TEDxCapeTown: Pause and Effect A Review of this Eventful and Inspiring Day

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WORDS Cecilia Martin Garcia

When I walked through the front doors of the TEDxCapeTown venue at 9:00am, it was already bursting with people. The theme of the conference – Pause and Effect – was clearly displayed and volunteers were handing out lanyards so attendees could write their name and a ‘conversation starter’.

Volunteer: ‘Write down anything that comes to your mind!’

Me: ‘Anything?’

At 9:12am I had had three conversations about the Alps, chocolate and cheese – I’m Swiss, I couldn’t help it.

After grabbing a cappuccino from the Tribe Coffee stand and a Sir Fruit juice, I strolled upstairs to check out the rest of the venue.

Turtles, stingrays and divers alike floated inside a tremendous cylindrical aquarium. Crowds of people gazed into it as others bought shirts using the cryptocurrency Ethereum. At the back, the walls were decorated with beautiful art pieces made out of recycled materials.

I was blown away. I felt like I had suddenly been teleported into 2030 but was quickly brought back to reality when my phone pinged and a Donald Trump tweet appeared on my screen. Unfortunately, still 2018…

When the time came to move into the conference room everyone was beaming and the two hosts, Bhongolwethu Sonti and Devon Concar, were quick to welcome us all. In eager anticipation, we listened to the musical performers Didi and Jules and soon enough the speakers came on.

First, Carryn Ortlepp spoke about the conference theme, asking the audience ‘what does pause and effect mean to you?’ She talked about her experience coaching TEDx speakers for this event and turning them into proper orators.

Then, Gill Grose captured the audience’s hearts by explaining how she had avoided ‘happy pills and buying a dog’ by focusing on improving child literacy and rebuilding a local school library.

‘Are you willing to let curiosity drive you into the unknown?’ was the next question the crowd reflected on when Penni Cox came onto the stage. She described how she had completely changed a young boy’s perspective on a topic by sparking his curiosity with a drawing.

Finally, Preston Jongbloed delivered an emotional testimony of what it was like to grow up in a gang-lead environment and how this made him understand the importance of having and being a mentor.

Hosts Bhongolwethu Sonti and Devon Concar entertain the audience between speakers. Photo: Tracy Gander

When the break was announced I could think one of two things: ‘That was incredible’ and ‘Oh my goodness my hand hurts from writing notes’. I looked to the person next to me who seemed equally impressed. We sat in silence as people darted out to be the first in line for coffee. When we finally made eye contact, we sighed in relief, nodded and began to speak about our life experiences and backgrounds.

When you watch TEDx events on YouTube, so much of their beauty is lost because what you don’t see is the remarkable interactions between the audience members – these are often equally as memorable as the speakers. Why? Because everyone feels like they are part of an innovative community, a movement that involves every single person in the room regardless of their age, sex, nationality or appearance. So even though the man next to me was probably a half century ahead of me in terms of experience with this world, we spoke enthusiastically about global issues and their potential solutions. Before I knew it, the hosts were back on stage to bring on the second batch of speakers.

‘The disempowerment of people of colour and women is no longer acceptable’ was one of Ndoni Mcunu’s first powerful lines in her speech about what it means for society when women walk away from science. She explained that in her 9 years of studying she had never had a black professor, which led her to start up a non-profit organisation called Black Women in Science (BWIS). She spoke about encouraging society to celebrate scholars and make role models out of scientists, especially female scientists.

Then, Adewale Adejumo fascinated the audience by explaining how he set up an online store and how simple it is to ‘be bold, embrace change, make a plan and take action’. According to him, ‘change is constant’ and understanding that is essential to any type of marketing.

Lauren Jacobs quickly changed the mood, however, when she spoke about the ‘blank pages’ in history when it comes to ‘women’s contributions’, powerfully stating that ‘if girls can’t read about women in books, we are telling them that they are worth less’.

The last speaker, Tegan Phillips, took us all by surprise. She stood on stage, visibly shy, and the screens lit up on either side of her with cartoons. Throughout her talk, she flicked through hilarious illustrations she had made and explained how she had spent the year travelling through Africa on her bike, and additionally travelled from Bristol to Spain. The bicycle lover’s speech was very inspiring as she put forth the benefit of courage: ‘knowing that your life does not end in your comfort zone’.

