Just a quick note to announce that the TEDxTauranga 2017 photos are now available (+ an indication of when to expect the videos).

TEDxTauranga 2017 Photos

Here’s a couple of compilations to get you started:

2 places to see the rest:

1. Our TEDxTauranga Facebook Photo Gallery
2. Our TEDxTauranga Flickr Gallery (high resolution)

Go ahead and tag yourself, or others you know, and download and share pics that remind you of your favourite moments.

Q: “When will the TEDxTauranga 2017 videos be ready?”

Hopefully just a couple of weeks from now. I’ll get back to you when they are ready.

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Licencee for TEDxTauranga

Phone: (07) 575 8799
Mobile: 021 128 5046
Email: sheldon@tedxtauranga.com

1 – The Beginning

Hello, my name is Claire Piper and I’ll be your tour guide for this trip through TEDxTauranga 2017.

This is a long article, so I’m going to sum things up right away by telling you two things:

I’m the sort of person who is way too busy to go to things like this. The sort of person who uses the word busy a lot. I default to wearing cynicism like a protective cloak, and can isolate myself in a place I never really chose as my hometown. I’m one of those people who works hard at self-improvement. I don’t need more new ideas and to meet more people – I spend most of my days trying to deal with the ideas and people I already have and know. I’m a real barrel of fluffy ducks. Let’s hang out some time!

TEDxTauranga 2017 taught me that giants walk among us. A random person walking down Devonport Road can teach me about the sort of strength, compassion, and insight that I could spend my life searching for the world over. My people are right here. My fears and weaknesses are welcome. My busyness, stresses, and eye-rolling are only symptoms of forgetfulness. I forget that I am connected to you, and that there is always a way through. If I don’t practice connecting to this town and its people, I can forget that I am powerful beyond measure to do something right now, with what I already have. I have nothing to prove and nothing to achieve outside of providing a home for your story through my simple presence and receptivity.

Connection must be practiced to stay alive. TEDxTauranga reminded me that I’m at home.

2 – The Live Agenda

Speaker 1 – Mike Seawright

Mike is used to being asked what it’s like to work in a warzone. Through ReliefAid, he and his team face unthinkable risks to channel humanitarian aid to families in the middle of warzones.

He can’t describe what it’s like to know that you provided the warring parties with GPS coordinates of your hospital and feel their shells rain down on you anyway.

He certainly can’t describe what it’s like to dedicate your life to protecting Miriam, an 11 year old resident of Aleppo City in Syria who needed a warm jacket to survive a freezing winter without shelter. To describe what it’s like to get Miriam the jacket, and find her body a year later as the siege of Aleppo descended away.

The only thing Mike can do is ask his people, the people of Tauranga, if they can imagine what they’d do to protect their children if war was raging on the street outside. As he describes the panic of a parent protecting their child during war, a Tauranga newborn stirs in the row behind me.

We know what love for our family is and what we would do to help them if they need us. These people who suffer on the front lines of war, are just like us, and they need us to help them.

Speaker 2 – Claire Baker

There’s something about being in a hall of 800 people all lifting their bits in unison. You know, the bits, those nether regions you instinctively contract as freezing cold water creeps above your knees. You’re doing it right now, I know you are.

These bits are the pelvic floor and Claire told us that 1 in 8 of us have problems with it. It’s common to pee a little bit when you’re playing netball, it’s common to poo a little bit as you race to get from your car to the bathroom at the end of a workday; it’s even common to feel like parts of your uterus might drop out if you squat too quickly. It’s common, and Claire needs us to know it’s not normal.

Dr Arnold Kegal “discovered” how integral pelvic floor muscles were to overall health and wellbeing in the 1940s, and precious little pelvic floor research has reached the mainstream since.

Any body with a body can experience pelvic floor pain and disfunction, and it’s our squeamishness and shame that compels many of us to accept it as our new normal. It’s common, Claire reminds us, not normal, and it’s time to ask for help.

