The first TEDxEwha conference took place on Nov. 27 under the theme, “Revolution for Evolution”
TED has spread its spirit of spreading influential ideas around the world under the TEDx program. The TEDx program is a localized version of the TED conference series which provides local communities, organizations or individuals with the chance to have TED-like experiences. This movement has been spreading like a virus and just last month, 113 TEDx events took place in 44 countries, according to ted.com.
Korea also joined this movement last year, starting with TEDxMyeongdong. TEDx organizations were formed to independently carry out the conference and as of now there are approximately 15 TEDx universities and eight TEDx locals that organize conferences. TEDxEwha was established this August by a group of Ewha students and held its first conference on Nov. 27 at the LG Convention Hall under the theme “Revolution for Evolution.”
Students at Ewha who formerly knew about TEDx organized a group called ANIthink in August to start TEDx at Ewha. ANIthink, which consists of eight organizers, organized this event and successfully launched their first conference with Professor Choi Jae-chun (Life Science), Professor Lee Sang-jae (Korea Nazarene University), Cheon Ho-gyun, the representative director of Ssamzienongbu, Park Ji-sook, the director-general of Karuna Mind-Healing, and Han Jun-hee, a university student with intriguing extracurricular activities. 13 Ewha students, volunteers who were recruited through the boards on the Ewha Portal Information System and Ewhaian.com, also participated in assisting the conference. Speakers talked about how big or small revolutions or changes in our lives could influence our evolution or development as an individual or even the whole society.
The first TEDxEwha conference was fully registered on its first day with a long waiting list of applicants.
“I hope this conference really gave people the opportunity to enlighten them with innovative ideas and share them with other participants,” said Kang Ji-hye (Journalism, 3), the director of TEDxEwha.
The second TEDxEwha conference is planned to be held at next spring semester. However, the organizers and theme for the next conference are not determined yet.
The TEDx organizations throughout the nation and the world have become a network for students interested in sharing their ideas. They are looking forward to finding practical solutions or ideas to the questions that are raised.
“As a fan of TEDx events myself, I think the program is narrowing the gaps of people’s information in the 21st century, also known as the Information Age. Attending the conferences can be very beneficial for people but busy people like me can also access the program through the Internet,” Kang Ye-rim (Politics and Diplomacy, 2) said.
For those who missed the past conferences of TEDx, the videos have been uploaded on the Web site (www.TEDxEwha.com). More videos can also be found on ted.com. Also for smart phone users, download the Korea TEDx events application for future conferences.