Peter Saul’s TEDxNewy Talk Now Featured on TED.com

Today TEDxNewy is proud to announce Dr. Peter Saul’s TEDxNewy talk has been selected to feature on TED.com.

Having been deeply involved in the dying process of over 4,000 patients in the past 35 years, Dr. Saul has taken an interest in how we die, and how this has changed beyond all recognition in a single generation.

Recorded at the inaugural TEDxNewy on 12 November 2011, Dr. Saul calls on us to make clear our preferences for end of life care and suggests two ideas for starting the conversation.

Dr. Peter Saul is a Senior Intensivist in the adult and paediatric ICU at John Hunter Hospital, and Director of Intensive Care at Newcastle Private Hospital. Having trained in Cambridge, London, Sydney and Harvard, he came to Newcastle to help start up the new ICU at John Hunter, and never left. He has held the position of Head of Discipline for Medicinal Ethics at Newcastle University, and now provides ethical advice to the State and Federal health departments

Fewer than one per cent of all TEDxTalks (at last count there was over 12,900) have ever been selected to feature TED.com. Dr. Peter Saul’s talk will now sit alongside talks by speakers from the annual TED conference held in Long Beach California – people such as Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Bono and Al Gore.

Aside from the actual day itself having been so well received and videos from TEDxNewy speakers already garnering thousands of views on YouTube, having one of these talks selected to feature on TED.com is the icing on the cake. I am thrilled that Dr. Saul’s talk will be broadcast to a much wider audience. Within seven hours of being on TED.com, his talk has already been viewed over 34,000 times.

TEDxNewy on TEDxTalks YouTube

All the talks from TEDxNewy are now up on the TEDxTalks YouTube Channel.

View all the talks, performance and videos in a playlist in order of appearance at TEDxNewy below:

Thank you to Enigma Digital for the post production on the film.

TEDxNewy Review

TEDxNewy videos will begin upload to YouTube this week – thanks for your patience.

In the meantime, attendee Robert Watson kindly sent me his review of TEDxNewy and it was such a great recap I thought it worth posting. Thanks Robert.

TED^xNewy

The Twittergallery afforded an eyrie view of the black backdrop, boldy subtitled “TEDxNewy”. On the scheduled time, Welcome to Country acknowledged the Aboriginal inhabits who lived here for 38800 years before European settlement.

As if reprising Oswald Ziegler’s 1962 Newcastle book Symphony on a City, last Saturday involved an orchestra of 11 sponsors, 18 crew and 18 volunteers, while the 16 invited speakers performed the captivating movements.

Tap tap tap went the Conductor’s baton. No – the tap tap tap came from the yellow sandals of the Maestro – Siobhan Curran.

Maestro

From Sydney, Siobhan landed in Newcastle last year and on Day 4 dropped in at the #NewcastleCoffee Friday tweet-up. She was out and about, enquiring and exploring our town for the quirky and the quaint – people, places, events; the ecological, the sustainable, the literary, the culinary, the photographic, the artistic; the present for sure, but never missing the backstory.

Someone from the Big Smoke who was not telling and selling? That’s a fresh change!

With camera and notebook, Siobhan squirreled around Newcastle, The Hill, Cooks Hill, Merewether Beach, The Junction, Hamilton, Islington and Adamstown, gathering friends, learning and writing.

Whatever possessed her to apply for a TEDx licence we may never fully know, but she did. From her Newcastle contacts, Siobhan methodically went about her business, harvesting thoughts, testing ideas. Where are the most appropriate venues? Can video streaming be done? How can I get a website? Who are the Novocastrians to be showcased? What about promoting the event? Will sponsors be willing to come on board?

“Do you think I should go to the races and bump into Nathan Tinkler?”

Siobhan found guidance, experience, advice and answers to each question; the challenges dissolved one by one.

Last Saturday, everything came together. TEDxNewy started on time, ended on time. Excellent. The handover from one presenter to the next went with the precision of an Olympic relay team. Glissando. Volunteers, outfitted in black, worked the shadows with cameras, mics, soundboards, lighting, projectors and lecterns. Discrete.

The Presenters

The banner “Shock of the New” provided the thread woven through the day.

From human fertility to dying

• John Aitken – researching to bring our whole approach to fertility into the 21st Century
• Peter Saul – understanding how, in a single generation, modern medical practices have radically altered the ways in which Australians are likely to die

Our view of living and learning

• Bernie Curran – lifelong learning built around sport, music, the arts and poetry
• Gerry Bobsien – relishing the joy, terror and challenge of being a novice
• Conor Ashleigh – a visual teller of stories gathered from his immersion in struggling communities across Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Involvement in our local area

• Mark Jackson – musically engaging Novocastrian retirees using ukuleles
• Ukestra – Australia’s pre-eminent example of communal ukulele fun
• Julie Baird – the museuming of action, emotion and belonging, drawing questions and provoking answers from the visitors themselves; not to mention extracting pickles from “experts”

The causes that make us passionate

• David Lubans – designing programs to raise the levels of physical activity and healthy eating among adolescent girls
• Dave Robertson and Silas Moss, the Naked Runners – urging us to discard the techno-gadgets and run like children having fun
• Liz Mullinar – healing those whose lives have been shattered by childhood trauma
• Alli Hammett – a survivor promoting social dialogue to raise awareness of stroke
• Tim Silverwood – his Take3 program is the new Emu Parade
• Sarita Koushik – working to overcome stuttering through early intervention

And rules that were worth breaking

• Marcus Westbury – revitalising vacant city buildings using people, not capital
• Jason van Genderen – he ditched the fancy camera, made a movie using a mobile phone and won International awards.

