An astonishing 72 hours at TOM conference (video)

My previous post was about the TOM conference at Swinburne University. That post was a written description of the conference provided by the media department at the University. This post is about my experience at a conference with a link to a television report on the conference.

I have been to many conferences and always come away invigorated and with lots of new ideas to put into practice. Never have I been to a conference like this one. To visit each table and see the enthusiasm and creativity that each team was bringing to its particular challenge was truly inspiring.

To see the delight on the faces of those whose challenge was met was so moving that I was brought to tears.

Tikkun Olan Makers (“TOM” for short) means “Repair the World” through makers working directly with those with a disability to help them overcome a challenge we may have. At first sight that goal may seem far too audacious or unrealistic. You would have only had to spend a few hours at the Swinburne University TOM conference to realise that repairing the world is well underway already!

Congratulations to Soon Lye on a superbly well organised and orchestrated 72 hours. I can only guess at the immense amount of time he personally invested in the conference before, during and after those 72 hours of TOM.

The conference was featured on the recent episode of ABC’s Australia Wide. You can view it on iview at the address below. You are looking for the segment called Melbourne Makerthon. It is available until December 30, 2016.

http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/australia-wide/NU1601H046S00