Speaker 3 – Lynn Berresford

Lynn was told early on in life that she was “gifted”. Mensa says that a gifted person has an IQ of more than 130. Those who claim to have an IQ of more than 200 are definitely making things up. There is a spectrum of neurology, and people all along the spectrum have unique attributes to contribute to society.

Gifted people can display heightened levels of creativity and the ability to receive and process multiple complex concepts at a time. And this can be a burden. For the people who Lynn has helped through her psychology practice, this often manifests as perfectionism and an attraction to extremes. People who are gifted can struggle to articulate the agony that their own unmet expectations create.

I can’t have been the only one in the audience suddenly compelled to tell their friends and family that I am a pain in the butt because I am gifted. Lynn was quick to remind us, however, that gifted is not the same as talented. So I’m just a pain the butt.

Speaker 4 – Mayank Thammalla

I’ll tell you something I’m not proud of – my heart sinks when I hear someone say “climate change refugees” and I want to check Twitter instead. This is one of my coping mechanisms for the panic and helplessness I feel when considering the grim consequences of our collective brutal treatment of our planet. Please don’t make me feel worse about it.

Ok, said Mayank. How about I see your panic, and raise you a solution. How about I, Mayank, take my opportunity to study a Masters of Architecture in New Zealand and come up with an idea. An idea that can save the Maldives and its culture from being destroyed by rising sea waters by 2100.

How about those decommissioned oil rigs littering the Indian Ocean be repurposed and adapted to allow the 130,000 strong population of the Maldives’ capital, Male, to recreate their social, religious, and economic life on these floating islands? Could these floating islands allow traditional coconut timber structures be rediscovered, retain the urban design of Male neighbourhoods, and revitalise the Maldivian island-hopping trade routes?

Why the hell not? More unlikely things have happened. There is still time.

Entertainment 1 – Plum Jam

These musicians from the Tauranga Boys High Class of ’16 delivered the smoothest sounds I’ve heard in a while. A four (usually five) piece ensemble, this jazz/funk outfit had drums, bass, bap-bap-booping vocals, and some freakishly skilful keyboard playing.

They’re off to study music, they’re available for hire, and they’re headed for great things.

Speaker 5 – Sarah Thomson

Sarah learned something at law school that took me many years to figure out – we can do the thing that we wish someone else would do.

In 2015, with a team of lawyers and scientists, Sarah, a University of Waikato student, applied for a judicial review of the way in which the New Zealand government set their emission targets in compliance with the Paris Climate Agreement. Just as Mr Fitzgerald held Prime Minister Muldoon to account for his shoddy decision-making as an elected official in the 1980s, Sarah feels the citizens of New Zealand deserve transparency around their acts, or omissions, in contributing to the global fight against climate change.

I’m a constitutional law nerd (like I said, I’m a real hoot) and the tool of judicial review, a way that allows the court to determine whether a government’s decision is lawful and reasonable, really gets me going. By doing what she wished someone else would do, Sarah has reminded the government, and each of us, that no one person or one country is big enough to be in charge of managing climate change. It takes each of us to act, together.

Speaker 6 – Nick Harvey

Nick points out that asking the right question is more important, and more efficient, than trying to get at the right answer. So let him cut to the chase.

There are three questions that are most important to leaders in businesses, families, and communities; what is the most important thing for a leader to do? Why aren’t I reaching my full potential? And how do I inspire at motivate others?

The answers? The most important thing for a leader to do is to be aware of and bring light to the “unspoken” conversations that dominate a team. Leaders won’t reach their full potential if they will not hold a mirror to their own fears and failings, and question them until those fears and failings lose their power. And the most effective way to inspire and motivate others is through centeredness and calmness; people will trust and follow those whose internal waters run deep.

Nick made us draw a bunch of triangles on a bit of paper, twice, and now we know why we need a leadership coach. You had to be there.

