Year Four | TEDxSurreyUniversity Highlights

2016–2017 was an amazing year for TEDxSurreyUniversity. We faced challenges, navigated obstacles and came out of it in July better than we could’ve hoped. With four events, fifteen speakers, 50 volunteers and over 200 guests, this has been our biggest year yet. Here are just some of the highlights

September

In September we welcomed in our largest cohort of volunteers, with t shirts, team assignments and social events this team has been responsible for the ideas and organisation without which none of our events would have been possible

Some of the team with Calvin Jor

November

In collaboration with the Surrey University Student union, we held our first salon event of the year in November, ‘TEDx ThisGirlCan’. With two trailblazing speakers and a night of open and occasionally intense discussion, we kicked off our year with a bang.

Serena Von Der Heyde, our second speaker of the night

December

Mention the word ‘Workplace’ to anybody at TEDxSurreyUniversity and you will be met with equal measures of excitement, determination and despair. Taking the lead of our 2016–2017 Vice President James Pratley, in December our team of volunteers signed up to the collaborative platform Facebook Workplace and in terms of the way it allows us to communicate, collaborate and organise we’ve never looked back.

February

After a winter of deadlines, exams and festivities, the team reunited to host our second salon event, ‘TEDx UniversityandBeyond’. Joined by local entrepreneur and former student Calvin Jor, University and Beyond was our biggest salon event of the year. With seventy-two guests, conversations about education, entrepreneurship and of course sushi, the night was a resounding success.

Calvin Jor of Sushi Lab

March

After months of brainstorming, countless emails and more than one sleepless night, on March 25th we held our main event, Over The Edge. With a well-devised marketing campaign, a dozen thought provoking speakers and an event that exceeded our expectations, Over The Edge was the highlight of our year bringing together students, the Guildford community and a range of brilliant minds.

May

Our final salon event, ‘Limitless’ was an opportunity to showcase just some of the innovative ideas and spectacular stories here on campus. With three student speakers selected from a series of auditions, we explored what it is to be a third culture kid, the small ways we can be environmental superheroes and how leaning into failure can lead to success.

All of our Limitless speakers were selected from a series of auditions

June

As summer approached it was time to say goodbye to our 2016–2017 committee and welcome in a new team for the upcoming academic year. We’d like to thank Sophie Desert and James Pratley our outgoing President and Vice President, Sally Alonso and Sofia Ali our former Operations manager and Treasurer, Seema Elremmash and Rufaro Mazarura last year’s Marketing and Communications officers as well as Usamah Jassat and Georgina Eliott who were our Technician and Social Secretary.