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| Credit: darteymedia.com |
As a person who is into capacity building and loves technology, education, entertainment and development, I decided to make time to attend the third edition of TEDxKNUST. This was possible after making a failed attempt last year due to busy schedule. This is a brief description of TEDx.
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).
This year's TEDxKNUST had "Novelty: The evolution of making a difference in Africa" as the theme.
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| Credit: Tedxknust.com |
Also read Interesting Quotes & Lessons from TEDxKNUST
As usual, it was a GMT ("Ghanaman time") programme. The event slated to start at 4:00pm commenced at few minutes past 5pm with almost half of the Great Hall auditorium filled. We had to wait for another 30 minutes of inactivity until another musical performance. Speakers began to arrive. Daniel Dannah, the SRC President of KNUST, gave the opening remarks.
The first speaker, Nana Kobina Kom Turkson, CEO of NKKT Brands, starting speaking around 6:13pm on "Inspiring the Future through Discussions on Innovation, Technology, Entertainment & Design". An insightful talk and nice presentation slides which lacked the usual TEDx feel. There was the frequent 'next slide' command which made me not enjoy the talk as I expected to. The 13 minute talk was revealing but not to my expectation.
Next was Ivy Barley, whose intro alone got the crowd applauding. The 9 minute presentation talked about developers in vogue, her female tech platform and what they are up to.
Foster Awintiti Akugri from HackLab, spoke on "Closing the skills gap through innovation". The 21 minute talk sought to answer the question of where technology is going next.
Aaron the singer wowed the audience with his melodious acoustic rendition of Lucky Dube's Mama. Ridone's spoken word on poverty was just amazing
Kwame A. A. Opoku, the futurist, never ceases to amaze me. His in-depth knowledge on current trends of technology challenges me and put most of the audience to thoughts on the future of technology.
Also read Interesting Quotes & Lessons from TEDxKNUST
Mrs. Brenda Obeng-Addae, with her banking experience, talked vividly and in-depth about the role customer care, satisfaction and technology have in building your business - the attitude of seven billion people. She had the longest presentation but was very experiential and engaging.
Mr. Samuel Anim, CEO of Baby Jet Promotions, being the brand manager of Asamoah Gyan, marketed the success story of Gyan.
During the break, a painting of Africa with a rising sun in the horizon by Oheneba Arts, not only wowed the audience, but enthused and received positive reactions and applauds.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour, MP for Assin South spoke on getting beyond fears and seeing hope to be the next big thing in the world. He told his life story about how he rose from the son of peasant parents to be an MP and a reverend minister
Kwame Ababio, CEO of Green Afro Palms, spoke on Africa's need to target farming for development and change. He threw more light on how Africa, with sixty percent of the world's arable land is still poor when agriculture can make it rich.
The programme which was clocked to end at 9pm, went late into the night and closed around 10pm. The expected guest of most of the attendants, StoneBwoy, never showed up and this got most of the attendants really disappointed. Other speakers like Prince Dovlo, Ameyaw Debrah and David Osegie were not also available.
The last to speak was the Angry Ghanaian, Kwame Gyan, blogger and media enthusiast, spoke on politics, societal attitude and behaviour and ways of causing positive change.
Also read Interesting Quotes & Lessons from TEDxKNUST
Item 13 was given as usual but attendants had to queue for minutes to get out of the auditorium and to get served. The overall attendance was really encouraging, with the auditorium almost about getting full. This, I believe was due to the guest artiste who never showed up.
My recommendations however are:
- Since TED talks are presentation based, presentations should be rehearsed and coordinated to ensure flow of event
- Organisers should stick to time given. Some speakers came very early but had to sit and wait till late in the evening. I recall one speaker, Mr. Joe Anokye, leave the event due to the late start hence he couldn't speak
- Organisers should cut their cloth according to their size, they shouldn't promise and not deliver. They should also apologise and feel remorseful for unfulfilled promises
- Overall, the programme was a success and I will commend the organiser but it could have been better. We would also like to see more of it not only in KNUST, but other parts of the Ashanti Region.
And hey, why was the piano 'sitting' there idly?
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| Credit: https://twitter.com/DanielMoleSarp |
The above are the views of the writer, Isaac Dickson (@im_iZyk)
Also read Interesting Quotes & Lessons from TEDxKNUST
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