TEDxNewy, Ideas Worth Spreading In Newcastle & Beyond

by Nick Turner on October 27, 2011

Born from the simple thought of wanting to share with the world the clever and creative side of Newcastle, TEDxNewy will be staged in just over two weeks time. The brainchild of proud Novocastrian Siobhan Curran, TEDxNewy is an independent event that discusses ideas worth spreading.

For those of you that perhaps don’t know exactly what TED is, here’s a little rundown for you:

• TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design.
• It is an event that allows ideas to be discussed, spread and acted upon.
• TED originally started in California, 1984.
• Speakers have included Bill Clinton, Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown and Jamie Oliver, as well as numerous other leading professionals and Nobel Prize recipients.
• The TED idea has now spread, with independently organised events being conducted all around the world.

So now you know what TED is all about, what can you expect from TEDxNewy?

Well, it will be a collaboration of leading Novocastrian and Hunter Valley thinkers, visionaries and storytellers who will showcase some of the ideas that they believe are worth talking about. The theme for the event is ‘shock of the new’ and aims to not only focus on new thinking locally, but also at a global level.

Some of the confirmed speakers include:

• Marcus Westbury - Renew Newcastle and Renew Australia.
• Julie Baird - Deputy Director of the Newcastle Museum.
• Tim Silverwood - Environmentalist, fresh from visiting the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
• Conor Ashleigh - Photographer and Visual Storyteller.
• Dave Robertson and Silas Moss - The Naked Runners (Don’t worry, it’s not what you think!).

TEDxNewy will be held on Saturday 12 November at the Civic Playhouse. Unfortunately, tickets for the event have all been allocated, but if you’re still keen to catch all the action from the event, head along to City Hall where there will be a live webstream in the Mulubinba Room. Talks will also be uploaded to the TEDxNewy website after the event.

This is an incredibly exciting venture and one that will most definitely highlight Newcastle on the world map. It truly is an idea worth spreading.

For more information about the event, take a look at their website.