Speaker 7 – Aisha Te Kani

I have two problems at this point. One is that my meager writing talents cannot adequately describe what happened in the Trinity Church as Aisha spoke. The other is that by the end of this talk my tears had gathered in a pool under my spacebar key on my laptop and I think I need to get it checked out.

Aisha was born with club feet and her heart outside of her body. Aisha’s medical history is one of extended hospitalisations, torturous treatments, and unwelcome surprises as the biological implications of her miracle heart made themselves known.

The medical challenges resulting from her heart and club feet inflicted far less pain than the way she was treated by her community. The sneering. The prodding. The wild assumptions. The exclusions. When do our failings of human kindness amount to cruelty? How do we allow beautiful quirks of anatomy to turn into a compulsion to deny the humanity of a person? How have my own failures to be kind contributed to the despair felt by people like Aisha?

Aisha has felt the mud of life – the toxic, sticky, black mud– try to keep her stuck. And she has taken that mud and walked forward with it. Galvanized by her faith, the love of her parents and her brother Joshua, she has walked forward.

The roof of the Trinity Church hall lifted a little as she walked off the stage.

Entertainment 2 – Freddy Matariki Carr

Have you ever seen someone combine rhythmic hoop gymnastics with modern dance? Ok but how about with two hoops? Yeah, but with hoops that glow in the dark? Thought so.

Freddy Matariki Carr is a flow artist and dancer that travels the world drawing inspiration from foreign lands and layering them with a uniquely New Zealand performance. Graceful, soothing, and beautiful.

Speaker 8 – Shelly Davies

Shelly, if you’re still reading this, help me.

Help me write like a reader. Help me be more respectful of this TEDxTauranga audience suffering through this recap by removing the waffly words that make my sentences long and refining my over-zealous use of punctuation that obscures my message. I don’t really know how to use semi colons, but use them I will.

Shelly is waging a war against the formal business voice in writing. She told us that there is a voice in our head that, as our fingers touch the key pads, tells us to mimic authors of articles in academic journals. Which is fine, if we have the skill to always write as authors of articles in academic journals. And we don’t, guys, we don’t.

Plain English is no less professional, legally binding, or credible than traditional formal business writing. In fact because it uses fewer words, quickly informs the reader of the message, and provides them comfort that they understand the message, it may be more professional, credible, and legally persuasive than formal business writing.

Help me, Shelly, I still have three speaker recaps to go!

Speaker 9 – Chris Batershill

As I’ve told you, I’m the sort of person who gets jazzed about judicial reviews. Chris Batershill therefore had a steep road ahead of him to encourage me to think about sea sponges in the middle of a Saturday afternoon.

Chris must be a hill sprinter, because let me tell you what I learned about sea sponges. They’re pretty much as the same as they were 800 million years ago. Sponges are a billion dollar industry. They are wickedly efficient water-filtering machines. Cool. So far, so sciencey.

What is very cool, though, is that sea sponges evolved not by growing legs but by cherry-picking the best chemical properties of the bugs and organisms floating around them in the water. This means they are now tiny chemical weapons living in the ocean, using their ridiculously powerful arsenal to sense and neutralise cells that may impede their ability to grow and survive.

What becomes verrrry cool is when you think of people like Chris hanging around Dunedin sewers, harvesting the special sea sponges who love Dunedin (only Dunedin) sewers, and using those natural chemical weapons to sense and neutralise cancer cells in humans.

Fine, I’m into sea sponges now.

Speaker 10 – Mel Lee

Mel, like me, was a baby of the 80s. This means we can track the milestones in our lives so far by what mobile phones we had at each stage. I started with an Alcatel (orange), Mel started with a Nokia (blue), and we were both entirely unable to imagine the sophistication of the iPhone 6 we hold in our hands in 2017.

If the sophistication of computer chips continue to double every eighteen months, can we even fathom our technological lives in twenty or thirty years? Mel says that by 2049, $1000 will buy us a computer that has the intellectual power of all human brains combined. There is no reason to believe this won’t happen.

