Marriott hosts annual TED Fellows Salon in Singapore

A novel partnership between Marriott Hotels and TED is bringing unique presentations and talks to key Marriott properties across the globe.

The format allows Marriott guests at the host property to attend a special in-house TED event, while Marriott Bonvoy members anywhere in the world can listen in through a live streaming channel.

Now Marriott plans to take it a step further by adding the experience to the growing roster of Marriott Bonvoy Moments for which members can bid and redeem their points to attend a range of events in sports, arts, culture and entertainment.

The concept is being trialled with a one-day workshop on The Art of Storytelling, which saw 20 Marriott Bonvoy members take part in an interactive program learning how to craft their own TED Talk.

Led by Briar Goldberg, TED’s Director of Speaker Coaching, the masterclass puts participants through TED's custom-developed training programming in order to develop their own stories into a TED-worthy presentation.

Meanwhile, a global tour of Marriott TED Fellows Salons hosted at Singapore's Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel in October this year focused on Creativity and Thinking Outside the Box – an essential skill for any entrepreneur or executive.

One of the TED Fellows speaking at the event was Andrew Pelling, an award-winning scientist whose lab tackles complex and unexpected projects - like creating human body parts made from plants and growing living skins on LEGO blocks.

Pelling’s work is, by nature, an extreme example of thinking outside the box, pioneering new techniques for growing tissue that seem fantastical and unlikely. His study of biophysics also combines skills from many different disciplines, including art, science and engineering.

TED Fellows Andrew Pelling (left) and Hiromi Ozaki (right) at Singapore's Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel.

Hiromi Ozaki, an artist creating music, film and multimedia installations who is better known by her pseudonym Sputniko!, joined Pelling to discuss the social and ethical implications of emerging technologies and how they impact people, culture and society.

The thought-provoking Singapore event drew a crowd of over 200 Marriott Bonvoy members, local creative entrepreneurs, VIPs, MBA students and media.

The writer travelled to Singapore as a guest of Marriott.

James Fordham

James has been interested in aviation ever since his first flight. When he’s not travelling, he’s still on the road indulging his motoring hobby, or trying a new whisky.