TEDx Auckland 2014, unexpected Himalayan cycle tour preparation!

Robin Capper

27 Oct 2014 — 12 min read

When I saw TEDx Auckland 2014 announced I really wanted to go but was a bit torn. I loved the 2013 event but it meant a precious day of weekend gone. Weekends were crucial as I was trying to get fit for a rather demanding cycle tour in the Himalayas.

The TEDx 2014 theme was ‘Ascending’:

Ascending is about individuals and society rising to a higher level of consciousness.

Ascending is about finding the positives in any situation and building on them to make our lives, community, business and planet better.

As it turned out, the day spent at TEDx may have been the most valuable trip preparation I ever did thanks to Mike Allsop!

Click on the speakers name to link to a video of their talk (if on YouTube)
Bullet points in italics are unedited notes I took during the day using OneNote on my Nokia Lumia 1520 phone. I also used it for all the photos and John Boone session video clip.

The gathering crowds, the Aotea Centre was a near sell-out!

Amazing, TEDx Auckland draws a large crowd

Waiting to Ascend, the stage is set:

Session 1:

Ideas are nothing - Luke Nola
- Ideas are nothing!
- The Goober Brothers TV, became Let's Get inventing show
  - Mad ideas which worked
    - Rocket ice skates
    - Human catapult skeet shooting
    - Fan [powered like airboat] skim board
    - Rat powered bike
  - Ideas became real
    - Sun spot stickers Natalie, Julian Robertson funded
    - Electric rat 'brothel' trap patented
    - Insinkorator to compost system
- Became iPad app & workshop tour
- 11 patents
- NZ show 73 counties around the world, format Sold to BBC
- Parents not allowed on set
- Ideas mean nothing, invention is making it real. Lets get inventing!

I was aware of both these shows but had never seen them. Was surprised at the impact, real world patents and in the entertainment sense, they’ve had. There’s no photo of Luke, because I forgot was going to repeat my photo the speakers from last year, so I stole this one from his site.

Borrowing courage - Muskan Devta
- Youngest ever TEDx Akl speaker (14)
- Born in India 1999 at 32 weeks with multiple medical problems - hemiplegia
- Migrated to NZ 2004
- Its ok to borrow courage, and lend yours to those who need it.

Muskan’s story, growth from personal/medical challenges through family her emergence as a broadcaster, publisher and (now) speaker, was inspiring and beautifully delivered. The youngest ever TEDx Auckland speaker commanded the stage and audience like a veteran.

No regrets | Urzila Carlson - @UrzilaCarlson
- There's no greater waste of time than regret
- Challenged to 'you need to give yourself the opportunity' & became a comedian

Although I knew Urzila’s work, from TV mostly, had no idea of her background. From South African media, to NZ lingerie catalog photo editor to the comedy stage. The message was to challenge yourself, but also give yourself the opportunity, permission, to try anything.

Small steps to the top of the world - Mike Allsop - @mikeallsopnz
- Air NZ Pilot
- Doesn't like heights
- Climbed Mt Everest
- Technique for life:
  - Get a strong plan
  - Break it into small steps
  - Do it
- Aircraft failed on ferry flight near Hawaii:
  - Recommends crashing in the U.S. if you are going to (great rescue services)
  - Rescue Ship first officer said "where are you from?, a Kiwi, we've rescued lots of you folks"
- Climbed Everest, took children back to trek to base camp
  - Adventure important, spending time with others priceless
- 777 marathon project - http://www.777project.co.nz/
  - 7 marathons, 7 continents, 7 days
- Imagine how you want to be when you're at your limit.
- Powered by USANA

This talk connected with me in a very direct way. I’d nearly forgone attending TEDx as it was only a month before I was departing on the most intrepid journey I’ve ever contemplated - ~1000km across the Tibetan Plateau by bicycle. I would recall Mike’s “

Get a strong plan, Break it into small steps

, do it” line many times pedalling up those ~5000m altitude passes, some other advice even more.

At the end of the session Mike joined Muskan & Urzila in the AUT Q & A room. This was a great opportunity to hear more from the speakers and interact in a way the TED presentation format prevents. I spoke briefly to Mike regarding my upcoming Himalayan cycle trip for a few minutes and got a contact which may have proved vital to its success. Look for an upcoming post for more on that!

Super power baby project - Rachel Callander
- Daughter Evie born with chromosomal abnormalities
- Talked about Evie’s superpowers, not her limitations
- Evie suggested a book, after 2 1/2 years it is her legacy
- The words used to describe disability need to be redefined. To abilities, superpowers.
- The superpower baby project - https://www.superpowerbabyproject.org/

To hear of Evie’s struggle was touching, Rachel’s response was a inspiring tribute.

Session 2:

Radical management - Vivian Maidaborn
- What is the new management, the current doesn't work
- Loomio - transform decision making - online open source https://www.loomio.org/

Interesting open source web based team decision application.