Indeed, the speed of artificial intelligence development is as exponential as those computer chips. Mel is looking forward to a future in which her fridge pours her wine and she has conversations without moving her mouth. I remain perturbed by the complex ethical issues about to face the human race as machines become smarter than us and believe that those developing these technologies must have reference to the social sciences.

If the machines stick to just pouring wine, though, it’s going to be cool.

Speaker 11 –  Debra Lampshire

Debra is a mental health specialist who helps people who hear voices that others don’t. And that’s all that I’m able to clearly describe to you about her talk.

What’s going to be harder is to describe the bravery and generosity Debra gifted us by sharing her experience of living with voices others can’t hear. As her voice shook and heart broke, Debra stepped us through her relationship with people she can’t see but who impact her every living moment.

These people are obsessed with her. They promise her safety, comfort, and redemption while telling her she’s unattractive, unlovable, and alone. They are her protectors when the stress and pain of life become unbearable, but that protection turns as quickly into isolation from all that is lovely in life.

Debra’s reality isn’t visible to us, so can leave her exposed to being labelled as “crazy”. When will we accept that others have realities that are different to ours? Why are the spaces between our respective realities so quickly filled with fear instead of curiosity?

The final heartbreak was Debra thanking us for listening to her. Debra, thank you.

Entertainment 3 – Toka Tu

Haka fusion combines the immense power of Māori kapahaka with the buoyancy of hip hop. Toka Tu will lead the New Zealand pop culture renaissance if New Zealand pop culture knows what’s good for it.

We need a modern interpretation of a unique Aotearoa music and dance culture, and Toka Tu’s athleticism, story-telling, and wild poi work are the best example I’ve seen. What a joyous note to walk out on.

3 – The Supporting Acts

The TED Talks

Were chosen by Year 13s at Otumoetai College were shown between sessions on the big screen and are well worth a review:

• eL Seed gave us ‘Street art with a message of hope and peace’
• Camille A. Brown showed us ‘A visual history of social dance in 25 moves’
• Damon Davis reminded us that ‘Courage is courageous’

The Food

Indonesian beef curry or rich lentils and pumpkin, the catering team looked like an orchestra playing in perfect unison as they delivered nourishment into our bellies. Brownies, slices, and fresh bananas kept the energy levels high, and the reusable plates thanks to the Plate Exchange made sure those waste bins sat empty.

The People

The TEDxTauranga volunteer team contributed over 6,000 collective hours to putting this community event on. The impact this year’s session had on me reaffirmed my gratitude for the service of these people. What an asset for a town like ours.

Thank you.

– Claire Piper

Hooray! 4 more (of our 10) speakers for TEDxTauranga 2017.

4 More Speakers for TEDxTauranga 2017

7. Chris Battershill

From below the Antarctic sea ice to sewage outfalls, Chris Battersill deep dives into the biodiversity discussion that is so relevant to our own Bay of Plenty coast line.

Chris Battershill became the inaugural Professor and Chair of Coastal Science with the University of Waikato in January 2011. He has returned to New Zealand following twelve years as leader of the Marine Resources and Biodiversity Teams at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), focusing on coastal processes, conservation, oil and gas industry development in the north and west of Australia, new species aquaculture and biodiscovery.

From an MSc in environmental toxicology (Maui Environmental Program), he completed his PhD at Auckland University in reef ecology in 1986 then undertook a 3 year Research Fellowship funded by the National Cancer Institute (US) based at the University of Canterbury, where he led the biological program associated discovery of anti-cancer active chemicals from New Zealand seas. He did Post Doc work in Australia and then worked at DoC and NIWA for 11 years focusing on sedimentary impacts on coastal ecosystems, sustainability of marine resource use, again building capacity in research associated with drug discovery from marine sources. The drug Halaven^® and two other leads, now in late phase preclinical trial at the NCI, resulted from the New Zealand teams’ work, and four drug leads were advanced in Australia.

