Jaime Martínez de Velasco, student of the double bilingual licentiate degree Law and Economics, is the organizer of TEDxUniversidaddeNavarra. In this interview he tells us what this event is about; and how the whole organization has been carried out, in which 12 students from Schools of Law, Economics and Communication have participated.

Where did the idea of launching TEDxUniversidaddeNavarra come from?

Iñigo Navarro-Rubio (6th grade Law + Economics bilingual and student delegate) and I knew about TED conferences, but we saw it as something unattainable. We didn't think it was something we could participate in. But, this summer, I was interning at an agency advertising and one of our jobs was a advertisement for a lecture TED; and then I learned about project TEDx. It consists in that TED provides licenses to all those local initiatives that want to organize a lecture with the same TED spirit. We started to think that we could organize such an event at the University. And in September, we decided.

How has the whole process been?

The licence was requested by Iñigo, as delegate, in October.

The next step was to find support within the University. From the very first moment, Fundación business and the Entrepreneurs Club joined the initiative. We have felt very supported.

Having found this support from the University, the next step was to look for the equipment. The truth is that it was a difficult and easy task at the same time. We had to find people with the right profile ; but it was easy because the response was immediately very positive from everyone. I am lucky to have lived in Torre II (Belagua) and there I have met many people, so I was proposing them to join the organization, and either they did it or they proposed me to other people... and that's how the team was formed. Melanie and Juan, for example, I didn't know them... It became a word of mouth, and people started to join. 

Why topic Shaking the Ordinary?

Our goal is to bring people who are a little out of the ordinary, who make us students dream. We hope that the speakers we have invited will show us that we can do great things in our daily lives, bring that little special touch, that little spark to our daily lives.

What is the difference between TEDxUniversidaddeNavarra and other TEDx events?

To begin with, the topic seems to me to be a differentiator: how to turn every day into something special, and bring in people to give us hints on how to do it.

Something also very distinctive is the team. The organization of the event is being a marvel because the team is very good and works with great enthusiasm.

I think this is a differentiator, but we are the only ones who experience and notice it: it is not visible; externally it is a TEDx like any other: the licence is the same; the underlying spirit, the spirit of TED, is the same?

What does it bring to the university community (students, professors, professionals...)?

Ideas of illusion, initiative, drive and entrepreneurship. We want TEDxUniversidaddeNavarra to be something inspiring for everyone. Already in the first meetings we set a series of instructions, which we believed were essential for our product to be good and not get lost along the way. In these two months many things have happened, it has been necessary to make many decisions that have led us down one path or another; and we wanted the instructions to be very clear. The main thing, what we intend to do by organizing this event is that everything that happens on the evening of the 19th inspires, makes us think and propose things. At any level. Shaking the ordinary is within everyone's reach.