When I was in high school, my football coach played a TED talk for me titled ‘Grip’. The key message of that particular one was that life is more of a marathon than a race. If you keep working hard on something, you’ll eventually get better at it and that’s something that stuck with me and inspired me ever since. So, when I saw an opportunity for TEDxSFU I knew that I had to do it because if I could create a similar experience for someone else, then that’s something I’d want to be a part of.
TEDxSFU is made up of a committee of people from various backgrounds. Business, communications, sciences etc. and I think that interaction with people from different academic backgrounds is essential for personal and career development. You’re always going work with people who won’t necessarily have the same academic backgrounds as you, so it’s important to understand the different dynamics when working with diverse groups of people.
Being a director for the conference can be very stressful and time consuming. Not only juggling it with school, but with the other extra-curriculars I’m involved in and committed to. So it can be difficult trying to coordinate everything from sending out emails to doing site visits to drafting meeting minutes etc. But overall, the journey is well worth it.
To anyone considering volunteering, my advice to you is "Anticipate setbacks, cause those will always happen but just embrace the journey because this moment isn’t going to be forever."
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Story Faculty