TEDx Bandung 2011

Last weekend Bandung, which famous for its creativity, held one event which gathers creative and inspiring people in one beautiful place. TEDx, community franchise of the well known global creative event TED was held in Paris Van Java last Sunday. Held at the beautiful Saung Angklung Udjo, this TEDx as usual have a list of interesting speakers starting from stand up comedian / tv presenter Pandji Pragiwaksono, activist architect Ridwan Kamil,  illusionist Denny Darko and actor / shadow puppeteer Sudjiwo Tedjo. It was the second TEDx attendance for me, and yet still gives me mind blowing experience.

Read my review of previous TEDx Events, TEDxJakarta.

When announcement and trailer tweets over at @tedxbandung, the event has already buzzed around my timeline for quite some time. Different from TEDxJakarta, this time TEDxBandung limit the audience to only 100 selected person. Since on previous TEDx ticket was sold (actually its free, only need to fill some online form) like hotcakes on a fire sale, awareness on TEDxBandung tweets was very crucial to get the invitation. Got the ticket after literally waited in second level of precision for the registration to open, well it was worth it after all.

Need some struggle just to be able attend this event. After the registration open, participant have to write short essays on why commitee should choose them. Its not stopping just there, the event was held 8 am in the Sunday morning. Man, imagine the sweet calling of bed laziness at those situation, add the cool weather of Bandung some more.

But it paid well when arrived at the venue. Saung Angklung Udjo is really beautiful place. Feels like going to remote sunda village and hangout beside the paddy fields. The best part of it : the sound of Angklung that accidentaly blew by the wind. Relaxing as spa, you definitely have to go here.

The show opened by Aria Widyanto which shares his energy conversion project in Bogor. He and his friends from Tina Mitra Mandiri campaigning to angkot driver to change their vehicle fuel from petrol to LNG. They setup cooperation to give fundings and educate benefits of their cause. Not only increasing the driver’s income since LNG is cheaper, but also reduce carbon footprint.

Anton Abdul Fatah, comes next. Government servant on weekday and agro farmer by weekend. He shares his vision on action regarding environmental impact of brick industry in his hometown, Sindangsari Garut. Donie Darko, the illusionist gives us show and tell example of how easy our minds can be deceived. It involved hypnotizin a girl to bend a crowbar, silly as it sounds amazing when you see it.

Next session opened by internet-notorious Enda Nasution. You all know him as the father of Indonesian bloggers and founder of salingsilang.com. He talks about the evolution of social media and the attitude of Indonesian internet users. Tendi Naim, restauranteur of Bumbu Desa and Harvard graduates comes next with his view of Indonesian education paradigm. He reminded us how Ki Hajar Dewantara already set the foundation of today’s modern education 40 years ago.

Second session closed by performance from Eya Grimonia, 16th years old musical prodigy. Awed the audience by his Smooth Criminal rendition at the opening slides and continuosly do so with other classical violin performance through out her speech on the universality of music.

Pandji opened the last session of the day with his provocative thoughts on freedom to joke. Brought stand up comedy to Indonesian scene, the radio DJ of Hardrock FM is also in a cause to promote political awareness for youth with his TV show : ProvocativeProactive. Followed up by Ridwan Kamil which passionately promote his view on urban farming. ID-Berkebun, his campaign to promote farming in urban cities made him chosen as a hero. Google Chrome Web Heroes, to be precise. Last and in my opinion, the best speaker of the day, takes the stage after that.

Sudiwo Tedjo, shadow pupeteer, actor and musician, surprisingly talked about Mathemathics. I cant even described the speech in simple words. It was mind provoking, hilarious and harsh at the same times. He talked about the strong connection of math in music, poetry and even emotion. Super fantastic.

Well thats a wrap, magnificent work should be credited to all the speakers, organizer and all the good people who make this happened. Definitely going to look forward for the next TEDxBandung. While its only half day compared to TEDxJakarta, but the inspiration i was getting its not the half of it. More diverse topic, more beautiful the place and much more fun.

Be sure to check tedxbandung.org and follow @tedxbandung on twitter to check when is the video will be uploaded.

Stop whining, starts inspire. Good day folks.

PS: Anybody know the full name of beautiful girl i was sitting beside on the Sudjiwo Tedjo session? shoot i forgot to ask her number! thats how good the show was! 😀