Making the world a better place with your ideas might seem difficult, but on Sunday, 15 speakers from 10 countries will gather at one place in the city to talk about how this can be achieved. Chennai’s third TEDx event will have a set of inspiring speakers to talk on the theme “Life by Design”.
Technology, Entertainment, Design or TED talks are popular the world over since they began in 1984. Since 2000, the conferences have had more reach through the internet. Noting their popularity, the non-profit organisation allowed individual cities to host their own TED-like talks, or TED x, where x stands for “an independently organised TED event”.
Actor Gautami Tadimalla will represent Chennai at the conference. She says, “Although the theme of the event is Life by Design, I have observed that in my life, nothing has gone by design. That is what I will be speaking about. I’m excited to share my story.” Technology entrepreneur, speaker and author Prabakaran Murugaiah, will speak about his journey from “Ambasamudram to America”. He will share the story of a boy who grew up in a village near Tirunelveli, and is now creating and supplying jobs to thousands of people.
Apart from them, speakers include chief rockstar officer Kristi Staab, acting coach Romeo Vasquez Jr, multi-platinum songwriter Jana Stanfield, master fire-walk instructor Carol Talbot, success coach Mykola Latansky, Chennai-based life coach Puja Gupta and multifaceted personality Caroline Rochon. Dr Sergio Sedas, Jane Ransom, Neel Raman, Jill Dourka, Nazee, Seema Kohli, Joyce Rommelar and Sawan Kapur too will speak at the conference.
Addressing the media at a press conference, Kiruba Shankar, the licensee and curator of TEDx Chennai, gave a brief history of TED and how TEDx events came about thanks to TED curator Chris Anderson. “In the past two and a half years, over 4500 places have had their own events. It is a way of fostering learning, inspiration and wonder, and to provoke conversations that matter,” he said.
Member of the host committee, Samuel Eddy, said, “When we had our first event in IIT in 2009, it was packed – an auditorium meant to hold 300 people had 400 people. This time we have increased the capacity and expect 1,200 people to attend.” He also spoke about the three months of preparation that went into each of the 18-minute-long talks that the delegates will be giving.
The TEDx event will be held at Lady Andal Auditorium, Harrington Road, Chetpet, on September 30. Tickets are available online at Rs 5,000 and `3,000.