Events
TEDxSantaCruz seeking speakers for April 25 “Radical Collaboration”
(Contributed)
January 22, 2015 – Santa Cruz, CA
Taking Nominations
Organizers for TEDxSantaCruz 2015: Radical Collaboration are taking nominations for speakers and a handful of performing artists to participate in its annual daylong live event Friday, April 24, 2015 at the Rio Theater, 9am – 4pm.
TED’s well-known acronym for the globally acclaimed conference stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. Last year’s event, held at Hotel Paradox to sold out crowd of nearly 500, featured 22 speakers and performing artists curated around the theme: Activate.
TEDx is a locally organized event licensed by TED with the mission to seek out and provide a platform for “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Selected speakers are provided a stage on which to share their ideas in a tightly curated 4-18 minute talk.
Theme: Radical Collaboration
This year’s theme, Radical Collaboration, is meant to inspire local makers, doers and thinkers to consider “the root of working together” in unusual, fascinating and unique ways.
“We’d like to consider collaboration in as many different ways as possible —and we might argue that if we don’t figure out how to more radically collaborate, the 7-soon-to-be-10 billion people on this planet are going to suffer some substantial consequences in the very near future,” said organizer Irene Tsouprake. “What’s breaking down, what’s being created, who’s doing what, where? How? Collaboration could pertain to the microbiome and gut bacteria, or a multifaceted approach to treating cancer through personalized medicine. It could pertain to jazz musicians and the way they riff. It could pertain to community activism and the way we work together to solve seemingly intractable problems. What does it mean to our community?” she continued. “We’re eager to find out! The thing people need to understand about TED and TEDx is that this is a forum for great, innovative, exciting ideas. There are plenty of other platforms for storytelling, and narrative is certainly a part of any TED talk. But your talk must serve a clear idea that you get us all excited about.”
TEDxSantaCruz is reaching out to multiple constituencies in the city and county. There is currently an effort at UCSC to reach out to faculty, alumni, students and staff. TEDxSantaCruz organizers recently held a launch party at Hotel Paradox where over 30 prospective speakers each gave a 2 minute video pitch. Organizers are continuing to reach out across the county, and encourage Santa Cruzans not to be self conscious or shy about nominating themselves or others to speak by going to www.tedxsantacruz.com.
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