On Saturday, March 19th, UCCI’s second live TEDx event took place here in the Cayman Islands. Over 200 attendees inclusive of teachers, students and parents gathered at Sir Vassel Johnson Hall for a day of ‘ideas worth sharing’ relating to the future.

“We were thrilled o have such a wonderful turnout. We doubled our expectations for audience size and tripled last year’s attendance,” said Dr. JD Mosley-Matchett, event curator.

Several speakers tackled the importance of conservation and sustainable development. In his
talk, Nashville-based software developer, Micah Redding, underscored that we all live in a ‘developing world’. The concept of first world nations having reached the end of history and all they have to do is wait for the rest of the world to catch up is a disastrous idea. As such, everyone needs to look at new and transformative ways of living, as individuals and societies.

James Whittaker, Founder and CEO of GreenTech, issued a challenge for Cayman and others in the region to radically change the way we utilise and produce energy. This was echoed by Nick Robson who said that proper planning today can ensure economic and social sustainability over the next four decades. UCCI alumna and CITA Project Manager Stacie Sybersma stressed the importance of studying the ocean’s potential as an energy resource and unlocking its many secrets to find answers for diseases such as cancer.

Nutritionist Tamer Soliman made the audience realise how a much-overlooked treasure in Cayman can transform the health and well-being of people in the community. Tricia Sybersma introduced ‘Orbits’, a way to increase our ‘happy’ and navigate ourselves in a complicated world whilst connecting with others and our environment.

Creative professional, Pascal Pernix, showed how someone who grew up with no TV can achieve success in the arts and media. Missouri Professor, Bill Schonberg’s idea of a new curriculum placing importance on collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity will help students become more successful in the future. He also stressed that everyone needs to be technically literate in order to compete in the world of tomorrow.

The UCCI Performing Arts students delivered monologues voicing their opinions about tolerance and acceptance. They ended their presentation with an original composition entitled, ‘Who I Am’.

The attendees shared their stories and opinions in StoryCorps interviews conducted by the Cayman Islands Information Professionals (CIIP). They were also engaged in making giant Xs by blowing up balloons. ” I think it was the balloon activity that really did it for me,” said Dr. Mosley-Matchett. “Having spent months in planning, preparations, and rehearsals, the only surprise left for me was whether people would really wrestle with 5-foot long balloons to demonstrate their support for the event.”

TEDx events require a LOT of the presenters, attendees, volunteers and sponsors. It was no different for TEDxUCCI. “We thank all of the volunteers both from UCCI and the broader community who gave so much time and effort in the planning and execution of this successful event. In addition, none of this would have been possible without the generous support of our many donors, most especially our PhD sponsor, the Ministry of Community Affairs, Youth and Sports,” Dr. Mosley-Matchett said.

View our photo gallery on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/133146621@N05/sets/72157666130607592/ Videos will be up on YouTube in the coming days.
About TEDxUCCI

Hosted by the University College of the Cayman Islands, our vision is to inspire people to step out of their comfort zones, think innovatively, and exchange ideas fearlessly.

Related:

TEDxUCCI Youth 2015 was awesome!

A NASA engineer, a Disney Imagineer, an MIT alum, a top tech man from Johns Hopkins and a fashion designer who produced an entire collection through 3D printing…. the list of amazing and inspiring speakers goes on.

In between talks, attendees participated in Storycorps interviews, video testimonials, visioning exercises, a photo challenge and discussions. Also, our hardworking volunteers (with students taking the lead) delighted everyone with a great spread at lunch and during breaks (including homemade TEDx-themed cupcakes, some with team member names, even!).

A great time was had by all at the TEDxUCCI Youth viewing party, but we know it would have been a bigger blast with you there.

Good news: You can still catch up!

You can still view the TED Youth 2015 talks until Wednesday, November 18 at 5:00pm EST.

In addition, the busy bees of the Comms Team were posting all over social media last Saturday. Check out our #ATM (at the moment) posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by clicking on the icons at the bottom of the page.
TIP: Type the hashtags #TEDxUCCI or #MadeInTheFuture in search to see everything in one go!

We hope you can join us for the next TEDxUCCI event in March. Apart from LIVE speakers, we’ll have more interactive activities, more goodies to enjoy and more people to have fun with. We’ll keep you updated through emails, but please feel free to check our event website and social media pages as well.

www.TEDxUCCI.ky