by Sophie Cairns, MiM 2018
TEDxLondonBusinessSchool was something I wanted to get involved in from the moment I joined LBS. With a background in theatre, I have always had a passion for live events, and wanted to work on a TEDx conference for some time. I applied at the beginning of the year, was selected to lead the Communications team in November, and have since been obsessing over it.
TEDxLondonBusinessSchool is such an exciting project to work on. Every year we invite 16 speakers to comment on a central theme – this year’s being Resilience. The combined brand power of TED and LBS means we have been able to attract speakers who are leaders in their fields in the UK and abroad. We also give students the opportunity to speak through the aptly named TEDxFactor scheme. After a grueling set of auditions, we picked one MiM and two MBA’s to grace our stage on May 4th.
One of the most exciting aspects for me is that my mum – Ann Cairns – is one of our speakers. She is going to touch on her time as acting CEO of Lehman Brothers after the 2008 recession to teach us something about Resilience. I was only 14 at the time of the crash and didn’t understand too much about it, so it will certainly bring a new perspective on that era and the work that my mum was doing.
My role as head of Communications is to work with a graphic designer to create this year’s logo and look, coordinate our social media and advertising activity, and ultimately sell tickets. The most interesting challenge is reigning audiences in, communicating the unique value of the conference in light of everything else they could be doing with their time and money. Our graphic designer, a student from UCL, has created a striking and memorable look around the Resilience theme, which has propelled our social media and sales.
We’re now in the final month leading up to the conference (scary!) and the team is getting more and more excited. We can’t wait to see it all come together on the day.
For more information on the event and speakers please head to tedxlondonbusinessschool.co.uk.
