EdTalks with UKTV

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#EdTalks was a lively and inspiring event held at the Overseas League on Thursday evening, where enthusiastic telly people came together to listen to four inspirational speakers, with proceeds going towards The Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival's various talent schemes. The evening began with an hour of networking, where I was delighted to find myself mixing amongst a cocktail of many talents and experiences - from floor managers, to development researchers, from presenters, to office assistants, from festival organisers, to director/journalists. And that was before the event began!

Hosted by TV comedian Ben Miller we were treated to inspirational talks from future mayoral candidate Ivan Massow, enthusiastic space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, controversial BBC3 presenter Stacey Dooley and TV inventor and family man Tom Lawton. There was also a great live freestyle performance from Soweto who took 5 words, 'women, galaxy, social, (points for the forth - I blame the wine) and EdTalks' and worked them into a rap/saxophone extravaganza.

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Ivan talked about how he wanted to encourage diversity in the capital and bring economic and cultural diversity back into the centre. He says at the moment we are heading towards becoming like Geneva, with the elite owning the centre and the less well-off, inhabit the outer realms 'the doughnut' as he calls it. I'm all for bringing affordable housing back into London's centre just as long as he sticks by his other promise of protecting the green belt! Myself and my peers have all been pushed out to live in London's suburbs, feeling pushed out from the big city and it was nice to hear that someone at the top was recognising the need to change this! Ivan didn't shy away from the politically shadier moments of his past either, growing up in care, turning to alcoholism, being gay - things that politicians usually leave in the closet. Instead Ivan embraced it, made it part of his campaign and he championed the need to support entrepreneurship, innovation and ambition which, with the subjects that followed, could come in very handy for his vote count.

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Next up was the absolutely wonderful Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock - probably one of the most energetic and genuinely funny women (I am a woman) I've ever heard speak. It was like coming home to the kitchen tap after a long holiday and turning the water back on - being faced with that un-hindered power as the air pockets are forced out. She was an absolute delight. Maggie tells us of how excited she is by science. She showed us a picture of a space we have only ever seen as black. Through image enhancement, she shares the reveal that in fact, there are hundreds/thousands of lights in that black space and each one of them is a galaxy in our universe. She tells us that she believes that there must be other life out there - not necessarily the little green men we all expect - not the daleks we all have nightmares about - but there must be life. The universe is so huge! I want Maggie to have her own science show. She made us laugh and her enthusiasm for science and its place in our world, and for encouraging young girls to follow their dreams, was just infectious. She's definitely made it to my hypothetical celeb dinner party scenario from now on.

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Next was Luton's own Stacey Dooley. I hadn't even heard of Stacey before and at first I wasn't really sure which side of the fence to sit on when it came to her journalistic style. Faced with genuine high-risk problems she is often placed in situations where producers know she'll give an emotive response. A clip she showed us at the event threw me even more towards the fence, an extremist march in Luton, where I was waiting to hear both sides go at it. It came, but it just wasn't the intellectual battle I wanted, I didn't LEARN from the encounter - only that maybe 'I can do what I want' isn't the most intellectual/argument-winning phrase. I think it was unfortunate that the line made it to the final cut but then I enjoyed the honesty of that. Upon getting home I watched the rest of the episode and it actually changed my opinion of the piece completely. I want to watch more of her work now, and with her upcoming 6min features online, I'll be sure to. Presenting aside, her talk was just as inspiring as the rest - encouraging us all to go out there and try new things and say things. She is humble about her journey into the industry and her go-get-it attitude really was infectious. She is friendly, funny and charming to listen to, which I suppose stands her in good stead for the relationships she builds up quickly with contributors. I particularly enjoyed the third clip she showed us, referring to the main contributor as 'my mate brown' a teenage girl and young offender who shares an emotional encounter with Stacey. Another episode I'll have to watch in full - ok, maybe I'm not on the fence after all. I might just be swaying towards enjoying it! Another great talk!

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Finally, we heard Tom Lawton, who spoke of the advancement in Virtual Reality technology and his place in its journey. He also shared his philosophy on how he thinks TV SHOULD work, and what it might perhaps be like someday. He shared that TV will inevitably become more immersive and 3D isn't immersive enough for our audience - which might explain its inability to maintain interest - we need more! Tom has created a 360 degree camera called Bubblescope, that allows us all to capture a unique moment as an experience, rather than just a framed image, and the app that comes with it, 'Bubblepix' allows us to share it instantly. Framed images, Tom believes are cutting out the beauty of neutrality and empathy and forcing our hand at telling a particular story. He tells of a friend's comment on the fall of Sadame Hussain's statue, when he realised that all of the TV cameras were filming from the same direction, to show one side of the story. Only Al Jazeera filmed it differently, before being shut down by the Americans. He also told us about how he believes that TVs in our living rooms will need to be more than a VR headset. We enjoy the social aspect of television, and VR needs to embrace that. We'll have 360 experiences just like Bubblecam, in our own living rooms, not so far in the future, with projections surrounding us on all four walls. He was fascinating to listen to and with youtube and facebook opening up their outputs to include 360degree shareable video, Tom got me thinking about how my content in the future will have to live up to this new, emerging immersive culture.

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Television is changing. It is adapting to the world around it. Ivan told us of the importance of entrepreneurship and diversity. Maggie told us of family, of reaching for the stars (literally) and of women needing role models. Stacey told us of how BBC3 is moving online and how her presenting style and aptitude for dividing opinion isn't necessarily a thing to shy away from, in fact it's helped her career (perhaps something our commissioners could note). Tom told us of how we are venturing into a new immersive world, where TV will need to adapt to reflect the honesty/empathy of its content, in more ways than we can imagine. 

EdTalks was a fantastic event, and one where we can take away the messages of its speakers and apply it to our industry. Edinburgh TV Festival embraces this growing immersive and diversified culture and it will be people like those that attend GEITF, who will emerge as the real game-changers. I can't wait for the festival later this year. A great evening with huge thanks to UKTV and GEITF.