Battershill’s research in the field of Marine Biotechnology has been based on examining the ecological role of biologically active metabolites from marine invertebrates and algae, thus allowing translation to applied uses for medicine and agriculture.  The outcome is providing the leads for remedies needed by society. An underpinning driver is valuing marine biodiversity and championing its conservation.

8. Nick Harvey

What is the key to reaching your full leadership potential and in turn your full life potential? Nick asks and answers the three key leadership questions; the answers to which transcend leadership into our daily lives. Nick Harvey, leadership development, based in Wellington.

Nick is a business strategist who works directly with business owners, boards, CEO’s and their leadership teams on leadership, strategy, and execution.

Focusing on the 3 pillars, strategy, culture and the market, Nick specializes in strategic planning, team culture and customer experience with a specialization in leadership, team engagement and sales strategy.

After completing his BMS at the University of Waikato, Nick worked in the US before returning to NZ in 2002 to run his industrial packaging company.

For the past 7 years, Nick has consulted to business owners and leaders throughout NZ and internationally.

9. Debra Lampshire

Debra Lampshire, the owner of mutinous mind, works to dismantle the barriers that prevent awareness and compassion around mental illness in our society. Debra lives in Auckland.

Debra has an extensive background as a mental health educator.

Debra is a professional teaching fellow at The University of Auckland and also a Project Manager for Auckland District Health Board. Debra has transferred her 30 years of the lived experience of recovery, voice hearing and the shared experiences of the consumers she has worked with, into a wealth of knowledge that is collaborative, interactive and empowering.  She is a prominent leader and mentors to others within the service-user and clinical movement in New Zealand and a well know trainer, educator, writer and advocate within national and international mental health services. Recipient of the Making a Difference Award and the Supreme  Award Winner of the 2017 ACC Attitude Awards

Debra is the current Chairperson for ISPS New Zealand and a member of the executive committee for ISPS international.

10. Lynn Berresford

Intelligence does not always mean success in life. Lynn talks about the mixed blessings of what the world calls “gifted”.

M.Ed [Hons], Dip Teaching [Distinction], Registered Psychologist with over 40 years of experience working with adults, children, and teenagers with exceptional needs.  Lynn has developed extensive and practical knowledge of these individuals who learn differently.

Lynn has acted as the Gifted Education Centre consultant psychologist ever since the establishment of the centre in 1995.   She was one of the “Ask an Expert” on the Ministry of Education TK1 website [Gifted and Talented Community Parent and Whanau].

She is a life member of the NZ Psychological Society and life member of SPELD New Zealand.  She is also a member of the N.Z. Counsellors Association and N.Z. Gifted Children Association.  She was a founding member of the Auckland group for gifted parents and gifted children.

Lynn is a dedicated, experienced and skilled advocate for individuals who have behaviours reflecting Giftedness, Dyslexia, Attention Deficits, Dyspraxia, Aspergers etc.

Have You Got Your Tickets For TEDxTauranga 2017 Yet?

• When?: Saturday 7 October 2017, 10am to 6pm
• Where?: Holy Trinity Church, 215 Devonport Rd, Tauranga
• What?: 10 live speakers on stage + 3 entertainment acts + glorious food all day
• Cost?: $100 per person (discounts available for students and seniors)
• Buy your tickets now

4 Ways YOU can help US

1. Who can you talk to today to encourage them to join us and buy their ticket?
2. Can you share our Facebook Event?
3. Write an email to your contacts using our text and photos?
4. Could you put up a poster for us? Download and print out our A4 TEDxTauranga 2017 Poster (177Kb .pdf)

Thank you to all our amazing sponsors

• Platinum: Powerco
• Gold: Ignition Co-working Space / Tauranga City Council / The University of Waikato
• Silver: Comvita / MacKenzie Elvin / MYNOKE / Bay of Connections  / Grow Coaching
• Bronze: Bluelab
• Media Partners: The Bay of Plenty Times / The Hits radio station / EventFinda / MailChimp

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Marketing Lead for TEDxTauranga 2017

Hooray! 3 more (of our 10) speakers for TEDxTauranga 2017.