Beyond the zero waste restaurant - Matt Stone
- Melbourne sustainable restaurant pioneer and chef

How do we move from feel good to think good? - Rebecca Mills
- Vivid memory of women running across the road taking off her skirt
  - Had been hit by car while on bike
  - Severe head & facial injury, women was running to help
- Its time for a new story: People are mostly good, they want to help
- Creates strategy for change for companies, cities & more
- The B Team http://bteam.org/ (sparked by Richard Branson). B because our current Plan A isn't working
- We need to work as a collective & highly targeted approach
- If you have an hour to solve s problem, spend 55 minutes determining the right question - Einstein
- Think in systems

Rebecca’s opening, a harrowing story of her cycle accident, was a totally unexpected approach to the subject of her talk. Had vaguely heard of the Branson Bteam, but great to hear about the Kiwi connection.

Garden to table - Catherine Bell
- Food resilience - where has it gone
- 15 minutes + knowledge + fresh ingredients is enough for a good meal. Fast good food.
- Garden to table school programme - http://www.gardentotable.org.nz/
- The joy of watching a child discover they love broad beans.
- “Kids will eat Kale if they grew it!”

I loved the hands on solution to a problem many are just beginning to debate. The

Foyer Conversations

Between sessions there was some time to talk. It was great that TEDx provided lunch in the foyer this year, eliminated the need to dash offsite in search of food. A couple of chance conversations stuck in my memory:

At lunch I met teacher who’d left a long service career to try something new. She hadn’t decided what ‘new’ was yet and thought TEDx might inspire. I wonder if it did?
A lovely older Maori man who was shuffling as he walked. Turned out he came from ‘up North”. Told him how I loved the area from childhood summer holidays and (more recently) cycling around there. He told me about his childhood, the shuffle a result of Polio which was (thankfully) just a memory by the time I was born. The week before I had seen Richard Saunders new documentary on vaccination - The Vaccination Chronicles – so to talk to someone so directly impacted by the lack of it was fascinating.

Session 3

Intro TED Video: LA South Central garden. Sidewalk gardens, doing container cafe. It won't be free because sustainable has to be sustained!
Connect John Boone @johnnybnz
- 2500 percussion instruments at once
- 2500 people coordinated without a word. Demo & gestures only. Didn't work with 5 year olds, ' can you speak please?'
- Started with a template, learned to improvise on feedback
- 'Create collective flow'

Arrived back in the theatre to find everyone, 2500 people, had been given a percussion instrument. They weren’t toys, real quality instruments which made me wonder where do you get them!?

John walked on and without a word, just action and mime, soon had everyone performing in sync. During one of the quieter parts I played my bongo one handed while capturing the video below on the phone. I think the Nokia 1520 built in surround mikes did pretty well, turn the volume up for maximum reality!

https://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf

Luke Hurley
- As you may have seen outside Countdown (grey lynn?)
- “The Countdown manager came out and said I couldn't play. I said I could".
- He could!

Luke’s playing was great, but I best remember him taking his own photo of the audience from the stage. I wonder if he ever showed it to the Countdown manager? I couldn’t find a YouTube of his TEDx performance but here’s one from his other stage.

Mohamed Hassen
- From of Grace Taylors "Rising Voices" (see 2013)

Amazing performance from one of Grace’s protégées.

Session 4

Taking science primetime - Riley Elliott - http://rileyelliott.com/
- Sharks! Fear or fascination is determined by media perception and/or knowledge
- Vast majority of science publication ate not read or cited
- Pseudo science is worse
- 20 years of shark finning has nearly destroyed 400 million years evolution
- '100% Pure' NZ was in top ten exporters in this trade
- More science proved apex predictor impact jeopardised entire fishing economy 80 million fin sales risked 1.6 billion
- Western Australian shark killing abhorrent abuse of bogus science:
  - Stimulating visual imagery gave access to media to communicate real science
- Science spread by visual imagery

Another story I only vaguely knew about before TEDx. Riley’s campaign to stop shark finning in NZ (we were amongst the worst) had made the news. The detail of his approach; solid science communicated with stunning imagery was the the core of this talk. Changing attitudes is tough, changing them with informed education tougher but ultimately worthwhile. Let’s hope Western Australia take notice and stop their mad slaughter.

The christmas tree and the universe - Richard Easther - @reasther
- Space wants to make space (between galaxies)
- Christmas tree analogy for galaxies & dark latter structure
- We know what happened back to a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second before the big bang

I had previously heard Richard speak at Skeptics in the Pub and a public lecture at Auckland University. Given the vast and complex nature of his subject — the history of the Universe from big bang to (as we currently understand it) its expanding demise — it was amazing he how packed so much into the limited time TEDx format allows. His wife’s explanation of dark matter – the title of this talk - is the most elegant I’ve heard.

