TEDx talks have always been a source of inspiration to me and many other university undergrads, but having one of these TEDx talks in school always seemed far fetched.
So, TEDxCovenant happened. But trust me, when I first saw the info on social media I laughed. This is a Ted talk we are talking about (excuse the pun), not just a motivational few hours of “Yes, I can. You can too”. So while it was pretty easy to discard the idea, the thought wouldn’t just leave. Like a new single from my most respected artiste, I started anticipating the big TEDx talk in CU. Deep into the semester we sat for our first test, then the second test, other events came up and still no TEDxCovenant. At this point I asked myself ‘Lanre have you played yourself’? /Shouts to DJ Khaled. lol/
I cannot say for sure that I was the only one asking this question, but I am confident many TED Talk lovers in CU were doing the same and little did we know our questions were about to be answered. I first heard about the proposed talk on Twitter and the confirmation came from same quarters when I randomly stumbled on a tweet from the @TedxCovenant account! An official account pretty much verifies information these days, right. My twitter fingers rejoiced and retweeted the post.
Mark Your Calendars 📆 Everyone! pic.twitter.com/KLQidldkyc
— TEDxCovenantUni (@TEDxCovenant) October 24, 2016
TEDXCovenantUniveristy (X = Independently organized TED) was set up to tackle 3 major areas;
- Technology
- Heath
- Environment
The long awaited 14th of November came and the excitement reached it’s apex as attendees started to troop in from 10:00am – all smiles, ipods, tablets fully charged for pictures, note pads to take down key points at TEDxCovenantUniveristy2016. Registration kicked off immediately and the venue was getting packed. At the strike of 11:00am, the event kicked off with the hosts, Lanre Shonubi and Ore Balogun introducing the event and getting the attendees warmed up for a most inspiring series of sharing from the speakers on the TEDxCovenantUniversity stage. (Even the hall decor was global TED talk standard)
Six selected speakers from various walks of life were prepared to bare it all to us on how they have maintained excellence in their chosen careers!
- Kunle Adewale (Artist, Art Therapist & Social Entrepreneur)
- Charles Ayo (Researcher, Administrator, Computer scientist)
- Chris Okagbue (Model, Actor, Creative Director)
- Rajiv Sharma (Strategy Consultant, Public speaker & Coach)
- Lekan Fabilola (Author, Entrepreneur, Social change agent)
- Joshua Ajitena (Marketing Consultant, Public speaker, Project & Events Manager)
All the speakers delivered their talks so passionately and without a doubt inspired the attendees; igniting the spark to go out and provide innovative solutions of their own to the world.
Permit me also to inform you that I, Lanre Shonubi had the privilege of hosting the event alongside the beautiful Ore Balogun. To say I didn’t want the talks to end would be an understatement but I wanted them to end at the same time too, so I could go back to my drawing board to think deep and create my own world changing idea that would be “worth sharing”, then come back and share it with the TED audience!
It is quite flattering to point out that this event might be holding next year due to the positive feedback the organizers got from the attendees. In fact, one of the speakers (Joshua Ajitena) said, “I would love to do this again and again… wonderful audience and wonderful platform.”
Just in case you missed the event you can check out the official @TEDxCovenant account for tweets and pictures. Feed your eyes and promise yourself not to miss the next one!
When a platform as big as TEDx and a vision driven university like Covenant university come together, you know to expect excellence, innovation, thought provoking ideas, leadership skills dissemination to mention a few!
I actually can’t wait for #TEDxCovenant2.0!