[TEDxCapeTown] Opening the mind to access ideas

The day kicked off with MC Siv Ngesi getting the crowd going for some insightful talks. First up was spoken-word poet, Kyle Louw, who had the audience captivated with his poems. He engaged in the topics of social media mentality and the way we revolve around our smartphones and technology, which had me close to putting my smartphone away.

Ian McCallum, psychiatrist, analytical psychologist and a specialist wilderness guide, took us through some of the impact we're having on wildlife and why we can't seem to take care of those who are voiceless. He questioned "if we can't take care of the big things (elephants), how will we ever look after the small things?" He also used poems in his presentation to really capture the emotion of the control humans have on this earth. But, as he said, "if the human species disappeared, who would miss us? Maybe your dog for a little while, definitely not your cat."

Braam Malherbe, motivational speaker, explorer and climate-change activist, told us about some of his amazing accomplishments, such as running the Great Wall of China and doing the equivalent of a marathon a day. Malherbe will be starting a mobile app next year called #dot - Do One Thing. The app challenges citizens of the world to do one thing in their day to help save the planet.

Heather Tuffin is an amazing woman who has been involved in improving the complex healthcare system and has so far reduced the mortality rate by 30%. She spoke about the difficulties in doing this along with raising two teenagers. As she says, when it comes to children, "it's the small, consistently repeated acts of love that win the hearts of our children."

After a short break, it was back to the talks where project coordinator at Community Organisation Resources Center (CORC), Sizwe Mxobo, gave an emotional and powerful presentation on informal settlements. CORC deals with readdressing how to deal with the challenges faced when it comes to improving a settlement. His talk was titled Why do we have to move out, and touched on his background coming from an informal settlement and the challenges his mother faced when asked to relocate away from her community when construction was to be done in the area they lived. He showed us examples of Flamingo Park, and how CORC managed to brighten the area with help from the community, providing them with toilets, running water and a community centre for the children. As he says, when it comes to government officials asking people to move, "we all want to be approached with dignity."

The room started getting a little heated when Marlene Wasserman, also known as Dr Eve, took to the stage to speak about cyber infidelity, a trend she's started picking up on in sessions with her clients. She spoke about how difficult relationships are becoming in this day and age, as it's so easy for partners to enter online relationships. Staying with the relationship topic, psychologist Myrna Lewis took us through some of the steps regarding conflict, and how not being heard is a painful experience that can have dire consequences.

Solar eclipse chaser, Marek Dziembowski, expanded our horizons by telling us his experiences of finding festivals that celebrate the eclipse around the world, and urged the audience to look into it and join the festivities next year.

Things started getting technical after the second break, with Jill Farrant taking us through the science of resurrection plants. This amazing breakthrough in plant biology allows the plant to come back to life after complete desiccation, and is an important discovery as she mentions how the world will become more vulnerable to droughts in the future.

From finding ways to save plants on earth, we were taken on a theoretical space odyssey by Adriana Marais, who is one of the hopefuls in the Mars100 programme, an initiative that hopes to blast off on a one-way mission to the red planet. Adriana is a Quantum Biologist and gave us a rundown on some of the scientific astrobiological space discoveries. She said she's often asked why she wants to do this and says "because that's what we do, we expand our world through the realisation of our dreams." Give that woman a Bells!

Imagine, if you will, cycling through Africa from north to south, because that's exactly what Canadian-born Kelsey Wiens did. She expanded on her adventure from Cairo into South Africa, and touched on the sense of community that she witnessed in many of the African countries. Through this she spoke about trust, and why we have trouble trusting one another. This pin-pointed the theme 'Open. Access. Control' that people need to be open to the idea of trust.

Heading towards the last session of the day, we were presented with two ordinary criminals, Myrtle Clarke and Jules Stobbs, better known as the Dagga Couple. They spoke about how they were interrogated in their house and then imprisoned after being found in possession of cannabis, and how this sparked the fight in them to take the situation of legalisation to court. They said that the law banning cannabis is the last apartheid law in our constitution and one that should be relooked at in this day and age.

Lastly, Vinny Lingham gave his two cents on Bitcoin, the online money that's been on a rollercoaster ride since its inception. Having started in 2008, Lingham explained how many of these companies deal with issues, and once they sort out the solutions to these problems, Bitcoin may be a viable option for digital money transaction.

Kyle Louw, who started off the show, ended the show with another spoken poem. He touched on all the insecurities and rights and wrongs in this day and age that people feel, even bringing up how much better 90s hip hop is, and after each phase he had the audience shouting "End of Discussion," once again, every one seemed pretty blown away.

All in all I think everyone would agree that TEDxCapeTown 2015 was a success, which even got #TEDxCT trending on Twitter over Loeries weekend, and was being live-streamed around the world. There was a wide range of topics that many found interesting throughout the day, along with foot-stomping musical performances. TEDxCapeTown did a stellar job and had the audience involved, intrigued and enlightened. End of discussion.

*Accenture South Africa has partnered with TEDxCapeTown in 2015 to ensure #IdeasWorthSpreading

About TEDx, x=independently organised event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self organised events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.

These local, self-organised events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organised TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organised.*

About TED

TED is a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world. We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. On TED.com, we're building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world's most inspired thinkers - and a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other, both online and at TED and TEDx events around the world, all year long.