VANESSA LING ZU-ER

Executive Summary

For WOW! 2020, we worked with our mentors from TEDxS, Mr. Lim and Ms. Lim. As part of TEDx’s vision of “ideas worth spreading”, we were tasked to participate in the publishing process of a book (details to be revealed at a later date) and propose some marketing strategies for an effective launch. The following write-up will detail our activities over the course of the month-long attachment and showcase the final product we individually presented.

Background information on TEDxS

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDxS organises idea events that bring people together to share a TED-style experience and spark deep discussion and connection among people and ‘curious souls’, who love and value ideas.

TED’s short, carefully-prepared talks on a wide range of subjects to foster learning, inspiration and wonder — and to provoke conversations that matter. For passion, For people, For purpose. We connect curious souls and people who love and value ideas. We reach out to inspire people to learn, share and engage close conversations about ideas that have the potential and power to make a difference in our lives, in our world and in Singapore. We share ideas worth spreading from Singapore with the world through the global TED community, and serve as a focal point for the TED community and TEDsters who live in and visit Singapore.

All TEDxS idea events are non-commercial. We strive to make all our events accessible to all people in Singapore, and as a principle, we do not charge for participation unless there are direct costs involved.

TEDxS launched in April 2009 and over 400 people joined within 14 days. Today, there are over 200 thousand people in the TED Community in Singapore.

All TEDx’s are licensed from TED as not-for-profit movement and events.

Singapore was a pioneer global TEDx organiser in 2009 and has 100% community-created 50 TEDxS national events, and platforming ~200 TEDx speakers, performers and talents.

Background information of the project

The project aim was to finalise the book for printing and publishing, as well as propose a marketing launch plan. Deliverables included a proofread master copy of the book, a marketing plan, as well as our own rendition of how the book should look like (i.e., front cover, back cover, spine, and front flap, complete with text for the flap and introduction).

Key personnel involved were the Mr Lim and Ms Lim, the individual writers of each chapter, and Kelley Cheng, the designer for the book. The exact budget of the project was not disclosed, but it was mentioned that we would be working with a monocle-sized book with a folded front flap. Our marketing plan could be both digital and analog in nature; for example, newspaper advertisement, or a Instagram activity.

At the point I joined the project, the chapters for the book had already been compiled. However, we still needed to run the text through three rounds of extensive proofreading. The first (and main) task we engaged in was to make necessary grammatical and formatting edits, done via taking turns with my two other team members to read an assigned segment of the book each. The second was graphic design, in which each of us had to conduct both online and field research on deliberate book design to appeal to readers. These included both textual and visual elements. Finally, for the marketing launch plan, we were to come up with ideas for the promotion of the book. We also took part in a TEDxS event at the National Gallery, which will be elaborated on below.

TEDxS does not have a physical office in Singapore, so majority of our attachment was spent in school (and much of the work done online). However, we did pay visits to libraries (in-school and public), bookstores, and the National Gallery for the event.

Record of activities done

1. Proofreading task

We were given a document detailing TEDxS guidelines for proofreading. These notes covered punctuation, common grammatical mistakes, spelling rules and use of quotation marks and italics. This task required us to do extensive manual checking of the document instead of falling back on Spellcheck and AutoCorrect. Benefits include the detection of mistakes that usually go unnoticed by algorithm (for example, “there” and “they’re”, or inappropriate use of quotation marks). The challenge, however, was simply that it was more tedious than automatic checking. Still, this task was still enjoyable as we got to read each of the enlightening stories in the process. We split it into an even more systematic structure: first read was for understanding, to get the gist of the stories. Second read, to pick out grammatical mistakes and correct sentence structure errors. Third read was the most stringent of all, examining the text word by word and fixing formatting issues. Each of us was allocated about 10 chapters, and over the course of the week, we took turns reading and editing each segment for the most thorough check possible.

2. Book design

Firstly, for the textual component, we were told to write a foreword (and later on, an introduction), as well as a back cover text. This required some research (findings of which also informed us that there was a difference between a foreword and introduction!), through which we learned of the formulaic approach behind a seemingly abstract write-up in most books. This was the main challenge of writing the text: utilising an apt combination of the strategies suggested to write a good back cover blurb and introduction. For example, I used the rhetorical question approach in writing my back cover text. Another challenge for an avid writer like myself was sticking to the recommended word limit. However, the benefits of such deliberate writing were the effectiveness of the end product and improved writing skill on my part.

