In March 2023, I became a volunteer with TEDx Kings Park as production assistant and member of the youth panel.
I first heard about TEDx KP when I was invited by a friend to attend their event Oceans at Boorla Bardip in 2022. I proceeded to attend every event the following year! I met CEO Gavin Buckley at TEDx Youth 2022 and got in touch with Bethany Hunt (former chair of the youth panel) and Rob Lines (licensee) who welcomed me warmly. TEDx Kings Park pride themselves on presenting ideas worth sharing, and work very closely with young people to ensure their events are as diverse, sustainable, ethical, accessible and as engaging as possible. The team is made up entirely of volunteers, and they strive to be one of the most professional volunteer opportunities in Perth.
I love TEDx because of how passionate the team is, and how interesting the speakers are. Each person has this incredible story worth sharing, and we learn so much from each other. I have gained so much practical experience from assisting at events, and continue to increase my roles as I grow as a person. In 2024 I worked alongside Blake Good as Co-head of Production and am now Vice Chair of the Youth Panel and Head of Production starting 2025.
TEDx Sydney
From the 28th - 29th of August 2024 I had the incredible opportunity to join TEDx Kings Park at TEDx Sydney YOUTH as a member of the leadership team! We spent 48 hours in Sydney to attend TEDx Sydney's YOUTH event at the Riverside Theatre in Paramatta and meet with their curators and head of production. The event consisted of three music performances, one dance group and nine speakers including actor/author/activist Chloe Hayden (Heartbreak High & Different not Less), author and CEO Hannah Furguson (Cheek Media Co. & Bite Back) and CEO Sarah Williams (What Were You Wearing). The speakers were incredibly inspiring, and people I've followed for a while. We got the opportunity to meet with the curation and production team after the event, and gained insight into the youth curators process and head of productions role. It was interesting to compare our organisations, take advice from TEDx Sydney and recognise what we are already doing well. Though we are a much smaller organisation, our Youth event is our flagship event and we really strive to get youth speakers and input from planning to execution. Sydney was surreal, and I am so incredibly grateful for the experience to attend. I look forward to using my new outlook as I take on Head of Production in 2025.
Workplace Posts & Event Notes
TEDx Sydney YOUTH event at the Riverside Theatre Paramatta
Exploring Sydney's Art Gallery, National Library & City Centre
TEDx Kings Park Personal Development Documents
Performance evaluation 2023, development plan & my half of the sustainability audit for 2024 - a task shared between fellow youth panellist Gemma and I as we researched TEDx Kings Park's past event venues, partners & merchandise providers to ensure they still align with our values.
20 May 2024
06 April 2024
24 March 2024
Over the course of 2023, I was part of the following events:
Justice - 28th June 2023 @ the Supreme Court of Western Australia (production assistant)
Youth 2023 - 29th July 2023 @ the State Theatre Centre (production assistant)
Moon - 24th November 2023 @ the Quarry Amphitheatre (production assistant)
I also attended various planning meetings and rehearsals, with both the Youth Panel and speakers, if not with the whole team.
In 2024, I have expanded my volunteer role with:
TEDx information booth - 24th March 2024 @ Curtin University's open day (team member, set up, pack down)
TEDx information booth - 6th April 2024 @ the Y Youth Week event in Belmont (team member, set up, pack down)
Future Technology - 20th May 2024 @ the State Theatre Centre (Co-head of Production)
working towards leading production at Youth 2024 @ the State Theatre Centre
24 November 2023
Prodution assistant & ticketing
21 October 2023
Planning for future events, feedback, marketing
29 July 2023
Production assistant & set up
28 June 2023
My first event as a volunteer!
30 July 2022
Where I met CEO Gavin Buckley.
1 December 2021
As an audience member.
Communications
A copy of the email I sent to the TEDx Kings Park crew, asking about volunteering as part of their Youth Panel. At this point, July 2022, they didn't have enough people to get the youth panel going so I didn't hear back for a while. At the beginning of 2023, TEDx hosted a small event for people interested in giving a talk or volunteering. This event is where I met Rob Lines, the licensee, who initiated me as a volunteer - production assistant - straight away and welcomed me with open arms!
The email I recieved from Bethany a year later, just after joining the production team!
Since then, the team has grown and I've volunteered at various events with the rest of the amazing crew. My roles are Production Assistant, shadowing Blake Good, and member of the Youth Panel, previously chaired by Bethany Hunt. I've been in love with TEDx ever since and am currently working towards being head of production at a main event in late 2024!
My first bio on the TEDx Kings Park website under our volunteers.
Marketing
In 2023, the Youth Panel developed a new marketing strategy to share TEDx's message further and engage more young people. I volunteered to start the TikTok account and created some videos in its early days. It has since been taken over by Gracia, a fellow youth panel member and marketing major, but I learned much about trends, social media and the algorithm during it's start-up! I eventually used the skills from this experience to start an account for To Change Our World.
The first eleven videos were teasers and speaker introductions for TEDx's annual keynote event Youth 2023. One video was a how-to for getting to the State Theatre via public transport. TikTok is known for its fast pace, so videos had to be short, engaging and utilise trends.
Below are two examples of videos I created, and one I was featured in.
Events
TEDx Information Booths at Curtin University
Moon at the Quarry Amphitheatre
Youth Event 2023 at the State Theatre Centre of Western Australia
Justice at the Supreme Court
Production Team Meeting before Future Tech Events