This year TEDxVilnius team consists of almost 30 people, who voluntarily put their time and effort in order to create the day worth to remember.
As TEDxVilnius counts its sixth anniversary and has grown from small local to huge international event, there definitely are a lot of memories that team members share only in their closest circles - sometimes chuckling, sometimes still freaking out.
But as we are the community that shares its best and worst, here are some memories from some of our team members that put smile on their (and hopefully your) face or make them nostalgically sigh. But let’s not sigh - registration is still open for TEDxVilnius 2016: hide and seek until 10th of March and you still can experience these moments with the team and the whole community.
Justė:
With TEDxVilnius team for 6 years
TEDxVilnius curator, Freelance event organizer
"Saturday, 09:00 AM sharp.
The lights go down, suddenly, it gets quiet and for just a couple of seconds there is this deep silence in my head. It seems like the heartbeat stops, there are no thoughts, no worries - nothing. Looks like the whole world just stops for a second.
This short moment contains everything: the very last second of waiting, the magic of TED and TEDx events, the peace and complete trust in everyone and everything: the knowing that everything that could be done is already done, and, most importantly, the hard-to-believe feeling that what started as a brief idea several months ago is now bigger than me and is about to become real.
And then the host comes on stage and it begins."
Jūratė:
With TEDxVilnius team for 4 years
Business Development Coordinator @Vilnius Tech Park
"It's the day before the event, a bit after midnight, I get an email from one of the selected participants' saying that she has a question and some issues. I have a moment and give needed info right away. Next day the conference comes and other team member brings me that person, because she wants to meet me in person, say "hi" and thank me for the care. Unexpected moments like these, extraordinary participants hungry for ideas, action and changes, dedicated team, colorful discussions even long after the event - all this makes me super excited to be part of this community."
Gintaras:
With TEDxVilnius team for 6 years
Freelance Journalist
"If I had to pick the most exciting and memorable moments from TEDxVilnius history, it would definitely be two essential moments. First of all, the time I was entitled with a great responsibility of hosting the event. It happened back in 2012. I remember that day as if it was yesterday. I was trembling like a leaf and almost couldn't think straight. But once I've entered the stage everything became clear. I've felt lifted and inspired. But still it was one of the most challenging tasks in my life – next to the parachute jump.
The second moment stuck in my memory about TEDxVilnius is a short conversation with one of the event volunteers. That was a young girl who is just about to finish a high school. I remember asking her why she wanted to join TEDxVilnius. The answer had blown me away. The girl said “For me and some of my friends joining TEDxVilnius is something similar to starting working at Google. It is so cool and inspiring”. That girl's thoughts got me thinking that the most important reason to be a part of TEDxVilnius is a possibility to inspire young and willing minds. It is a good starting point, a perfect springboard which can help you learn more about how the world really works."
Odeta:
With TEDxVilnius team for 2 years
Digital Marketing Specialist
"After five years of living in London and not attending any events in Lithuania I was very pleasantly surprised by the crowd that TEDxVilnius attracts. Everyone from team members, to speakers to partners and event attendees are super engaged, outgoing, diverse, open minded, friendly and very interesting. And people that I met have made a huge impact to my current life. From speaking in a conference, to my dream job that I'm doing for almost a year now after chatting to one of the speakers - people from TEDxVilnius have opened an interesting chapter in my life!"
Justina:
With TEDxVilnius team for 6 years
Director @JSC Nextcom
"Oh boy, my life with TEDxVilnius has been filled with so many great moments. I am with TEDxVilnius from the very beginning and I am astonished how much it has grown. We were only 10 people doing everything on our own back in the beginning. Now there are over 20 of us with around 30 volunteers in each event!
There are so many things that happened to me over those years - for example, once I accidentally overslept and was late to the event. I got into so much trouble and I still feel really guilty for that!
On more positive note, what I would like to tell everybody wondering what's it like to be part of this group is the feeling I get day before the event. This day for some of us is sometimes as important as the day of the event. During this day we make sure that wonderful people who come to our event have everything ready and every little detail has been taken care of.
Seeing how empty venue becomes full of lights, colors, music and amazing people from all around the world all getting ready for tomorrow's big day makes me feel proud, happy and anxious.
I get the same feeling when we are 5 minutes from opening the door of the venue for this huge crowd of people already waiting outside.
And then you look at your teammate's eyes and see the exact same feeling and you both can't stop smiling."
Renata:
With TEDxVilnius team for 3 years
Head of Marketing and Communication at Martynas Mazvydas National Library of Lithuania
"The first thing I remember about the TEDxVilnius is the VIP reception in the year of 2015. It was full of surprises. I came to check the place just before the attendance of all the guests and I realized that nothing looks like the VIP reception. With the urgent help of our sponsors and volunteers we organized everything until the last second the first guest came in."
Ginvilė:
With TEDxVilnius team for 4 years
Marketing professional
"There is always some level of stress and craziness involved in the process, but being involved in a team that does everything because of the idea rather than doing something for a payroll, brings very unique atmosphere and lots of fun during the meetings. If I try to think of one fun thing worth remembering, all that comes to mind are all those inside jokes hard to even explain: Marcus fishing out a 3D printed flute out of my bag and the whole conversation of why this thing is even there, starting to laugh out of the blue in the middle of a serious speaker talk just because someone from the team made a joke on a walkie talkie you are all connected to, anecdotes' contest during team and speakers dinner...
But probably the best moment was during TEDxVilnius 2014, which I believe marked a year of huge leap forward in terms of quality of the event and team development. We introduced quite many small things just to see - it was quite a risk and we hoped it would work out. Seeing those things actually working how you anticipated was amazing. I remember standing in the middle of the crowd during a break and a random guy came to me and said "Hey, I live in Berlin and just came to Lithuania for short time and decided to drop by, but this exceeded all my expectations...". You often get those supportive comments from acquaintances and friends attending the event, but that moment somewhat brought a feeling that maybe indeed it is not only us - the team - who think it is fun and cool :)
There are so much more why TEDxVilnius is important to me and never gets boring (seriously, so far it is maybe an activity that I do for the longest time since school and I even chose to write MSc thesis basing it on TEDx community - just to make sure that by the end of the process I am still motivated and genuinely interested)"
Having said all this, we invite you to experience these magic moments with us. You still have some time to register for TEDxVilnius 2016: hide and seek until 10th of March!