Written by Mukund Hari Nathany, President and Licensee, TEDxUCL
So, what's it like joining a society at UCL? Let me tell you a bit more about my experience of joining TEDxUCL. Just a reminder - you can join societies, including TEDxUCL any time of the year, whenever you want!
Why did you join the society?
When I was in high school in 2017, my passion for watching TEDx talks evolved into a desire to curate and bring more of these talks to the world. Three years and two conferences later, I was excited to continue this journey when I started studying at UCL in 2020.
I joined the erstwhile TEDx Appreciation Society and partnered with them as a licensed TED Circles conversation host in my first year. This experience became a launchpad for my larger ambition of bringing the flagship TEDxUCL conference back, last organised 6 years ago in 2015. Earlier last year, I decided to run for President during the Leadership Race, and the rest is history!
What has the society done for you?
TEDx Society gave our team an opportunity to bring “ideas worth spreading” to the UCL campus, and also go a step further to generate greater positive impact by demonstrating and amplifying solutions to the climate crisis under TED’s Countdown initiative. Organising not only my life’s largest event, but also one of the largest conferences of its kind in the country was certainly no mean feat, and a tremendous learning experience.
But above all, TEDxUCL has given me some of my most cherished memories at UCL, and helped me make lasting friendships with the best team I could have ever asked for!
How much organisation went into this and what new skills did you learn from this?
Bringing a conference of this size, scale and reputation back after 6 years was an uphill battle, and almost like launching a new conference from scratch. Our organisation process began as early as June 2021, starting with tracing past organisers all the way back to 2013 to pick their brains! We applied to TED for an official TEDx licence, and worked with Students’ Union UCL to amend our constitution and get an interim committee together.
In the six months that followed, we recruited a 38-member team, changed our name, tripled our social media reach, received a grant, increased our income by 800% and achieved a lifetime high membership count, while launching four new initiatives and 6 new divisions. Hours of relentless hard work and determination culminated into a successful TEDxUCL conference, and helped us gain a diverse set of hard skills along with helping us become better team players, capable leaders and resilient individuals.
How do you think the skills learnt in TEDxUCL will help you in your future career/life/other situations?
In one sentence, TEDxUCL is the culmination of months of hard work (strategy, planning, organisational) with a large and diverse team of talented individuals (collaborative, interpersonal, team-working), to curate and produce TEDx talks (creative, technical), centred around the promotion of ideas worth spreading through the medium of speech, audio and visuals (public speaking, communication, presentation), giving students an opportunity to play important roles and drive real impact (leadership).
The skills mentioned in all the parentheses combined, contribute to every team member’s holistic growth and development, and have strong transferability to the world of work and personal life alike!
What happened during the event and how did you feel?
We had seven distinguished speakers who brought their diverse sets of expertise around climate to our red TEDx circle, along with performances from various UCL societies. There were also a few sustainable giveaways, plant-based food and drinks, and climate installations by some of our speakers!
At the end of the event, we felt joy, satisfaction, a teensy bit of tiredness, some déjà vu for the past TEDx organisers among us, disbelief that this was all over, and a great sense of fulfilment! TEDxUCL was nothing short of a dream come true.
What would you like other students to know about TEDxUCL?
I would love for other students to know that TEDxUCL is one of the most diverse, inclusive and rewarding communities on campus (I might be a little biased!). Our members and colleagues come from all faculties and disciplines and represent unique backgrounds and perspectives, all equally contributing to the melting pot of ideas worth spreading.
TEDx talks have universal appeal and cover a range of topics, and being able to organise and share such talks with the world is an amazing experience. The conference and the organising experience aside, with our discussion groups on monthly themes, workshops to help students improve their public speaking skills, and various other initiatives, at UCL TEDx Society there is something for everyone!
When is the next event?
The main TEDxUCL conference takes place annually, so we could all look forward to what next year’s committee puts up in Autumn/Winter 2022.
However, this academic year’s TEDx events are not yet over, with at least 2 smaller TEDxUCLSalon events coming this spring, along with our regular Circles conversations, masterclasses, and soon-to-be-launched digital Studio initiative. Everyone is welcome and we would love for more UCL students to get involved!