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Organizers of the TEDxMexicali convention stand behind their logo Thursday. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ENRIQUE DE LA ROSA / March 23, 2012) |
MEXICALI — Minutes before the TEDxMexicali convention started, plastic artist Marco Miranda was standing behind a staircase practicing his presentation while holding a cigarette.
“I am a little nervous,” Miranda, 30, said in Spanish moments later with a grin.
But Miranda, who was just one of the eight speakers at the event, liked the exercise of condensing information into an 18 minute presentation.
“You have to be very exact,” he said.
TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design, is a nonprofit group that every spring gathers thinkers from all over the world to conferences in Long Beach and Palm Springs.
Individuals like Al Gore, researchers like Stephen Hawkins, and even comedians like Sarah Silverman, have spoken their minds at these conventions in hope of promoting solutions for social problems.
Mexicali intellectuals like Miranda, who gathered Thursday at the Centro Estatal de las Artes, now had an opportunity to do the same.
The theme of TEDxMexicali, an independent franchise of TED, is “transformation, reality and the future of Mexicali,” said Enrique De La Rosa, director of TEDxMexicali.
Speakers were divided into three segments to explain the ideas behind the progressive theme of TEDxMexicali.
The first speaker was Hector Herrera, an architect who described where ideas come from according to him.
Ideas are a combination of past experiences and imagination, he said. And once someone comes up with a new idea, they should share them.
“Ideas shouldn’t be kept,” Herrera said.
Marco Miranda followed. He said children are not encouraged to explore nature and this negatively affects Mexicali culture. In Miranda’s case, his toys were insects, not cars, he said.
Miranda also said that people should give themselves time to analyze their environment.
The third speaker, entrepreneur Roberto Bandrés, echoed the ideas of previous speakers.
But Bandrés, who was considered by many attendees the best speaker of the eight, offered his experience in business and how he realized he could make money and make a difference in the city’s ecology.
Calexico recycles 40 percent of its trash while Mexicali recycles zero, Bandrés said.
This entrepreneurial opportunity is also an altruistic one, he suggested.
Bandrés is now well on his way to establishing his business which solves companies’ trash hauling issues by helping them become ecologically friendly. He achieved this by realizing what his objectives were and then gathering people who shared his objectives.
“Things don’t happen because people don’t connect with others, period,” he said in Spanish. “So if you want things to happen, connect with others. Today I know what moves me. What moves you?” he asked.
The presentations certainly moved speakers like Mexicali resident Karina Camacho, 22.
“Presenters are of the highest levels,” she said in Spanish, adding she enjoyed the 18-minute format. “I hope this event happens again.”
But there were other attendees that were more critical.
Such is the case of Norberto Ballesteros, 27, who said he expected more.
The ideas shared by speakers were too localized to Mexicali, he said. “I expected global ideas rooted or stemmed from local perspectives,” he said.
For De La Rosa, the event with its 50 people in attendance “was everything and more than what I expected,” he said. “It was a great experience.”
And this experience is likely to be repeated, as more TEDxMexicalis are in already in the making.
Staff Writer Alejandro Davila can be reached at 760-337-3445 or adavila@ivpressonline.com
“I am a little nervous,” Miranda, 30, said in Spanish moments later with a grin.
But Miranda, who was just one of the eight speakers at the event, liked the exercise of condensing information into an 18 minute presentation.
“You have to be very exact,” he said.
TED, which stands for technology, entertainment and design, is a nonprofit group that every spring gathers thinkers from all over the world to conferences in Long Beach and Palm Springs.
Individuals like Al Gore, researchers like Stephen Hawkins, and even comedians like Sarah Silverman, have spoken their minds at these conventions in hope of promoting solutions for social problems.
Mexicali intellectuals like Miranda, who gathered Thursday at the Centro Estatal de las Artes, now had an opportunity to do the same.
The theme of TEDxMexicali, an independent franchise of TED, is “transformation, reality and the future of Mexicali,” said Enrique De La Rosa, director of TEDxMexicali.
Speakers were divided into three segments to explain the ideas behind the progressive theme of TEDxMexicali.
The first speaker was Hector Herrera, an architect who described where ideas come from according to him.
Ideas are a combination of past experiences and imagination, he said. And once someone comes up with a new idea, they should share them.
“Ideas shouldn’t be kept,” Herrera said.
Marco Miranda followed. He said children are not encouraged to explore nature and this negatively affects Mexicali culture. In Miranda’s case, his toys were insects, not cars, he said.
Miranda also said that people should give themselves time to analyze their environment.
The third speaker, entrepreneur Roberto Bandrés, echoed the ideas of previous speakers.
But Bandrés, who was considered by many attendees the best speaker of the eight, offered his experience in business and how he realized he could make money and make a difference in the city’s ecology.
Calexico recycles 40 percent of its trash while Mexicali recycles zero, Bandrés said.
This entrepreneurial opportunity is also an altruistic one, he suggested.
Bandrés is now well on his way to establishing his business which solves companies’ trash hauling issues by helping them become ecologically friendly. He achieved this by realizing what his objectives were and then gathering people who shared his objectives.
“Things don’t happen because people don’t connect with others, period,” he said in Spanish. “So if you want things to happen, connect with others. Today I know what moves me. What moves you?” he asked.
The presentations certainly moved speakers like Mexicali resident Karina Camacho, 22.
“Presenters are of the highest levels,” she said in Spanish, adding she enjoyed the 18-minute format. “I hope this event happens again.”
But there were other attendees that were more critical.
Such is the case of Norberto Ballesteros, 27, who said he expected more.
The ideas shared by speakers were too localized to Mexicali, he said. “I expected global ideas rooted or stemmed from local perspectives,” he said.
For De La Rosa, the event with its 50 people in attendance “was everything and more than what I expected,” he said. “It was a great experience.”
And this experience is likely to be repeated, as more TEDxMexicalis are in already in the making.
Staff Writer Alejandro Davila can be reached at 760-337-3445 or adavila@ivpressonline.com