When Tegan finished her speech, I was in awe. Slowly people began to stand and clap as hard as they possibly could, and I was quick to join them. This 25 year old had done more in her short life than most have done in their lifetimes, and she was certainly funnier than all of the audience combined. The man sitting next to me with whom I’d conversed earlier said ‘I want to be like Tegan when I’m older’. The fact that he was probably in his sixties didn’t seem to be a deterrent. I chuckled as we left for lunch.

When you watch TEDx events on YouTube, so much of their beauty is lost because what you don’t see is the remarkable interactions between the audience members – these are often equally as memorable as the speakers.

In Harry Potter-esque fashion, the lobby was suddenly adorned with food. There were heaps of wraps, falafels and Boerewors sandwiches and speakers and ticket holders alike filled their plates and exchanged more ideas. The TEDx topics never remained in the conference room.

I think anyone who has never attended an event like this would imagine that the speakers are somewhat glorified, have privileges compared to normal audience members and are not available after their talks.

Fake news.

Speakers were mingling with the attendees like old friends. I could start a conversation with any of them and quickly ran to Tegan, Lauren and Gill to get to know them more.

It was so gratifying to see that TEDx really focuses on creating one single platform of equals who want to build upon one another in order to generate positive change in their lives, their communities or the world. Speakers, volunteers and attendees were all down to earth, open and excited to share their opinions.

Before the third and fourth sessions begun, a representative of the catering company came up on stage to announce that all the food we had consumed was vegan, and sourced from places that were as close to Cape Town as possible. The look on the audience’s faces was rather comical. Some were shocked, some smiled, some seemed rather appalled. It was a powerful way of encouraging us to eat a more plant-based diet and also demonstrated that TEDx’s forward-thinking goes far beyond just the talks.

The third and fourth sessions were filled with both entertaining performers and fantastic speakers. The crowd was in tears laughing when Angel Campey did a skit about the apartheid and what is was like to be a white South African dealing with the current repercussions of that historical tragedy. We were also delighted with musical performances by Roeshdien Jaz and Dumama & Kechou.

In terms of the speakers, we first listened to Nicki Spies talk about sex and how it needs to be spoken about more often to create healthier relationships and educate people on sexually transmissible diseases.

Jared Molko followed with an incredible talk about the need to be generalists rather than specialists in modern society, especially with the growth of artificial intelligence. To our surprise, he blew away the audience by showing us that the original saying of ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’ was originally ‘Jack of all trades, master of none. Oftentimes better than master of one.’

Then, Cindy Mkaza-Siboto took to the stage and spoke about her younger sister who was failing school and how this prompted Cindy and her husband to create a local homework help group, which now involves 100 students.

Cindy Mkaza-Siboto during her speech entitled ‘Averting disaster through a simple home-grown solution’. Photo: Tracy Gander

‘Does convenience kill creativity?’ was the question Verity Price asked the crowd during her speech about how we should all ‘invite inconvenience into our lives’. She encouraged the audience to seek discomfort and impose things on their lives to make them more interesting, more exciting and to actually live.

In the time between the third and fourth sessions, everyone was dying to listen to the last speakers, but no one wanted the event to come to an end. We all waited patiently until Sam Beckbessinger appeared on the stage to speak about ‘how to buy a private island’. She explained how ‘everyone sucks at money’ and how we make ourselves believe that we should invest in things we call ‘needs’ that really aren’t necessary. She encouraged the audience to save and invest in things that truly do make them happy rather than what they believe to be ‘needs’.

Soon after, Rich Mullholland spoke about the fact that society overvalues ‘the act of being first’ and undervalues ‘the act of being better’. He referenced companies such as MySpace that had a brilliant idea, but were taken over by companies such as Facebook who improved that idea and were ‘faster fixers’.

Finally, the hosts announced the end of the event that had been so long in the making. Every aspect of the day had reinforced TEDx’s mission of ‘welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world’. It truly does create ‘a community of curious souls who engage with ideas and each other’.

Without sugar coating anything, it was one of the most interesting experiences in my life and I recommend it to everyone.

Now let’s cut to the question I’m sure you’ve all been dying to get the answer to. What does pause and effect mean?

When I asked around, the best answer I received was that the pause and effect theme was an invitation to all of us to make pivots. Look at where you are standing, where things are standing on an issue you care about, where things are standing in your workplace, at home, and pivot in a direction you prefer. It is an invitation to stop, reflect and improve. All of the speakers had this in common. They had all done this in their lives and were inviting the guests to do the same.

Now that you’ve gotten this far maybe you should take a break.

Pause.

Breathe.

What is it that you’re going to change?

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