TEDxNewy filled everyone with awe, inspiration and even best of all, pride in the achievements of Novocastrians – the whole notion of “ideas worth spreading” was proven beyond measure last Saturday.

The Show

As a word, “awesome” is now inadequate. Separate from the actual content, my reactions as the day progressed provide some explanation:

• The first speakers presented on unrelated topics. Considered alone, each was wonderful; taken together, the variety was fascinating. At the break I sought out Siobhan to congratulate her on pulling together an event far exceeding my expectations.

• After the next four presenters, the lunch break was announced. I thought, “Lunch? At 11:30 a.m.?” But my watch said 12:40 p.m. Somehow my brain had stopped listening to my rumbling stomach. That’s a first.

• In the evening, at home, I walked my wife through the Program – an hour and a half it took to recount the highlights.

And this was the inaugural TEDxNewy.

What’s a better word than “awesome”?

The Venue

TED audiences expect to experience things they weren’t expecting. That’s part of the attraction. Solo or in pairs, people arrived with an inner glow of excitement. Concealment was simply not possible, since the layout of the Civic Playhouse contributed to unbridled mixing and sharing.

The Foyer was perfectly crowded. There was just enough free space to allow attendees to weave from one end to the other. In doing so, sometimes little groups would be temporarily dislodged, promoting new interactions. People would stop to join strangers when they picked up on a key word. Had the space been larger, the buzz and interactions would not have happened.

The auditorium was a tiered arena seating around 150 people. Well-designed, everyone had a clear and fully focused view down to the presenters. Not crammed, not wastefully spacious, just right. Being a playhouse, the black walls meant no distractions.

And a very welcome touch – the provision of powerboards to the Twittergallery.

The Follow-through

For me, I have bought a ukulele and signed up for Mark Jackson’s Ukestra – I mean, how can an instrument that size be anything other than fun?

And, I will be museuming at 10am on Saturday 3^rd December, if anyone wants to come along.

Thanks

Many, many thanks to the sponsors, the volunteers and the speakers – your involvement, support and efforts were truly appreciated.

And Siobhan, you know that bit about needing to live in Newcastle for ten years before you can call yourself a Novocastrian? You have just advanced yourself 8½ years – Welcome.

TEDxNewy in 2012? Yes there is, and count me in!

Fifty People One Question (Newcastle)

What would you wish to happen by the end of today? We asked fifty people that question on Darby Street, Cooks Hill one sunny day in September 2011.

Produced by Matthew McCafferty and Ali Arain from the University of Newcastle for TEDxNewy 2011.

TEDxNewy 2011

The first-ever TEDxNewy was held at The Playhouse, Civic Theatre on Saturday 12 November with an audience of 200 people with more people watching at the Overflow Venue (Mulubinba Room, City Hall) and via webstream from Sydney to Montreal. Supported by a team of volunteers and a film crew of TAFE lecturers and students, a series of compelling speakers and performers wowed everyone watching. There was laughter and there were tears as each presenter left an undeniable impression of their idea worth spreading.

From birth (John Aitken) to death (Peter Saul), and the lives we lead in-between (Bernie Curran, Gerry Bobsien, Conor Ashleigh). From the communities we are a part of (Mark Jackson, Ukestra, Julie Baird) to the causes that make us our most passionate (David Lubans, The Naked Runners, Liz Mullinar, Alli Hammett, Tim Silverwood, Sarita Koushik) and rules that were worth breaking (Marcus Westbury, Jason van Genderen), TEDxNewy filled everyone with awe, inspiration and maybe even best of all, pride in our city. Newcastle and regional cities around Australia just like it are an idea worth spreading and I think that was proven beyond measure yesterday.

The talks will be uploaded to the TEDxTalks YouTube channel in coming weeks and we will keep you updated via this website.

Endless thanks goes to our sponsors – local organisations and business that made TEDxNewy possible:
+ University of Newcastle
+ TAFE (Hunter)
+ Enigma
+ Zookraft
+ Harris Wheeler Lawyers
+ Silveradoh Promotional Products
+ Hyperweb
+ Newcastle Innovation
+ Newcastle City Council
+ Newcastle Productions
+ New Institute

And last, but by no means least, the enthusiastic, can-do volunteers and crew that made the day run seamlessly and made me look like I had my act together.

Visual & Webstream: Peter Delahunty, Christina Sykiotis and Carlo Farina
Film Crew: Josiah Nathan, Sam Koller, Ezekiel Sargent, Phil Yeatman, Matt Molloy, Alex Sutherland, Ben Pokrajac, Jenna Schofield and Jason McBurnie.
Lighting & Audio: James Beech
Volunteer Managers: Corinne Paterson and Prue Robson
Speaker Liaisons: Roger Pryor and Lynette Pryor
Photographer: Nigel Paterson
Volunteers: Simin Adele Kwan, Brodie Drysdale, Meg Francis, Annaliese Hake, Kylie Harris, Brody Hollis, Michelle Iacono, You Jeong Kim, Minho Jung, Geunhyoung Kim, Marnie Kingston, Hong Seok Jang, Emma Sharp, Georgina Smith, Ashleigh Smith, Farzad Shahmoradi, Lee Upton and Lim Zhen Ru.

If you’ve made it this far then it’s only fair to tell you that yes, there will be a TEDxNewy in Spring 2012.

Cheers,
Siobhan Curran.

PS If you were in attendance or watched via webstream, I’d love to hear your feedback. If you would be so kind as to leave a comment of your thoughts and highlights of the day I’d be very grateful.