Being fortunate enough to attend this year’s TEDxExeter (Exeter’s leading ideas festival back for the 6th year), I have been energised to share some of my favourite speakers, their work, vision and hope for the future. The event took place on Friday 21^st April 2017, to a 900+ audience in the Exeter Northcott Theatre and was joined via livestream by a truly global audience. There were over 80 planned viewing events, and last year people in 69 countries watched online.

The day was broken up over 4 sessions and was laid out as follows:

Session 1 – 9.25 – 10.50am				Session 3 – 2.10 – 3.20pm
Madhumita Murgia	My identity for sale	@madhumita29		Gill Hayes	Hope in hell	@gillhayes2
Dr. Deborah Lipstadt	My courtroom battle with a Holocaust denier	Streamed TED film		Gulalai Ismail	From radicalisation to peacebuilding	@Gulalai_Ismail
Virginie Helias	Hope in a bottle	@virginiehelias		James Craig	Brexit: Moving forwards together	@JamesKCraig
Ludovico Einaudi	“Elegy for the Arctic” – Greenpeace	Streamed TED film		Jo & Toby Gorniak	Helping young people find their genius	@stfactorycic
Howard Johns	Your invitation to the energy revolution	@howardjohns		Street Factory	Performance	@stfactorycic
Session 2 – 11.30am-12.50pm				Session 4 – 4.00 – 5.15pm
Maya Angelou	Still I Rise	Streamed TED film		Casey Gerald	The gospel of doubt	Streamed TED film
Christina Lamb	Finding hope in dark places	@christinalamb		Vik Mohan	How listening to communities can help save our oceans	@VikMohan1
Nujeen Mustafa	I am not a number	@NujeenMustafa		Rob Wilson	Ending food waste one beer at a time	@iamrobertwilson
Kagemusha Taiko	Performance	@KagemushaTaiko		Matt Harvey	Poetry Performance	@mattharvey4
Andrew Solomon	How open borders make us safe	@Andrew_Solomon		Kester Brewin	Creating new summers of love in times of darkness	@kesterbrewin

All speakers and performers were inspirational, giving the audience a true sense of perspective by sharing their experiences. One of my personal favourites was Howard Johns – Your invitation to the energy revolution.

Howard John’s belief is that we must switch to renewables and how this can be achieved within our local communities, but while the technology is there, the political will to make changes may not be.

He believes in changing the system from the bottom up and making the next great leap forward to achieving clean, affordable, democratic energy. It’s time for us to take control, relocalise, reduce costs and carbon emissions, repower our neighbourhoods and join the energy revolution.

 

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Author: Doug Walker

Doug has over 13 years experience in digital marketing and at least 8 years in the luxury hospitality sector. Doug is an avid gamer but equally likes to spend time outside in the great outdoors. Doug is a self-confessed SEO nerd, when he's not optimising for the web, he can be found in the kitchen cooking up spicy food!