An evening that surpassed expectations
During this 2016 edition of our Pitch Night, the speakers inspired us. They made us change our perspective about how we view others and ourselves. They showed that redefining words can empower us and that the way we view hardships can be a game changer. They talked about how the way biology textbooks are written can change the world and that trees who make up these books can be a key to women empowerment. They argued about what it means to be a man today and how we should view researchers tomorrow. They talked about giving patients a voice and people a feeling of home. They made us travel from Shaolin monasteries in Italy, to the plains of Africa, to the streets of Afghanistan. They moved us deeply and took us on a rollercoaster of emotions. They made us close our eyes so that we could see with our hearts. They found new heroes and beauty in silence. They found who they were and made their dreams come true.
Below are some of the many great quotes from the pitches.
We can make people curious about the world. Curiosity is a greater motivator than anything.
Superheroes these days are not especially good role models. What if we recreate new ones who actually deal with the bigger issues?
Home to me is moments, it’s conversations, it’s community, it’s groups of people. There is home for everyone. We can all be home. Everywhere we want to be.
I realized that somewhere along the line, we, as grownups, seemed to have lost the ability to simply trust in life. We suffer more from imagination than we do from reality.
A reminder of why TEDx is important
A sold out venue, packed with people of all ages and backgrounds came together to listen to 18 speakers pitching their idea they believed was worth sharing. A setup that could have put the competitors in opposite corners, but instead, brought them together. Words of encouragements and smiles that meant more than one could imagine were shared by all, as the ultimate goal, was to lift each other up, not pull each other down.
The Pitch Night was a great reminder of why TEDx events matter. It brings people together and elevate all as one.
The winner will be announced soon
After all, the Pitch Night was a competition between 18 speakers. Our curation team is working hard to go through the votes from the audience and a winner will be announced soon. All speakers and audience member will receive an invitation to the main event on October 17th.
The pictures of the event can be found at this link. Photo credits: Robert Nijboer, Oburon Design