TEDxChiangMai, held this past Saturday at Le Meridien hotel, was a resounding success. With 1,200 attendees, this was by far the largest TEDxChiangMai has held. Through AIS’s Line service, there were nearly 900,000 views, with over 3,600 people watching the event on live stream, and the event attracted more than 30% of its visitors from outside Chiang Mai, mainly from Bangkok, making this a truly national event.
One of the event’s 21 excellently curated speakers, ex Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij, writing on his Facebook post event summed it up well, “The atmosphere was energetic to the max, I was most impressed with the ‘Creative City’ of the people of Chiang Mai, with the power of youth present and a far higher proportion of expatriates and artists than in Bangkok events…Topics were very varied but each speaker shared a philosophy that Thai people needed to change the way we think, the way we work, the way we study and that our society needs to promote variety and dare to do everything from economics to how we view the handicapped, how we protect our environment, our wild life, the importance of design, education or how we learn languages. Listening to this I felt such energy, because everyone didn’t even think, they had all done it.”
With tickets having sold out long before the event date, organisers contacted ticket holders and asked them to make sure that they would spend the entire day at the event, a tall order, considering the first speaker began at 9.30am and the last speaker finished around 7pm. Remarkably, most attendees not only spent the entire day at Le Meridien, but over 600 turned up to continue the day at Tha Pae East, where the after party was held.
The event itself was professionally organised by a team of 40 volunteers and over 100 volunteers on the day. Apart from the all-day talks (each one no longer than 14 minutes), there were up to 25 activities held including a yoga room, a dome (think mini portable IMAX) to lie in and watch the speakers, an eight metre dome showing trippy visuals from FullDomeLab, a demo from MakerSpace to make 3D printing, a crafts corner, a mock tightrope and all sorts of fun, games and gimmicks to keep the audience entertained during the breaks. Le Meridien did an incredible job with the catering, feeing all 1,200 a superb lunch as well as providing snacks throughout the day.
“Now that the event is over, I am beginning to see that it wasn’t just a one day event, there are things happening and they will continue to happen,” said event organiser Martin Venzky-Stalling. “Speakers sharing the same philosophies but in different areas, are collaborating, such as the three speakers who talked about how the blind are treated, how Thais view autism in young children and how society marginalises the homeless, they have found that they can work together to change attitudes of Thai people who treat others differently. Many people watch TED talks and think that it is the same as attending an event, but I think that most attendees will agree that the event is very different, you get to meet people, interact, exchange ideas and it really is a fulfilling experience.”
“It is incredible to think that this has been done by a group of volunteers, many of whom are very young,” continued Venzky-Stalling. “Sometimes it wasn’t as slick and professional as it could be, but I think that that is what makes it special. What also made this event different from others in, say, Bangkok is the demographics. In Bangkok, they are focusing their event on students and young professionals, which is important too. But because of the nature of Chiang Mai, we saw people of all ages and from all nationalities with a vast array of interest. This made the day very dynamic, and is something that we worked hard at. We offered free tickets to school students and gave discounts to senior citizens from retirement communities.”
TEDx has become an excellent showcase of the Creative City initiatives which Venzky-Stalling has been leading for the past few years. It is this dynamic fusion of tech, arts, academia and business with an international flavour that Chiang Mai needs to bring together.
An excellent success and if you missed out, please follow their web site www.tedxchiangmai.com in a about six weeks when the videos of speakers are uploaded and make sure you book your tickets early for next year’s event.