Young people take the charge on a new TEDxYouth@Glasgow event

Glasgow Clyde College event management students are playing a key role in designing and organising a major TEDx event in Glasgow, as part of the Scottish Government’s 2018 Year of Young People, which will celebrate the very best of Scotland and its youth. This major event will be delivered in partnership with Scottish Government, VisitScotland, Glasgow Clyde Education Foundation and Glasgow Clyde College. 

In July 2015, the Scottish Government commissioned Children in Scotland, the Scottish Youth Parliament and Young Scot to work with young people to co-design recommendations for the 2018 Year of Young People. From these recommendations VisitScotland was then tasked with developing the Year of Young People 2018 events’ programme.

Following the success of the TEDxGlasgow events over the past six years, whose talks have amassed in excess of 9 million views worldwide and secured the organisation the position of the most established TEDx organisation in Europe, the team wished to commit to developing something custom in response to the 2018 Year of Young People initiative. In 2017, 300 students were invited to attend an afternoon session with complimentary passes and access to interview speakers. In 2018, things will be ramped up significantly. 

The new standalone TEDxYouth@Glasgow event has been launched to showcase the amazing talents of young people in Scotland, whilst providing them with a unique platform upon which they can share and access diverse and revolutionary ideas. As well as presenting delegates with networking and learning opportunities, this new major event will be co-designed and delivered by a team of young people including students from Glasgow Clyde College. 

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland's Director of Events, said; “Scotland is getting set to celebrate the Year of Young People in 2018 where the spotlight will shine on young people’s talents and contributions, giving them the opportunity to show the world what they are made of. 

“We are delighted to be supporting the brand new TEDxYouth@Glasgow event in 2018 as part of Scotland’s forthcoming themed year. The TEDx brand has become a leading platform for sharing ideas, creativity and innovation, and the launch of a new youth event, driven by young people themselves, will not only spark conversation and debate but hopefully inspire our thinkers of tomorrow.”

TEDxYouth is an offshoot of the TEDx programme, where young people organise an event that has exciting, innovative and inspiring content aimed at a younger audience. To coincide with the Year of Young People in 2018, TEDxGlasgow will be running TEDxYouth@Glasgow.  

The new event aims to deliver key skills development and real world experience, with the recruitment of the Youth Team to design, organise and manage their own event. They will be supported by the main TEDxGlasgow event team through mentorship and leadership. This will provide the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills, such as event management, project management, communication, marketing, teamwork, website management and logistics. 

John Rafferty, Assistant Principal Faculty of Health and Wellbeing at Glasgow Clyde College, said: “This is a phenomenal project for the city of Glasgow, its young people and for our students to be involved in. We are proud of the talent and skills that our young people have and bring with them every day to Glasgow Clyde College. Being involved in TEDxYouth@Glasgow provides an opportunity to work on a live project, develop organisational, communications and event and project management skills. 

“It’s an exciting time for the young people of Glasgow to attend an event that’s created for them, by their peers.”  

The introduction of a new tailored event means that the programme of speakers will be designed to directly appeal to 12-26 year olds. The 2018 Youth Event will have its own programme with speakers and entertainment curated and selected by the Youth Team. 

Glasgow is recognised as the most diverse city in Scotland and the aim is that the team running the event, the speakers and the audience voices come from a range of backgrounds to best reflect this.

Due to premiere at the SEC Armadillo on the 31 May 2018 (the day before TEDxGlasgow), TEDxYouth@Glasgow will welcome over 2000 young delegates (aged 12-26 years), with a further 7,000 being able to access the livestream of the event. 

All of the talks will then be made available via YouTube and on the TEDxGlasgow.com website after the event to support global access. 

Gurjit Singh Lalli, founder and curator of TEDxGlasgow, said; “We've benefited from a hugely receptive and collaborative audience (and one of the largest conference audiences in Scotland) in Glasgow for our events over the past five years but we've always been very much more focused on a more adult audience. The 2018 Year of the Young People offers us an incredibly exciting chance to create a project that offers students a rich and ‘real life’ learning experience, as well as delivery a major event to a younger audience. We can't wait to get started and invite all of Scotland’s youth to attend in 2018.”

Jon Vincent, Principal at Glasgow Clyde College, said: “I’m positive the College and TEDxYouth@Glasgow team will deliver an exceptional programme of inspirational speakers, activities and workshops for young people throughout Glasgow to attend. It’s a fantastic opportunity and I look forward to watching the project develop and take shape.” 

Pictured are the Glasgow Clyde College students involved in organising the event, Gurjit Singh Lalli - TEDxGlasgow founder, and Brian Hughes - Vice Principal Curriculum and External Relations at Glasgow Clyde College.

For more information please visit: www.tedxglasgow.com/youth