points (Editorial #25)

Tipping points (Editorial #25)

We’ve all heard of the infamous quotes such as the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’ and the handful of sayings that all have a way of describing an immense, powerful and explosive change. Well, meet tipping points; the more reserved but equally important catalyst of change. Tipping Points are interesting because almost everything in our world, including ourselves, always remain in a delicate state of balance most of the time until we don’t. That’s the most difficult aspect of tipping points, as we do not know when we will reach it and when we do, what happens next? In this months’ edition we will explore ideas that we all are familiar with and which are conducive to a tipping point because the change and conversations they bring about are not only needed but wanted.

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COMMUNITY

TEDxTUM featured in two podcasts

TEDxTUM featured in two podcasts

In the past 2 years, TEDxTUM has been featured on several podcasts, giving us a chance to share our experiences in organizing an event with passion, dedication, and playfulness. We love the TEDx community and believe in giving back. Feel free to listen in if you want a behind-the-scenes look into how TEDxTUM comes to life.

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TEDxWeekendRoma

TEDxWeekendRoma

TEDx is a huge world-wide community, with almost 4000 events happening in 170 countries each year. 2019 marks the 10-year anniversary of the TEDx program, and the community decided to celebrate: Organizers around the world hosted five weekend-long experiences across different continents — in Johannesburg, Mexico City, Rome, Taipei, and Tunis. Each local team designed a unique weekend-long celebration – for TEDxers only! – that featured city adventures, regional workshops, social engagements, and more! The TEDxTUM team took part in TEDxWeekendRoma in October 2019 – and came back with a strong sense of the global community and a head full of new ideas for our future events. Here’s a short summary of what we experienced.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

New Year, Same Me?

New Year, Same Me?

For a lot of us, this has been a blur of a year. And in a year so uncertain, so frightening, with so much at stake…there was so much monotony. The endlessness of days spent avoiding infection bled them all together, washing away the end pieces.

It’s tempting to feel as if, in a year during which so much took place, that nothing happened at all.

We had other expectations for 2020 when we rang in the new year last time around. We set ambitions for ourselves—to learn new skills, to take a long-awaited trip, to run a marathon, to defend a PhD. As this year draws to a close and a new year looms, what if we looked at things from a different perspective? Do you really need to start 2021 with a lofty goal?

Here,  we treat you to a selection of talks that explore the authentic side of who we are—our vulnerabilities, our neuroses, our flaws, our quirks. Let these talks remind you that we’re all human—and our oddities make us interesting.

To evolve is optional.

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#Rechargewithtedxtum

#Rechargewithtedxtum

Across the social media spectrum, you’ve been asked to adapt. You’ve been told to hold on. You’ve swerved your way of life in service of the greater good.

Right now, we’re giving you the green light to do something a little different: take it easy. Go ahead; hit the pause button on life and enjoy something utterly inconsequential. 

Here, we bring you a few talks from the TEDx Universe that have been hand-picked to inspire, to educate, but most of all: to bring pure delight. If you’re tired, now is the time to rest—just sit back and enjoy a happy moment.

Are you ready to #rechargewithtedxtum?

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Our World, Improved

Our World, Improved

Light bulbs, ironing boards, traffic signals. These seem like everyday fixtures of regular life…but can you imagine living without them? These items were once just ideas in the heads of frustrated people who saw a problem and formulated a solution. Think of the naysayers. The scoffers. The “It’s Always Been Done This Way”-ers. In a world of skeptics, a few bold inventors dared to walk a different path—and our world has been shaped for the better because of it. Do you have an idea that seems too crazy to work? And if so…what’s stopping you from making it a reality?

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#onetalkonetask

#onetalkonetask

We all probably have watched tons of TED and TEDx talks before. And we all know the feeling of learning something new, of exploring something unknown, of getting inspired by a new idea.

These feelings drove our team to take the next step and not only get inspired by these ideas but bring them to action. So, 8 of our team members took on the challenge. They chose one TED(x) talk and assigned themselves one task.

Here, we share their individual journeys, experiences, and thoughts. See for yourself how they all solved one task inspired by one talk! #onetalkonetask

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FROM OUR EVENTS

TEDxTUM Puzzles

TEDxTUM Puzzles

In 2018 and 2019, we gave students the chance to win a free ticket to our main event at the end of the year. The only thing they had to do was to solve one puzzle to get their name entered in our ticket raffle. Solving more puzzles of course increased the chance of winning a ticket.

While most of them were rewarded by a free ticket to TEDxTUM, we also got the feedback that it was just fun solving the puzzles. So, if you missed our puzzle challenges in the last 2 years, here is your chance to try for yourself.

How many can you solve?

And you never know, maybe you will learn something that can help you to win a free ticket to TEDxTUM yourself one day… 😉

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How we tried to reduce the environmental impact of TEDxTUM: Dive In

How we tried to reduce the environmental impact of TEDxTUM: Dive In

As we craft together our main event each year, we keep an eye turned toward sustainability. While we’re still far from reaching our destination, we took a lot of measures to create a greener, more eco-friendly event.

From the sponsors we’ve chosen to the ingredients in the food we’ve laid out, almost every aspect of the experience at TEDxTUM: Dive In was geared toward a lower carbon footprint.

We still have a long way to go, but we are really proud of what our team has accomplished this year. Feel free to contact us if you have ideas or suggestions on how we could improve further.

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Can a vegetarian lunch reduce the carbon footprint of our event?

Can a vegetarian lunch reduce the carbon footprint of our event?

At TEDxTUM, we try hard to improve our event every year. In the year of Fridays for Future, this might be a bit of a cliche – but 2019, we did so by focusing a lot on sustainability.

Next to cutting out all single-use plastic bottles, this included going full-on vegetarian. For the past years, we have offered our attendees the choice between a chicken and a vegan wrap (which in 2018 led to a share of 80% chicken and 20% vegan wraps), in 2019 – we chose for them by only offering vegetarian burritos.

However, sustainability is a complicated topic and who even knows what steps to take anymore? Is vegetarian automatically better? To put some numbers on the issue, the small but mighty Burrito-Task-Force assembled and tackled the question of just how much CO2 emissions we could be cutting with this step.

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