Last year, Emma Bruns proved that if you have an interesting idea, it’s all you need to be on the TEDxAmsterdam stage. Only 22 at the time, Emma is a medical resident who charmed the audience not only with her stunning red dress, but also with her simple yet clever idea to memorize important medical procedures with music. By playing a classic Dutch children’s song “Op een Onbewoond Eiland“, accompanied by first aid lyrics on what to do when someone is having an heart attack, this unorthodox method turned the audience all smiles.
“It was wonderful to see that the idea that I came up with and videotaped in my attic in the middle of the night got so many people interested”, says Emma. “After my talk I have been in touch with some wonderful people. Olivier van den Eynde for example, who I met during the break. We didn’t only discuss my TEDxAmsterdam talk, but also Stichting M.O.E.T.: a charity that helps build schools in South-Africa and that I am now personally involved in. On the spot he promised to donate a bunch of computers, and he kept his word.”
“That’s the one thing I’ll remember from TEDxAmsterdam: the great atmosphere where it’s not about where you come from or what you do, but about what your ideas are and about how you want to realise them.”
It didn’t stop there though, Emma also met Hans Nijenhuis (chief editor NRC Media) through Yasha Lange (chief editor of De Groene Amsterdammer). These meetings ended in Emma now writing a monthly column for the daily nrc.next ,and inspired her to start writing her first, yet to be published, children’s book. “It was the energy, talking with such a mixed crowd and hearing different perspectives on a wide variety of topics that inspired me greatly. After my medical internship I will get back to my idea and make it work,” promises Emma.
TEDxAmsterdam is all about putting the right people together to create opportunities; and we love stories like this. Do you have your own TEDxAmsterdam success story that we should know about? Please share them with us by emailing sasha@tedxamsterdam.nl
See Emma’s talk below (only 3 minutes)
TEDxAmsterdam: Emma Bruns on Melody Memories from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.
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