In addition to the text, we had to design a book cover, back cover, and spine. Phase one of this task was finding out the key elements to a successful book design. Apart from online research, we went to libraries and bookstores to identify 5 of our favourite most eye-catching book covers, as well as why they were attractive to us. We presented this slide deck during our second business meeting. After this, I started listing down preliminary ideas, deciding on colour scheme, vague concept of which elements to use and more, all to be done on our own. Phase two was when we put our ideas to use and made one design each. I used online web designer Canva and free photo editor Picsart to edit photos and piece various elements (text, shapes, etc.) together. Going out to look at actual books was extremely effective in helping us view books from a consumer’s point of view, whereas the online research let us take on the designer’s perspective. This two-pronged approach to research gave us a very complete idea of how to go about designing our books.

3. Marketing launch plan

This was a group project. We largely focused on digital means of advertisement, namely social media platforms and chat sites. We proposed the use of Instagram, YouTube and WeChat/Telegram in order to achieve two main goals: building excitement for and knowledge of the book, as well as convincing our target audience to buy it. To do this, we had to understand who exactly our target audience encompassed (both TED and non-TED fans alike, as well as people who in general harboured an interest in Singaporean culture), and the general trend of promotion strategies these days. We suggested specific ideas for a few types of videos to be published on YouTube, as well as the building of communities, a text platform or bot, and much more which was surfaced during the discussion at our third business meeting. Our group (including our mentors) being so diverse allowed for a very enriching discussion, and being tech-savvy ourselves, we knew how to maximise the features of social media. However, we were less experienced with analog methods and hence did not propose as many. Our main idea was a bookstore event to officially launch the book.

4. TEDxS Event @ National Gallery

On 18 Jan, Saturday, we attended a TEDxS-hosted event at the National Gallery, centred around the theme of art and its place in Singapore today. Apart from helping with pre-event logistics and ticketing, we also took part in some of the community discussions, and sat in during the panel discussion session to gain some insights from our experienced local artists.

Record of results

For confidentiality, we cannot release excerpts of the book or its content. However, attached are my personal designs for the book:

3 skills learnt

1. Design thinking and empathy. Through this attachment, I learned the importance of taking on other people’s viewpoints in creating a final product. Similar to how TEDx aims to make ideas and knowledge widely available to its audience, we have to understand multiple perspectives in order to make our final product more accessible and appealing to the public. In engaging in field and online research, we could look through different lenses to obtain valuable insights to design the best book (and launch) possible.

2. People skills. In a community-centric organisation such as TEDx, interaction with people is the key to reaching out. It is important to exercise open-mindedness and clear communication, being patient and working as a team to achieve our shared goal. When faced with criticism or failure of a certain idea, we should open our eyes to discussion and novel ideas to overcome obstacles that we may not have seen on our own. Interacting well with others is key in forming good working relationships and naturally enjoying one’s work.

3. Spontaneity. In the working world, a lot of bumps in the road are unexpected. Be it a smaller-scale presentation or a last minute mishap at a larger-scale event, we need to think on our feet and be open to switching paths if the original one does not work as intended.

2 interesting aspects of my learning

1. All the work is conducted on an entirely non-profit basis. TEDxS does not aim to profit off the talks and videos, and funds from events are used to support even more TEDxS community initiatives. Volunteers are the ones keeping the organisation running as they have office jobs in the day. It was really touching realising these people around us (especially at the event) truly had passion for their cause and were willing to spend their free time reaching out to others and building the ideas community.

2. There is no one main demographic of TEDxS; the spread of ideas reaches people of all ages and races. At the event, entire families and people of different backgrounds gathered to talk about art. Upon viewing TEDxS’s videos, there are local children, middle-aged migrant workers and elderly speaking. The inclusiveness of this growing community is exceptionally important in Singapore’s context today, not only proving we truly are a melting pot, but that all of us can interact harmoniously to grow, learn, and teach others together.

1 takeaway for life

People are all vastly different and that is the complex yet beautiful nature of humanity. Working with TEDxS has opened my eyes to many new ideas and perspectives, discussing issues I never knew about previously. Without these different ways of life, I never would have learned about what a wide, wide world we live in. Differences are often overlooked in hopes of avoiding conflict, but I think they are what make us so uniquely human. However, TEDxS has made me believe otherwise. From working with different people, for example traditionalists and innovators we met on our month-long journey, to listening to stories all over the world, everyone has their own mind and knowledge meant to be shared. In the conventional working world, it is hard to realise everyone else clocking a 9-to-5 has such a vibrant life of their own. However, going out and really engaging with people really opens one’s eyes to our individuality as humans and how powerful and life-changing our potential really is. It is through this potential that we share and develop new solutions, ideas, opinions, and possibilities. It is through these possibilities that we change minds and touch hearts. It is through the touching of one person that leads to changing the world.