SPEAKERS CONFIRMED! INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER, THEME, TICKETS ON SALE ANNOUNCEMENT

The TEDxWellington team are proud to introduce our family of speakers for the TEDxWellington line-up.  Nominations from the city’s residents poured in with twelve clear stand-outs taking their place to share their ideas worth spreading.

Connecting hearts and minds; the theme of the first TEDxWellington event is scheduled for Sunday 24th August and with help from the US Embassy, TEDxWellington has secured a special international guest. Ranked in the Fast Company top 100 most creative people in business, Alan Schaaf, founder of one of the most popular destinations on the web – Imgur.com is confirmed to speak at this year’s inaugural event.

Alan will be joining eleven others:

- Gabriel Davidson – owner of The Wellington Chocolate Factory
- Cassandra Treadwell – founder of charitable organisation – So They Can
- Fraser Callaway & Oliver Ward – inventers of the sustainable, stand-up cardboard desk
- Laura Green – post doctoral researcher using old drugs to treat MS
- Dylan Coburn – animator, creator and champion of getting back to basics with art
- Adam Ben-Dror – hacker and re-designer.  Creator of the musical tombstone.
- Guy Ryan – champion of youth leadership and social entrepreneurship
- Sophie Jerram – founder of Letting Space
- Rona Wignall – female rapper with a message to share around racism and sexism in NZ
- Lydia & Matt – Ryfe – acoustic demo
- Dave Moskovitch – US Entrepreneur, settled in Wellington in the 80’s and never looked back

Full speaker bios are available at tedxwellington.com

Tickets for TEDxWellington, held at Wellington’s remarkable Shed 6 venue, are strictly limited and go on sale on Friday, 1 August at 9am via ticketek.com.  After a 60 minute sell out for the previous years’ smaller TeAro event, TEDxWellington fans wanting to attend are encouraged to purchase early.

Note for the editor
Information on TEDx is available at http://www.ted.com/tedx/. The Twitter-account of TEDxWellington is http://www.twitter.com/tedxwellington. Additional information about TEDxWellington is available at http://www.tedxwellington.com Contact TEDxWellington at tedxwellington.com/contact
Sponsors and Partners
TEDxWellington is sponsored by Optimation, Grow Wellington, Xero, TradeMe, Absolutely Positively Wellington City Council and The Embassy of the United States of America. Partners include Creative HQ, Append, Fuji Xerox, The Amazing Travelling Photobooth, Flight Coffee, Powershop, Rydges, Tuatara Brewery, The Playground, Wellington Airport and The Infographers.

ENDS
For more information, please contact:
Lou Draper lou@loudinpublic.co.nz / 021971533

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California almost 30 years ago, TED has grown to support its mission with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes on a diverse mix of topics. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The TED2014 Conference takes place in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the TEDActive simulcast in neighboring Whistler. TEDGlobal 2014 will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; and TEDBooks, short e-books on powerful ideas. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world get help translating their wishes into action; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http:// www.facebook.com/TED

For information about TED's upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/ registration