3 More Speakers for TEDxTauranga 2017

4. Mel Lee

In the future, my workout shirt will have a mind of it’s own; I feel sorry for that thing! Mel’s upbeat perspective on the future of artificial intelligence will have you chuckling …and leave you thinking. Mel Lee, Founder of Backchat Media, lives in Katikati

Mel Lee has developed digital, social and content strategies for some of the

world’s biggest brands including McDonald’s, Pepsi Co, Seven West Media and

Cadbury. In 2014 at 24 years old, Mel founded Backchat Media Ltd, a boutique agency focused on ‘digital innovation with imagination’. The company now has offices in Auckland, Melbourne and Tauranga. Mel also developed the Lady Business Bootcamp, an online programme to help females set up and run their own online businesses from anywhere. Previously Mel held senior digital roles at OMD NZ, Southern Cross Austereo and Television New Zealand. She is also an active blogger, presenter and public speaker. Mel’s passionate about exponential technologies, cabernet sauvignon and anything made out of carbohydrates.

5. Aisha Te Kani

Aisha is one of a kind… the kind who refuses to accept limitations and defies expectations, no matter the odds. Aisha Te Kani, lives in Tauranga

Aisha is a 37-year-old woman from Tauranga who is an accomplished public speaker and is passionate about inspiring, motivating and introducing hope to her audience. Aisha has been invited to speak on many stages, both nationally and internationally, and welcomes the opportunity to keep doing what she loves

“My love of public speaking began when I was young when at the age of 12 I spoke for the first time in front of a school assembly sharing about my life.  I am a unique New Zealander in the type of medical condition I grew up with. I use my story and different aspects of my personal experiences to encourage and inspire those I speak to. I have spoken at a range of events, conferences and gatherings both here in New Zealand and overseas”.

6. Claire Baker

Does the thought of discussing your private bits make you cringe? Claire talks about surprisingly common issues which most of us don’t dare discuss. Claire Baker, Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist, lives in Tauranga

Claire Baker is a pelvic floor physiotherapist and health coach passionate about reconnecting women to their bodies after childbirth and beyond. Warning signs of incontinence, prolapse, bowel dysfunction and sexual dysfunction are often ignored by women and men because of shame and embarrassment or belief that these issues are a “Normal”. Claire is passionate about letting people know that these issues are super common but not normal and you do not need to put up with them. Claire graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor of Health Science in Physiotherapy from Auckland University of Technology and in 2008 completed her Clinical Masters in Brisbane, Australia. Claire is kept busy running her physio practice and raising two young children and makes every effort play in the great outdoors with her family.

Have You Got Your Tickets For TEDxTauranga 2017 Yet?

• When?: Saturday 7 October 2017, 10am to 6pm
• Where?: Holy Trinity Church, 215 Devonport Rd, Tauranga
• What?: 10 live speakers on stage + 3 entertainment acts + glorious food all day
• Cost?: $100 per person (discounts available for students and seniors)
• Buy your tickets now

4 Ways YOU can help US

1. Who can you talk to today to encourage them to join us and buy their ticket?
2. Can you share our Facebook Event?
3. Write an email to your contacts using our text and photos?
4. Could you put up a poster for us? Download and print out our A4 TEDxTauranga 2017 Poster (177Kb .pdf)

Thank you to all our amazing sponsors

• Platinum: Powerco
• Gold: Ignition Co-working Space / Tauranga City Council / The University of Waikato
• Silver: Comvita / MacKenzie Elvin / MYNOKE / Bay of Connections / Grow Coaching
• Bronze: Bluelab
• Media Partners: The Bay of Plenty Times / The Hits radio station / EventFinda / MailChimp

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Marketing Lead for TEDxTauranga 2017

Tickets for TEDxTauranga 2017 go on sale tomorrow, yay!

