The 100th :) or TEDxKyiv

That's my 100th post :) thus I wanted to write about something really special. So, here we go. 

We had a great opportunity to attend a really extraordinary conference last week – TEDxKyiv “Entrepreneurship”. My very first post at Green Forest blog was actually dedicated to TED (TED – „ідеї варті поширення”). TED, which stands for Technology Entertainment and Design, is a global set of conferences held annually which promote brand new ideas and ground-breaking technologies. Besides these central conferences, TEDx conferences are becoming more and more popular. TEDx is an independently organized event in cities around the world. TED grants licenses to third parties to hold these events, however the rules of the franchise must be obeyed. In a nutshell, TEDx is a non-profit event organized by a group of enthusiasts who understand the meaning and value of TED and are ready to sacrifice their time and effort.  

The first TEDx in Ukraine took place in Kyiv in 2009. TEDxKyiv “Entrepreneurship”, which we attended, has been the fifth event organized by the group of passionate enthusiasts. There were three sessions which discussed transformational entrepreneurship, business not only for the sake of income and entrepreneurship without limits. The speakers were talking about creative business ideas, taking calculated risks, social and green business. Even though the conference lasted for about 6 hours, we were eager to listen to more and more innovative insights into the topics which seem to be familiar.  

  The audience of the conference included mostly 20-30 year olds and we were asked to fill in a questionnaire about our values. At the end of the conference a professor of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy announced the results, comparing the values of Ukrainian youth with European, Asian and American ones. Turns out that independence, hedonism and achievement prevail, which is not bad, but if we compare it with say the Chinese, they have kindness on the first place. That was a very interesting and surprising part of the event.

I strongly advise you to watch all the conference: All the talks from the conference   and get inspired by so many talented people and their unusual views.  

  I'd like to end the post with the words of Derek Sivers, one of my favourite TED speakers:  

when you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first one to stand up and join in. And what a perfect place to do that, TED. And I hope that we'll have TEDxLviv in the near future.