Richard’s talk was great but I really enjoyed the AUT Lounge Q&A session with Richard & Riley Elliot, especially this bit:

[in response to a question about how he developed his public relations skills] Riley Elliot said: "PR is not rocket science. Easther responded: 'I know PR's not rocket science because I am a rocket scientist!"

Richard Easther explains dark matter with a single image

Invention rewired - Jon Bridges & David Downs - @jonbridges66
- No. 8 Rewired book
- Our No 8 wire mentality isn't enough
- We are not good at patenting our ideas
  - Gore-Tex tech. pioneered by John Cropper in NZ but didn't patent it. Robert Gore invented after and did
- New thinking
  - Increased r&d
    - Low investment in r&d 1%, Denmark 10%
    - F&P healthcare
  - Commercialisation
    - Buckley superconducting
  - Collaboration
    - 'Power by proxi' wireless

I liked how they turned perception of the, legendary, Number 8 fencing wire make do Kiwi approach. To compete making do isn't enough. The examples of new thinking cited that are happening show we can.

Anna Jackson, Dave Boivin
- "Dave Boivin" fictional
  - We live in a post digital world already
  - Transmedia:
    - Multi-platform
    - Participation
      - The audience are part of the story
  - There is no right way
  - The boundaries between story teller & audience, fact & fiction
- @d_immersion & http://www.deepimmersion.net/

I was a little confused by Dave as had the speaker list, so was expecting Anna. That was explained by the revelation of the deep immersion experiment. Followed “Dave” on twitter but haven't seen much since.

Dave Boivin, Anna Jackson 's real virtual character

Session 5

Living impossibly - Vaughan Rowsell - @rowsell
- Set yourself impossible goals, then do them
  - Quit rugby, smoking, news media, drinking
  - Cycled length of NZ
- Impossible person 1: His paraplegic solo mother who raised 3 boys
  - Mum bought first pc with second mortgage on house
- Started Vend to pay Mums vision back
  - "The great thing about having a start-up is that *you* get to pick which 80hrs a week you work."
  - Sad Mum didn't live to see Vend grow

I knew of Vaughan from his work at Vend. I only know of them as a couple of people I know via work & Twitter work there (and love it). Vaughan presented the story of a wonderful relationship. His mother, in what is conventionally described as adverse conditions, created an environment which inspired the kids to set impossible challenges, and achieve them.

Love is not an option - Sarah Longbottom
- Started Ngarahi Tahitoa Arts foundation for marginal youth
  - YNET: Youth in no education or training
- Love means to recognize yourself in another
- It takes 2.5 DAYS to change them [the marginalised youth she works with]
- Amnesiac love buzz - interact with someone like they're the love of your life who's forgotten who you are
- Recognise literacy and numeracy are not the holy grail of education

Sounded great but not entirely sure I understood what it was about. I did appreciate Sarah’s frustration that many talented kids are doomed to ‘failure’ because they don’t fit the academic norm.

Willie Jackson
- MUMA - Manukau Urban Maori Authority
- Mums (Dame Joan Jackson) work with parole board and parole prisoners.
- Redemption can work, not every time, but you have to try.

Willie walked on stage and asked: “Put your hand up if you believe in redemption?”. He was dismayed, if not surprised, by how few he saw. I think the problem, my problem, was he hadn’t defined what he meant by redemption. Unlike many of the other speakers he arrived with a media and political profile which may have prejudiced the reception of what he was trying to say. Willie spent a lot of time talking about a misjudged attempt to bring Mike Tyson to NZ, and not enough talking about his Mum’s work trying to rehabilitate prisoners. In fact, by the end of his talk I wished his Mum had been on stage giving the speech.

Rebecca Wadey – Growing through cancer
- Breast Cancer survivor
- "I looked cancer in the eye and told it to fuck off".
- Formed support group with others in same position:
  - "breast friends" worked better than the most expensive therapists.
  - But not all survived
  - The power of positive thinking is powerful but not always enough
- Got pregnant, cancer level elevated
- After traumatic pregnancy induced early cancer level resolved
- Contacted 'Little Bird' raw food café & set up yoga space above

I loved the honesty, the hopeful yet realistic telling of a very personal story.

Waikare Komene - @Cre8vMaori @roots_creative
- A restless kid from Otara
  - Head prefect Otara College
  - Graduated with degree in architecture
- Previously nobody in family had finished High School
- 50% of our waste can be compost
- Created project in Otara to promote sustainability - 8000 plastic bottles built by four tribes of high school kids into sculpture
- Led to bamboo sculpture project
- Led to School garden at Rosebank School Avondale. Some bottles from project 1 became a greenhouse :)
- The Roots creative entrepreneurship:
  - Waste as a resource
- Thinking sustainably, acting locally

Waikare was great, modest, honest and truly inspiring. He has combined his design skills with leadership to promote sustainable community design build projects.