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After securing a TEDx License in May 2020, almost a year later on 8 May 2021, TEDx Hillbrook Anglican School came to life in front of a live and enthusiastic sold out audience.
I had often satisfied my curiosity by watching TED talks and it dawned on me that we had a lot of great ideas in our own community, so in 2020 I was finally granted a License to produce a TEDxYouth event, and what followed was a mammoth task in converting my vision into reality.
Logistics, production, marketing, ticket sales, TEDx guidelines and rules, finding and curating speakers and 100 other things had to be solved. With the help of a small committee of students I pulled together we were totally thrilled when the day finally arrived. I was both one of the most exciting and frightening experiences in my life.
I have learned to value of detailed planning, persistence, and the need for cooperation and support. Firstly I secured the approval of my school principal Mr. Geoff Newton, thereafter the multitude of other moving parts slowly came together, all under the embrace of Covid and multiple lockdowns. TEDxHillbrook would be one of the highest profile events in the schools history so there is a great deal of reputation on the line.
The greatest challenge, outside of the logistics and event planning, has been curating and locking in nine amazing speakers, and assisting them in developing their talks and visual presentations. I invited expressions of interest from our schools student body, the school community and more broadly in our local community and greater Brisbane.
As we got closer came a detailed event schedule, rehearsals, ticket sales and a strict accounting of the TEDx rules and guidelines. It was quite the challenge to find a round bright red carpet - but I was determined that TEDxHillbrook would look the part!
It was an experience of a lifetime and one I shall never forget. I am so extremely grateful for the selfless support I received from the speakers, the school, the band, the committee, the audio-visual crew and volunteers ushers and the like.
I am especially pleased that each of the speakers are now on the world stage with their talks available on the TEDx YouTube channel, amassing nearly 11,000 views to date.
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