About

About TED

TED is an annual event where some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are most passionate about. “TED” stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design — three broad subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future. And in fact, the event is broader still, showcasing ideas that matter in any discipline. Attendees have called it “the ultimate brain spa” and “a four-day journey into the future.” The diverse audience — CEOs, scientists, creatives, philanthropists — is almost as extraordinary as the speakers, who have included Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Paul Simon, Sir Richard Branson, Philippe Starck and Bono. These talks are then streamed on the TED website.

TED was first held in Monterey, California, in 1984. In 2001, Chris Anderson’s Sapling Foundation acquired TED from its founder, Richard Saul Wurman. In recent years, TED has expanded to include an international conference, TEDGlobal; media initiatives, including TED Talks and TED.com; and the TED Prize. TEDGlobal 2009, “The Substance of Things Not Seen,” will be held July 21-24, 2009, in Oxford, UK and TEDIndia will be held in November 2009.

About TEDx

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxYouthOttawa, where x=independently organized TED event. At our TEDxYouthOttawa event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

TEDxYouthOttawa

TEDxYouthOttawa is North America’s first TEDx conference where all presenters are youth age 25 and younger, and all attendees are youth age 18 and younger recruited from local schools and community groups. Our theme is to be “for youth, by youth”, in the spirit of our host organization For Youth By Youth (FYBY) News. FYBY News is a program of Child and Youth Friendly Ottawa (CAYFO) that aims to inform youth about issues, opportunities and resources relevant to them, and provide youth with a tool to express opinions, engage in discussion, and create positive change within the community and world. For more information, see www.fybynews.com.

Remaining true to the spirit of the TED Conference – hosting the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers, and challenging them to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less – TEDxYouthOttawa will be comprised of a mix of live talks and performances as well as pre-recorded talks from recent TED conferences. Our speakers will demonstrate young people’s potential for passion, radical new thought, ingenuity, and idealism through the lens of their own experience and unique perspectives.

TEDxYouthOttawa will be a summit for young opinion leaders, artists, scientists and entrepreneurs to foster learning, inspiration and wonder about the ingenuity used to transform our world, while provoking conversations that matter and creating a forum for “ideas worth sharing”.