Monday, May 21, 2012

Shivam Sai Gupta at TED@Bangalore


UPDATE July 2012: The talk is released now! Click here to go to the updated page.

TED is doing a worldwide talent search for TED 2013. As quoted from TED's website:
The best moments at TED have often come from unexpected places. But this year, we're pushing that to an entirely new level. We're staging a global talent search to bring together the most remarkable lineup in TED's history. A series of special TED salons in cities around the world will enable us to discover a broad new array of thinkers and doers. And the best of them will be invited to California in February 2013 to share their work with the world. The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered.

TED@Bangalore


I thought of it as an audition (as they said it is). But it turned out much more interesting and larger event. All the speakers were awesome. The audience did a great job at reacting to the speakers. All the talks will be posted on TED.com in last week of June. People all over the world will be asked to vote. And number of votes will decide who will go to Long Beach, California for TED 2013.

Ira Trivedi, also one of speaker of TED@Bangalore


Meeting Chris Anderson, Kelly Stoetzel and Lakshmi Pratury was a great experience.

Chris Anderson in India for TED Audition
Shivam Sai Gupta   Chris Anderson   Lakshmi Pratury


The preparations put into a TED event is enormous and India should learn from it.The rehearsals were nerve wracking. I was very nervous what the people will think about me.

Then, when the time came to give my final talk. I thought, fuck it, I don't care what people will think. I just know my passion and I'm gonna express it. And I thought, "the only person I want to be better than, is the person I was yesterday".

After all, I've spent a whole month working on my presentation and practicing my talk. I worked my ass off as if this talk is going to be the best talk I've ever given. I'm gonna do the best I can or I'm gonna die, it's that simple.

With this I walked  ran to the stage full of confidence and passion.


Shivam Sai Gupta's TED Talk
Shivam Sai Gupta at TED@Bangalore


It was a great experience that I'll never forget. I don't know if I'll get selected for TED 2013 or not, but I know one thing for sure, that I did all I could, and as John Wooden describes:

Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.