Flore Desal (E19), Founder of TEDxESSEC: “We Help New Ideas Emerge Within our Community”

Three years ago, Flore Desal (E19) launched TEDxESSEC, a licensed event inspired by the famous Ted Talks, in an effort to promote innovative and inspiring ideas among the ESSEC community. Today, her event is taking on a whole new dimension. She tells us how, a few months out from the next TEDxESSEC.

ESSEC Alumni: Can you tell us about TEDxESSEC?

Flore Desal: The project is supported by Initiatives, the association that promotes entrepreneurship at ESSEC. Our team received a TEDxUniversity license from the TED Foundation, which means that we can host events inspired by the TED philosophy to promote ambitious, inspiring ideas. Once every year, we invite ten speakers to present the way they see the world in a ten-minute talk, as part of an evening event on campus. Then we post videos of their talks on YouTube to boost our impact and visibility.

EA: Why did you decide to start TEDxESSEC?

F. Desal: In a school where the students are all from a very similar sociodemographic background, it can be easy to stay in our comfort zones and take our opinions as universal truths. TEDxESSEC helps new ideas emerge within our community.
The event is also a chance to bring our alumni, students, professors, and management together to enjoy an out-of-the-ordinary experience.
Lastly, it’s the perfect excuse to showcase some of our students and graduates with remarkable stories to tell: we have already invited seven of them to talk since our launch (see box below).

EA: How did the first two TEDxESSECs go?

F. Desal: First, it’s important to expect the unexpected and be resourceful: speakers can let you down right at the last minute, especially if they are travelling on the RER A train line...
And then, contrary to what I used to think, it isn’t so easy to promote ideas that are truly audacious and avant-garde. It takes a lot of effort not to choose speakers that are too one-sided.

EA: You were recently invited to TED Women in Palm Springs, California. Why was that important for TEDxESSEC?

F. Desal: Up to now, our TEDx license allowed us to hold events for an audience of up to 100. We had to take part in a TED event to remove this cap and develop our brand. This means the 2019 event will be bigger. We aim to increase the size of the audience six-fold by filling ESSEC’s main lecture theatre.

EA: What was on the agenda at TED Women?

F. Desal: Participants had access to four days of talks and workshops on the theme of “Showing Up”. The idea was to show the thousands of ways that women today take ownership, innovate, surprise, and reinvent themselves in the many facets of their everyday lives.

EA: What were the highlights of the event for you?

F. Desal: I really enjoyed the chance to talk to organisers of other TEDx events all over the world. Indonesians, Canadians, Russians, Brazilians... And then the first speaker at TED Women made a particular impact. Tarana Burke, who founded the Me Too movement 25 years ago, told us about her weariness and confusion towards a movement that she created, but which she thinks has lost its identity when reduced to a hashtag. Her courage and dignity were a real inspiration for me.

EA: What did you learn?

F. Desal: With 48 speakers from all different backgrounds, a huge variety of subjects were discussed. We learnt that our future depends on quantum computing, that the sloth is a model of virtue in our frantically paced societies, that colour can bring a dilapidated neighbourhood back to life, and that gender is about more than a binary choice between male and female.

EA: TED Women has a major focus on gender equality. What did you learn that you can use in your own life?

F. Desal: By giving a platform to remarkable women, TED Women reminds us what is possible through perseverance and ambition. Personally, I left the event feeling energised and believing that anything is possible.

EA: Do you think that ESSEC does well in that aspect?

F. Desal: I don’t remember hearing about gender equality while at ESSEC, so yes, I think that ESSEC can do more. The gender equality issues (pay gap, underrepresentation in senior posts, etc.) often come up in the public discussion, but more could be said about the reasons behind them. ESSEC should encourage its students to debate these issues. However, it is possible that women at ESSEC don’t feel affected by the issue, being rightly or wrongly reassured by the value of an ESSEC degree. Furthermore, ESSEC Alumni regularly tells us about our alumni’s great careers, showing that no doors are closed to ambitious young female graduates.

EA: After TED Women, what are the next steps to develop TEDxESSEC?

F. Desal: First and foremost, we want to make the event more professional by making it bigger. If we can fill a lecture theatre, we need to up our game to maintain the prestige and excellence of both the TED and ESSEC brands. This means we will take special care in preparing our speakers, offering them training tailored to the new format and the challenges it brings. And we are going to work hard to make our TEDx a real experience for the audience, something far more than a series of talks.

EA: When is the next event? And what is on the agenda?

F. Desal: The new team, led by Jérémy Lemercier (E21), has already secured partnerships, in particular with Opal Corporate Hospitality, a Vinci subsidiary whose CEO is Julien Jamois (I06). Now we need to choose the theme, develop an outline, and contact speakers that match our ambitions. The event should take place in late May/early June, like our previous events.
TEDxESSEC is also about to be exported to Asia! A team of students – who I advise when they need it – is currently working on an offshoot of our event on the Singapore campus. The project is still awaiting official confirmation from TED, but it’s something to keep your eye on.

EA: How can ESSEC support your project?

F. Desal: It’s very easy: follow us, join us, donate, and spread the word!

Interview by Louis Armengaud Wurmser (E10), ESSEC Alumni Content Manager

Illustration : © TED Women