New York isn’t quite a galaxy far, far away, but just in case Todd Scott took a wookie along for the trip. And, of course, some humorous tips for using an automatic external defibrillator (AED).
Todd brought his light-hearted take on AEDs to TEDx Winnipeg in 2015. A few months later, Todd was watching A Force Awakens when he found himself filled with a new hope – or at any rate, a new idea – where are the AEDs on the Death Star? These thoughts led to a video: “Complications of using an AED in the Star Wars Universe.” Todd used the video to apply to TED@NYC and found a welcoming audience.
“One of the guys in the audience is a hardcore fan of Star Wars,” Todd recalls. “I would put an image up and … you would just hear this intense laugh. He’s laughing before I’m saying anything because he’s seeing the images and he’s like, ‘Oh I know where he’s going with this’.”
TED@NYC has a small audience of less than 200, but it has big potential for speakers. The event is an “idea search” – the audience is made up of TED staff looking for speakers to showcase at TED conferences. One of Todd’s fellow presenters, Ashton Applewhite, is now on the program for TED2017.
So what do AEDs have to do with Star Wars? “It’s getting it ingrained where if there is an emergency, someone falls unconscious, you grab the AED,” says Todd. “If you have an image that pops in someone’s head [it helps them remember]. So if you think of using an AED on a baby and you think of Yoda…if somebody starts yelling out ‘Yoda’ in the middle of saving a baby then my job is successful.”
Todd’s talk was recorded for the TEDx website and published on April 12, a day that has a lot of meaning for him. “April 12 was the day my dad died. He died 40 years ago this year, and this is the year I’m going to be the same age as my dad [was when he died]. Our birthdays are a day apart…He was born on the evening of the 11th; I was born the morning of the 12.”
Watch Todd Scott at TED@NYC to learn how to use an AED in the Star Wars universe.
