Gearing up for TEDx UoSM 2019

It all started with an email I received in mid-December 2018 from the Lead Organiser/Curator of TEDxUoSM, Lee Jun Xuan, where he invited me to participate as a speaker in their next TEDx event planned for March 2019. He said, and I quote:

University of Southampton Malaysia campus is in Educity

“We are honoured to invite you to speak in TEDxUoSM, an independently organised TED event happening in March 2019. After reading your blog “My Johor Stories”, we are impressed on how you captured the local stories and brought them to light through your intriguing writings.”

“We hope that you can share about your experience and ideas on your journalism journey with the local community in EduCity through the TEDxUoSM stage. We are excited to find out more about you and it would be great if you can join us on this TEDx journey.”

He went on to explain the difference between TED Talks and the TEDx Talks:

“TEDx is a self-organized event that gives opportunities to the local communities around the world to share about ideas that matter in any discipline — technology, entertainment, design, science, humanities, business, development. Our goal is to bring bright minds together to foster learning, inspiration and provoke conversations that matter.”

Jun Xuan [Right] making a point in our discussion

A quick online search described TED and TEDx as powerful events because their organisers don’t do it for money or fame. These are non-profit events.

What does the acronym, TED stand for? Its Technology, Entertainment and Design.

And the mission of TED is described as, “Ideas worth spreading.”

So the local community Jun Xuan was referring to is UoSM, the short-form for University of Southampton Malaysia. He went on to introduce himself and his team:

“At TEDxUoSM, we organize the TEDx event which is half day long and curated by Lee Jun Xuan (Lead Organiser & Curator), Noelle Tan Huey Wen (Co-Oragniser & Curator) and Chn'g Chyi Jiun (Curator) with a live audience of not more than 100. We hope to present talks that are idea-focused, diversified, which our community can find it interesting and ideas-worth-spreading.”

“We are delighted to inform you that our theme for TEDxUoSM event is “Illuminating Possibilities”. My team and I are keen to expose our young local community to ideas that would encourage them to discover different possibilities in different fields. We believe that your voice would be a critical addition to the TEDxUoSM stage as well as generate new thinking of how possibilities can be made possible.” 

Noelle holds up the microphone while Jeremy is filming

He provided brief details of the event planned for March 2019 and went on to say:

“Your talk will be filmed, edited and uploaded in TEDxTalks YouTube channel after the event. You should know that your talk must not be longer than 18 minutes.”

“We believe that your ideas would create a great impact the community in TEDxUoSM and definitely play an important role in making our TEDxUoSM event successful. Please let us know by 24th December 2018...” 

I’m familiar with TED and TEDx Talks and as I read to the end of his message, I had to swallow a lump that had suddenly formed in my throat, before I could breathe again.

A view through the lens

The thought of being filmed while I speak was simply overwhelming because I just don’t like that camera. So I gave this some serious thought and mulled over it for a while.

Then a few days later, I received a follow-up email from Jun Xuan to ask if I had received his previous message and that they were ready to answer any questions that I might have.

In early January 2019, we finally met with a tele-conference and I must say that the enthusiasm of this group of three was rather infectious and most encouraging.

Even from their voices, I could tell that they were organizing this event out of passion and to make a difference.

As TEDx have clear guidelines of Do’s and Don’ts, the organisers had to ensure that speakers adhered to them.

Having successfully organized their first TEDx USMC in 2017/2018, these young people are full of confidence, equipped with the experience and raring to go into their next TEDx Talk, now renamed TEDx UoSM.

They are Engineering undergraduates with the University of Southampton Malaysia in Educity, Iskandar Puteri.

Jeremy [Right, with headphones on] reviews the audio
recording while Noelle and Jun Xuan chat with me

I learnt that a few were also in the audience of the National level competition for ‘Speak Out for Engineering’ held at UoSM last August, and they remembered me as the only Non-Engineer guest Judge.

With “Illuminating Possibilities” as the theme, I started to prepare my script and visual presentations.

Having presented “My Johor Stories” to various groups of adults and students, I was ready to share about my exciting book-writing journey but I remained open to adapting my presentation to the angle required for the audience in TEDx UoSM.

We finally met up to review the first draft of my script and with their healthy comments and helpful input, I got a clearer view of what they were after for my talk.

They also shared with me, updates about the event and said that the organizing was coming along quite well, with everything on track for the event planned for Saturday, March 30.

Recently I met with Jun Xuan, Noelle and Chyi Jiun, or CJ in short, at University of Southampton Malaysia’s main campus in Educity, to discuss and fine-tune my script.

They were pleased to update me with the info that TEDx UoSM 2019 has secured seven speakers to present their talks.

I was naturally curious to know who my fellow speakers were and the team provided me with a brief intro to the other six distinguished speakers.

By just looking at this eclectic list, I know that I am in very good company. They are:

1]  Mr Wan Ahmad Saifuddin, Managing Director of Educity Iskandar Malaysia Sdn Bhd

2]  Mr Sirhajwan Idek, Teacher at Keningau Vocational College

3]  Mr Amir Shahlan Amiruddin, Dean of Faculty of Cinematic Arts, Multimedia University

4]  Dr Edmund Ong, Lecturer in Newcastle University

5]  Dr Varun Thangamani, Assistant Professor in Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Southampton Malaysia

6]  Ms Juliette Lai, Musician and composer

From this list of invited speakers, I discovered at least two familiar names.

Jeremy in action, shooting me!

Juliette Lai is a family friend and in 2015, I published a personality feature on this gifted musician in the Life & Times section of The New Straits Times.

And I recently met with Amir Shahlan as a fellow panel member of the Award Committee for the Iskandar Malaysia Beyond Boundaries Programme.

The bulk of the speakers appeared to be academics, probably because this TEDx was being organized in UoSM, and I’m deeply humbled to be among the odd ones out.

In our recent meetup, the Video production team of Jeremy Lee and Aaron Chong joined us to shoot a short video of me, discussing my Talk ideas, for a trailer video on each speaker.

With their advanced technology and arty touches to the video, I cannot wait to see the finished product.

With the event coming up very soon, I should get back to preparing myself and rehearsing my talk.

Meanwhile, online ticket sales have been extended to March 18, and available at http://bit.do/ticket-tedxuosm

For more info, visit website: www.tedxuosm.com and social media handles, Facebook.com/tedxuosm and Instagram.com/tedxuosm

Check out the event trailer on:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BudAcCWBJuW/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=4xmkj4g6bzdt