Alumni at TEDx

On May 9, three of our own alumni participated in the first ever TEDx in Aarhus. The team from Aarhus BSS Alumni was there to bring you their inspiring stories.

What is your name? And what are you good at?

As soon as you stepped into the Navitas building and were greeted by the many volunteers, you started networking. By putting your name and what you’re good at on a sign around your neck, you were silently asking people to come talk to you. And that was the whole point. This event is all about networking and sharing ideas.

The theme for the TEDxVennelystBlvd event was Time & Timing and four speakers and a performer had been invited to speak to the theme. Two of the speakers and the host are alumni from Aarhus BSS, and here’s their view on a day filled with time and ideas.

Time and the fabric of purpose

The Multi-disciplinary Specialist, Rajiv Vaid Basaiawmoit

Rajiv (´11, MBA) is the Head of Open Innovation at Aarhus University Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. For him, time is a fluid concept and as a teacher of innovation and entrepreneurship, his talk focused on how an entrepreneurial mind-set allows one to weave time into the fabric of purpose.

- What was your message at TEDx Rajiv?

- For me, time is flexible. One should not be a slave of time. A lot of us are burdened by it, and I see that at work and in people’s every-day life. My concept is that if you really enjoy what you do, and add purpose and meaning to it, then you will always prioritize those activities. I believe considering time this way, brings joy and meaning to your life. Suddenly, you find more time and you are able to create time for things you enjoy. My message is linked with my aim of creating purpose-makers. If they can pursue a purpose, then they will automatically become change-makers.

- How do you find that purpose?

- First of all, you need to be open-minded and get out of the hamster-wheel. In a way, get out of the busy zone for the sake of being busy. You need to ask yourself:  how much of what you do is actually meaningful?

- In your presentation you talked about “time buffers”, how do we create them?

- Creating openings in your calendar when time is so tight is not easy nowadays. For me, the idea of work and life balance does not work, because this means you need to struggle to get the balance. Work and life should be merged. After conceiving them together, you can create small buffers.  For example, you can add one hour in between meetings. So, if you meet an interesting person who invites you for a coffee, you have the chance to sit down and avoid planning it in your calendar. It’s much more real and spontaneous.

- How was the experience of being a speaker at TEDx?

- I was very surprised with the selection as I was nominated I guess from some well wishers and former students probably. I teach students how to have an entrepreneurial mind-set as entrepreneurship is not only about starting companies, and when asked what message would I like to give out - I immediately knew that this was the message I wanted to bring to TEDx – the value of an entrepreneurial mindset but coupled with a sense of purpose. I believe this mind-set can be useful in other areas of life, and not only at work. I’m glad I got selected because of the experiences, stories and anecdotes I had to share. They are stories/ideas worth spreading – and isn’t that what TED is all about?

Read more about Rajiv

“The FutureLizer”

Innovations -pirate, Thomas Nørmark

Thomas (´02, MSc) believes that the use of Big Data and Predictive Analytics will allow us to predict the future to an extend that exceeds the limits of most people’s imagination. And he is bringing us an app that can help us figure out our own future.

- What did you share at TEDx Thomas?

- I talked about how this new ‘digital representation’ of the world enables us to do a lot of things in relation to predicting the future. This is a new power, and I gave some examples on how to use it.

When you have an idea of what is going to happen then you can get on top of things and create that important space that allows you to live in the present.

- In your presentation you mention a new app you are working on, called “The FutureLizer”, tell us more about it.

- This app allows you to simulate your future.If we can predict what t-shirt or book a person would want – Why couldn’t we predict what kind of life a person would want?

The simulation and predictions are based on a number of questions that you have to answer. Very personal questions about interests, IQ, ambitions, preferences, personal economy, fears, dreams, values and happiness.

All this data is held against the data of other “look-a-likes” and “act-a-likes”, and what made them happy in their lives. - A collective intelligence about future happiness, you could say. 

- What about the ethics and data security issues behind using Big Data like that?

- Well, this is happening now, it’s not the future. And of course we need to find out what to do with this new found power in terms of ethics and data security. I believe we need to adapt to it and find out along the way.

- How was the experience of being a speaker at TEDx?

- It was a great honour because I’m a great TED fan myself. It has been a dream for me, and I can now check it from my Bucket List – at the same time I am humble and grateful that I’ve been given the opportunity to give something back to the TED community.

Read more about Thomas

An alumae hosting a global event

Marketing Consultant, Saji Nair

Saji Nair (´09, MA) has always dreamed about being a speaker at a TEDx Talk and now she got to host one. With wit and grace she introduced the speakers and kept everything on track and time.

- How did you become TEDx host Saji?

- Well, I needed to go through an interview process. I’ve been a host at events before and I really enjoy it. Also, I always wanted to be a TED speaker because I think I have ideas to change the world. Being host takes me closer to that. Participating in the program meant a lot to me because I got to interact with a lot of passionate people, organizers and participants. I also love to be a part of a global platform, and everyone knows and enjoys TED Talks.

- How would you describe the event?

- The fact that we had some people that had the ambition to bring TEDx to Jutland, alone says a lot. We talked a lot about the great things out there, but we don’t have the courage to bring it to us. To shout out the knowledge our experts have here in Aarhus, we need to use global platforms like TEDx. Also, to attract, sustain and retain talents in Aarhus.

- What about the diversity of the audience?

- I think that when it comes to global platforms, the last thing we need to look at is nationalities. We need to look at like-minded people. It’s all about their thoughts to bring people together. It’s about bringing a positive change.

Read more about Saji on her LinkedIn profile or her website.

You can see how the day unfolded on Storify (in Danish).