Enrich Your Brain: Top Multidisciplinary Conferences
Multi-disciplinary conferences give attendees and speakers the chance to share and absorb ideas from across the academic platforms. Innovative thoughts which can change the world often come from a blend of disciplines and there are plenty of conferences to choose from across the globe where talkers share their experiences. These events enrich your mind with ideas and actions which may transcend your usual subject area. Here’s a look at some of the best multi-disciplinary conferences.
Do Lectures
The Do Lectures are held each year in Wales with the tagline ‘Ideas Change Everything’. The events are very small with only 100 attendee tickets available. The concept behind the lectures is that those who already ‘do’ things can inspire others to go and ‘do’ things themselves and speakers hail from a range of backgrounds, from farming to science to writing to nursing and much more.
PINC
PINC is an acronym of People Ideas Nature Creativity. The PINC conference is held in the Netherlands and has been going strong since 1999. The event usually sees around 16 talkers who come from a remarkably diverse set of backgrounds. Their inspirational stories are supported by unique and unforgettable visuals and demonstrations. These talkers are guaranteed to inspire innovative and creative thinking in listeners.
GEL
GEL simply stands for ‘Good Experience Live’ and is a yearly event held in New York. GEL aims to combine ideas and thoughts from across the disciplines, including business, design and technology, to create a richer conference experience. GEL has hosted speakers who have done some incredible things, including Craig Newmark of Craigslist fame and was also the debut speaking stage for Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia. The conference includes field trips, workshops and tours across New York City.
TED X
The Ted X Events are one of the most famous sets of multi-disciplinary conferences and carry the tag line ‘Ideas Worth Spreading’. The biggest one is the TED Conference, which is usually held in California each year. There is also a sister event, TED Global, which is held in Edinburgh each year. Initially the talkers hailed from a Technology, Entertainment or Design (TED) perspective but now they come from an even wider range of bases. Talkers from every discipline, including science, the arts, business and world development, now meet to engage and inspire attendees. The concept behind the events is that good ideas need to be shared to improve people’s lives and the world at large.
99U Conference
This is a unique conference which uses Edison’s famous phrase “genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” to explore the tales behind the ideas. Rather than discuss what happened from the time an idea came into development, speakers describe the events which resulted in it and how they brought the idea into being. With the tagline ‘Making Ideas Happen’, the events, held in each year in New York, are intended to help innovative thinkers bring their ideas to fruition.
Anyone considering hosting a multi-disciplinary conference can be inspired by the stories behind these events. Venues such as The Foresight Centre provide an ideal platform for the exchange of refreshing ideas from a range of disciplines.
The world is full of fresh and innovative thinkers and doers hailing from every walk of live. These multi-disciplinary events provide a platform for them to share their experiences with eager listeners.
This article was contributed by Lloyd, a freelance blogger and writer, on behalf of the University of Liverpool.