Photo Credits: Janusz Kobyliński/TEDxWarsaw, Aleks Grynis
TEDster Vlad Fiscutean — licensee of TEDx Timisoara in Romania met with Ralph Talmont — one of the licensee of TEDx Warsaw in Poland to talk about his experience organizing the Poland event.
Written by Vlad Fiscutean, May 25 2011 and published on the official TEDx Blog.
Media entrepreneur, publishing consultant and photographer Ralph Talmont — a licensee of TEDxWarsaw in Poland, Europe is in love with Jazz, books, conversations and TED.
He’s been a TED fan for decades and jumped at the opportunity of organizing a TEDx event as soon as TED released the initiative. Along with six friends who now constitute the core organizing team and some 30 volunteers and collaborators, he has organized two editions of TEDxWarsaw and and several associated events and helped over 60 speakers spread their ideas.
TEDxWarsaw happens every year since March 2010 in the city of Warsaw in Poland. “Warsaw went through hell during World War II and then years of communist repression and dullness which followed“, Ralph says.
At the same time things are starting to go in the right direction for the beautifull and dynamic capital city due to the creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit of the younger generation being released and “TED is a big catalyst“.
A number of people have already created projects as a result of meeting at TEDxWarsaw and business initiatives have taken off. Ralph jokes that the only good thing that hasn’t happened yet is “attendees getting married as a result“. But as more then 1000 people have already attended, who knows what the future holds.
Ralph thinks that TEDx falls onto fertile ground in Poland because “the country has the highest entrepreneurial index (according to European Commission), a young generation full of open minds in search for ideas, it’s the 7th largest economy of Europe, has the World’s second modern constitution and a great history“.
The first event, in 2010, was centered on fostering collaboration within the community, the second one in March 2011 had the theme “Looking in, Looking Out” for inspiration.
Organizing a TEDx event is “all hard and detail driven” but it helps if you have “a wicked ability to telescope — zoom in and out of broad brush overview and into minute detail”. “It’s hard work but worth the effort and I have met some extraordinary people”.
Ralph’s himself has two ideas worth spreading, a big one: “that everyone over forty has the duty to invest time in fostering young talent in their profession or business” and a smaller one “to get bridal couples to ask for school aids instead of bouquets at their wedding then donate them to a school or orphanage in need”.
Find out more about the TEDx event in the capital city of Poland by visiting the website: TEDxWarsaw
Co-Organizer Ralph Talmont: http://www.talmont.com
Vlad Fiscutean: http://www.vladfiscutean.com
