Just 18 minutes to give a hopefully brilliant presentation of ideas that are worth sharing. Participants know that their speech is being video recorded and will be available to view on line by a global community of people who take part in events like this across the world.
This is what the TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) initiative, invented in California thirty years ago, is about. Thanks to modern technology it has become a true media phenomenon in recent years.
TED protagonists have included prestigious politicians such as Bill Clinton and Al Gore, technology gurus such as Bill Gates and Larry Page, Nobel Prize winners from various disciplines and intellectuals who went from being “nobodies” to real celebrities on the web thanks to their 18 minutes.
Apparently the Vatican has now also decided to take on the challenge by organising TEDx Via della Conciliazione, an event that will be promoted in collaboration with the Courtyard of the Gentiles, a space where believers and non believers can share ideas. TEDx Via della Conciliazione was proposed by the Pope and established by the Pontifical Council for Culture led by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi.
The event has already been published on www.ted.com: TEDx Via della Conciliazione will be held in Rome on 19 April 2013 on the theme “Religious freedom today”. In the typical spirit of this initiative, there will be a big mix of characters on stage: religious figures and showbiz stars, academics and sports champions.
Everyone will express their thoughts on religious freedom, human rights and the development of people. The woman responsible for proposing and leading the organisation of the initiative is Giovanna Abbiati, an expert in new media at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum.
Among the speakers who have confirmed their attendance at the event are Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Cuban-born American singer Gloria Estefan, Egyptian human rights activist Lamia Aly Mekhemar and footballer Didier Drogba.