DIT’s Very Own TedX Event – Motivation & Inspiration!

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Alex S
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On the first day of December DIT Students’ Union hosted the very first TedX DIT. There was a huge turnout, which could not be doubted!
The event featured 14 speakers from a wide range of disciplines and they spoke on a variety of topics. Each person who attended was even given a goodie bag with a detailed programme and some lucky people recieved a free print of street art from the Waterford Street Art Festival. If you were one of the 8 who did, I am jealous of you! There’s no way I can cover all the speakers here, but if you are curious about the speakers, you can find their bios and their social media dets here.
Emma Loughney

Emma Loughney brought our attention to the importance of street art today and how it can  change a city through community. Dr. Luca Longo got us to think about how AI’s could be used in schools and hopefully better education for everybody. Norah Casey showed us the four steps it takes for a person in an abusive relationship or in a situation of domestic violence, to leave. Because leaving is the most important and most difficult part.

Una Begley spoke to us about the importance of volunteering, the stigma around the idea

Andrea Horan

of volunteering and why it is so important to go after the thoughts and ideas that er might have. She is a volunteer for the annual First Fortnight Mental Health festival (the next one will be taking place in January). Aine Molloy showed us why tokenism should be viewed as a good thing and how it can bring about change. Andrea Horan made us think about whether or not having more is really a good thing, shouldn’t we sometimes spend our energy trying to better that which we already have?

Liam Donohoe

Liam Donohuge showed us a new way of producing bricks that could bring about change in housing and sustainability. Tony Duffin explained why supervised injecting facilities could be a good thing, and how you could go about estabilishing something new especially when it involves knowing the law. Alana Murphy spoke about why people with disabilities who ignite change should not be treated as being on a pedestal. Instead, we should be listening and help bring about change for people with disabilities. A voice will be much louder if we all work together.

Simon Scriver focused on how even the smallest of gestures can make a difference in someone’s day and even if we can’t change the whole world, at least we could change someone’s day. Nicky illustrated how shifting her perspective has been able to change her life for the better and it could do the same for you. Shane Finn pointed out the importance in making your own decisions and how they can come to affect your live. Sarah Joyce spoke, very eloquently, about the connection between the arts and sciences, and how the smallest things can bring about the biggest changes and revolutions.
The final talk of the day was Ian Kiely on how drones could save your life and actually be extremely useful to us and solve a lot of problems we are currently facing (ie. they could be used as ambulances in times of heavy traffic when the car cannot get to the scene of the accident).
The general atmosphere shifted with each speaker. Some made the crowd laugh, while others truly moved everyone. I think it’s pretty safe to say that Norah Casey’s talk was one that brought everyone to near tears. On the other hand, I don’t think anyone expected Simon Scriver to begin his talk by talking about chicken nuggets (and what a way to get the crowd’s attention?).
Inbetween the talks, there were 3 breaks (excluding the lunch break) and after these breaks, things started back up with a video of a Ted talk being broadcasted. These proved to be just as interesting as the ones that our speakers were giving to us live. Design for all, behavior of crows and anything can be fun if you find the right game.
Not everything was smooth sailing; unfortunately Dr. Luca Longo had to restart his speech four times before he could finally tell us about AIs and how we should aim to use them in education.
Overall, the TedX event did feel like something special. It brought together both students, staff and the public under one roof and we were all there to do one thing- listen to all of these remarkable people give inspirational . It’s safe to say that everyone came away with having learned a lot. The addition of having older Ted talks projected on screen was a nice surprise, because it gave us something extra.
The event itself was very well organised. Those working the event did a great job of having everything run smoothly and even if something did come up, they were quick to fix it. And while we waited, our hostess did her best to keep us entertained (even though personally I did not feel the waits were long enough to really need to be amused, it was only about a minute or two).
I would recommend that if you ever have the opporutnity to go to an event like this do it! It’s a wonderful opportunity and you really come away feeling like you can go out and change the world – which you honestly can do, so go, hand out nuggets of love!
Keep an eye out for the videos of the tedX in the coming days.
All images are by Ben Davidson for DITSU
Alex S
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Visual Artist, student at DIT, and writer for DITSU.tv
I've been writing for DITSU.tv for 2+ years now, still ongoing
I mainly cover events but also like to write a few helpful, lifestyle pieces and here and there

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