The idea behind TEDxHanoiAmsterdamHS
Why high school students gave the talks. About TEDxHanoiAmsterdamHS.
Back in high school, some of the questions I was asked most often were about TEDxHanoiAmsterdamHS. People asked why I decided to spend my last months at school starting it, or why I wanted to start it in high school at all. My usual answer was, “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just who I am. I just do things that I think will benefit the people around me.”
Looking back, I think it was a brave decision, and the right one. It was brave because very few high schools in Vietnam had organized a TEDx event, and I had to start from scratch. It was the right decision because, even though I later achieved more prominent things, one thing hasn’t changed:
TEDx will always be one of the cornerstones that shaped my personality, and one of the things I did that brought real value to people.
It took me nearly six months to go from the spark of an idea to forming a complete team to start the journey. It took another six months to bring the first TEDxHanoiAmsterdamHS (our predecessor was TEDxHanoiAmsterdam Youth) to our community. Through that process, I realized that something I had thought was clear and obvious from the moment I wanted to start this event seemed unusual to other people: I wanted our speakers to be high school students.
Why high school?
At most TEDx events or official TED conferences, professors, influencers, billionaires, models, and all kinds of other people give talks on topics they have thought deeply about. Their talks are clear and well structured. I read a book by Chris Anderson that I highly recommend. It can help you not only if you want to give a TED Talk, but also if you want to communicate better or deliver a persuasive speech. The standards are high, both for the speakers and for the talks themselves.
So, when it comes to local TEDx events, there is often an expectation that they should also invite knowledgeable, influential people to speak. I’m a TED fan myself, and I’ve watched thousands of talks and videos from TED, TEDx, and TED-Ed. But I had another reason for bringing TEDx to my school:
I wanted to empower young people who had ideas, thoughts, and insights they wanted to share with the world.
I believe the world inside young people’s heads is a little different from the one inside adults’ heads. It might be fresh, direct, dreamy or practical, chaotic or peaceful, mature or immature. But there are always fresh ideas and points of view that differ from those we hear at TED or other TEDx events.
For me, the core value of TEDxHanoiAmsterdamHS is to give young people a space to share their thoughts and values with an audience of other young people, so they can inspire and learn from one another.
How do we choose?
With that belief in mind, one thing I have said many times to young people applying to become speakers at our TEDx is this:
We are not here to express ourselves just to satisfy our egos or let out the voices we have kept hidden. We are here to make sure our talks are valuable to people.
Across TEDxHanoiAmsterdamHS and our predecessor, TEDxHanoiAmsterdam Youth, we have selected around five or six young speakers per event. The process includes multiple rounds of interviews, teamwork to develop their talks, and behavioral rounds. We also invite two or three knowledgeable guest speakers, as other TEDx events do, to add depth and breadth to the event.