We always get asked by our audience how they can support our speakers. We are keen to take the ideas from the TEDxLondon stage and put them into action. We want to bring our communities together to unleash the transformational power of ideas and stories.
Don’t forget – share your favourite talks when they are live!
#1. Play your way into new worlds with André Anderson
Join art college Headmaster, André Anderson, spread the power of ‘aspirational play’ and the solutions it unearths. André invites you to think about why we have stopped playing and what challenges we can play our way through to create the solutions we need. Through his beautiful prompts, he invokes a way to learn and grow into the future we want. Here are a mix of prompts, taken from André’s SANDCASTLES card game. Take one, choose a medium for yourself, find inspiration and share the result with someone:
If you owned your own laboratory, what would you invent and why?
If you ran your own school, what would you teach?
You are the executive of your own film studio, what kind of stories would you tell?
There is a new world hiding within your existing one, where is it?
#2. Take part in Five X More’s survey on Black maternity experiences
In 2018 in the UK, Black women were five times more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth and 6 weeks after than their white counterparts. This was something Tinuke Awe and Clotilde Abe, the co-founders of Five X More experienced firsthand, and vowed to change. Now they work to support Black women’s health and Black mothers and pregnant women. Currently they are asking for those who identify as Black or Black mixed-heritage women and birthing people and have been pregnant or are currently pregnant to take part in a survey. The survey will help Five X More push for better maternity outcomes for Black and Black mixed-heritage women and birthing people.
If that’s you, click here to take the survey
#3. Amplify Afghan women’s voices
Photojournalist Kiana Hayeri’s powerful documentation of women’s lives under Taliban rule sheds light on the erasure of women from public life. In Afghanistan, women are disappearing from public life as the spaces where they once gathered are closed to them. Kiana spent months capturing small acts of joy and defiance in her photo collection. She shares three ways you can support Afghan women and girls now:
– Follow more stories via Kiana’s platform NoWomansLand.com.
– Sign and share the campaign against gender apartheid in Iran and Afghanistan: endgenderapartheid.today.
– Connect with organisations that support women and girls in Afghanistan, including the Alliance for Global Freedom of Afghanistan (AGFAF), School of Leadership Afghanistan (SOLA) and Charmaghz.
#4. Explore the Good Law Project’s campaign against dark money in politics
Anonymous funding is infiltrating our media, civic and political systems to influence issues, politics and people. It’s called dark money, explains Jolyon Maugham KC, founder of Good Law Project in his TEDxLondon talk. Having gained an insight into how dark money works, the Good Law Project are now working to stop it. Support their campaign to stop dark money’s ability to buy and sell the truth in politics.
Explore Good Law Project’s campaign
#5. Join the Rights on Flights campaign
Disabled people deserve the right to fly without fear, says British TV host and disability advocate, Sophie Morgan. After her multiple experiences of being very badly treated whilst flying, Sophie set up the Rights on Flights campaign. The campaign fights to change the law to protect disability rights in the air and highlights solutions such as using new seat designs to add a dedicated space in aeroplanes for wheelchair users. You can support Sophie’s work and help protect disabled travellers now.
Support Rights on Flights campaign
#6. Support women and non-binary comedians
When Jodie started noticing audiences react differently to their drag-king persona, John Travulva, they realised just how gendered our perceptions of who is and is not funny is. As John they had to work less hard to get laughs for the same material when performing out of drag. Once this realisation happened, they spoke to other comedians and better understood the frequent discrimination female and non-binary comedians face. Their talk is a call to support women and non-binary comedians everywhere. If you love drag kings, then you can support Jodie and their fellow drag king troupe Pecs by signing up to their mailing list and heading to their next show.
#7. Watch the Palestine Comedy Club
‘The Palestine Comedy Club is a platform for every palestinian comedian, artist and actor to share their perspectives,’ explains co-founder, Alaa Shehada. On the TEDxLondon stage, Alaa shared with stand up comedian, Nish Kumar, how the Palestine Comedy Club aims to build empathy and showcase Palestinian culture. Currently, the Palestine Comedy Club are raising funds to get their documentary complete and you can buy a ticket to a private screening of the documentary to learn more about them.
Watch the Palestine Comedy Club
#8. Learn more about the science of uncertainty
Why do we find it easier to trust some concepts and ideas over others? Professor Adam Kucharski delves into the science of uncertainty and why the need for clear explanations about how things work is becoming more important. Adam’s research found that a lack of explainability visibly bothers people and leads to more disinformation and conspiracy theories as people attempt to fill the gaps in their knowledge. His new book delves into this more: Proof: The Uncertain Science of Certainty and is out in March!
#9. Discover inspiring communication from around the world
Shocking and upsetting stories may get you more clicks and views, but it’s not creating the change you’re after, explains Nathalie McDermott. Nathalie is a journalist, campaigner and founder & CEO of Heard, where she helps campaigners and journalists shift their focus from stories of trauma to stories of empowerment. She believes good communication means being heard and feeling heard and Nathalie and Heard’s newsletter shares good practice and inspiration. If you’re a comms person or campaigner, this newsletter is for you.
#10. Understand what bomb fishing is and how it’s affecting coral reefs
Pops, purrs and grunts – did you know a healthy coral reef emits a whole range of sounds? Marine biologist and data scientist, Ben Williams, shares how new underwater audio recording tech creates a soundscape that helps scientists measure a coral reef’s health. Whilst they were recording coral reefs they also found other sounds – that of bomb fishing. A terrible practice that quickly kills fish, it is devastating marine life around the world.
Talks from TEDxLondon Festival of Ideas will be live soon. Sign up to our mailing list to be the first to know.
