“This independent event is for anyone who is open to new ideas and innovations that have the potential to change the world. It is not aimed at any specific target group,” Anusha R. Mahesh, Curator, Technology Entertainment and Design (TED)x Coimbatore, said here on Sunday.
True to her claim, Sunday's TEDx – where x stood for an independently organised TED event – ‘Hmm, Oh ?, Ah !', witnessed nearly 250 like-minded people of Coimbatore coming together to listen to 15 experts share their ideas in their areas of work.
The morning began with a fusion medley played by the band ‘Bloom Boom'.
Speaking on childcare and safety, Coimbatore City Police Commissioner C. Sylendra Babu stressed the special bond that existed between the police and children.
He urged parents to equip children with life and self defence skills that would enable them to protect themselves from dangers.
V. Kalidas, Vice-President, Advertisement, The Hindu, Chennai, speaking on the churn in the media, brought out examples to show how newspapers were becoming dynamic in their content, layout, and design by using advanced techniques. In spite of the cheek by jowl competition newspapers and electronic media faced, the former still enjoyed an addictive readership, he maintained.
Anne Helena Devasahayam, HR Professional involved in recruitment and training BPO personnel, spoke on people, process and success. A physically challenged person herself, she addressed issues related to such people in personal and professional life and laid down the processes that would lead them to face success in life.
Mathew Cherian, Interventional Radiologist, Coimbatore, spoke on needles, tubes, wires and a hand full of dreams.
G. Satheesh Kumar, Robotics Scientist, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, spoke on robotics.
Mathew John, Director, Key Stone Foundation, the Nilgiris, spoke on the key to social enterprise.
G. Nammalvar, Organic Scientist, Karur, spoke on organic farming and climate change. P. Sunder, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, TTK Services Private Limited, Bangalore, spoke on thriving in a shrinking world.
Pulavar Raasu, Epigraphist, Erode, Swami Lalithananda, Special Education Teacher, Coimbatore, Commander S.S. Thatte, Coach, Indian Navy Shooting Team, Coimbatore, Nitin Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Entertainment Engineers, Mumbai, Kishi Arora, Designer Pastry Chef, New Delhi, Shobana Selvan, Member of Legislative Council, Coimbatore, and B. Ramakrishnan, Field Officer, Wildlife Trust of India, were the other experts who spoke.
Besides the experts from academia and industry, students also made presentations.
Ashish Baghel, a student of Vellore Institute of Technology, spoke on creating electricity from sea waves.
Adhering to the credo of TEDx ‘Ideas Worth Spreading', the programme offered a plethora of ideas and information and the most interesting fact was that they were from the horse's mouth.
Experts in various fields shared their knowledge on the latest trends with the participants.
Ms. Anusha said that more such events would be organised with experts from other areas joining as resource persons.
Special programmes for specific target groups were also on the anvil.
The Hindu was the media partner for the event.