In the meantime, it’s our pleasure to announce the first three (of our 10) speakers for TEDxTauranga 2017:

First 3 Speakers for TEDxTauranga 2017

1. Mike Seawright

Crossing no man’s land – Mike Seawright left the corporate world for conflict zones and found humanity at its best. Mike Seawright is founder of ReliefAid and lives in Auckland.

Since leaving the corporate world behind 13 years ago, Mike Seawright has been delivering humanitarian assistance to families living in the world’s conflict zones. He has provided medical aid in Iraq, Yemen and South Sudan, economic development projects in Afghanistan, shelter, and education aid in Pakistan and most recently Syria. Frustrated that not enough was being done to help families affected by war and conflict Mike founded ReliefAid.  With a simple vision of helping families who had no one else to turn too, ReliefAid has delivered life-saving aid to over 68,000 people in war torn Syria, and he is not stopping there. While his work surrounds him in war and conflict Mike counts himself lucky to bear witness to what he calls “the very best of humanity”. He feels strongly about speaking out on behalf of those who are unable to speak for themselves. Mike’s experience has also shown him families really are the same the world over and that we can make a difference to those less fortunate than ourselves.

With a simple vision of helping families who had no one else to turn too, ReliefAid has delivered life-saving aid to over 68,000 people in war torn Syria, and he is not stopping there. While his work surrounds him in war and conflict Mike counts himself lucky to bear witness to what he calls “the very best of humanity”. He feels strongly about speaking out on behalf of those who are unable to speak for themselves. Mike’s experience has also shown him families really are the same the world over and that we can make a difference to those less fortunate than ourselves.

2. Shelly Davies

We don’t like to read the formal business voice. But somehow we still feel the need to write it. Come on, people! Reconnect with your reader-self. That formal business voice is DEAD. Shelly Davies, Head Ninja & Rockstar Writer, lives in the Tron.

Shelly Davies is Managing Director of Hamilton-based Shelly Davies Writing & Training.  Shelly bounced unconventionally and entertainingly into the New Zealand communications landscape in 2012.  With a brand that’s exploded across a surprising mix of sectors and industries she’s now leading the pack.

“Brand Shelly” is out of the box, bubbly, pretty damn irresistible, more than a little sassy, and rapidly giving fewer and fewer f*cks what anyone thinks.  And it’s working.  Her writing is sharp, sought after, and highly paid.  Her trainings are high energy, instantly impactful, and booked up to 2 years in advance.

She did her time in the classroom torturing teenagers and indoctrinating university students with academic conventions.  She killed off one husband,trainingut another one, and popped out 3 money-sucking vampires.  And then she discovered something amazing: good writing PAYS.  And like common sense, it ain’t common.

3. Mayank Thammalla

We as a species must adapt to the changing geography of our earth. Mayank uses an architectural design approach to look at how to shift the notion of culture and its connection to a disappearing landscape. Mayank lives in Tauranga.

Mayank Thammalla grew up in Mount Maunganui, New Zealand and spent his childhood surrounding himself with nature’s beauty. Mayank holds a Masters of Architecture and is based in Mount Maunganui.

From a young age, Mayank was always inspired by the natural environment that he was surrounded with and knew that he was destined to work in the creative industry.

Mayank was considered 1 of 10 Designboom’s architectural visionaries of 2015.

Yay! 5 New Sponsors On Board

We’ve had several awesome sponsors come on board in the last few weeks:

1. Tauranga City Council
   • Year after year Tauranga City Council has supported our Event. Thanks TCC!
2. The University of Waikato
   • Have been on the ground here in Tauranga since 1998 and the exciting new tertiary partership means a new campus in the CBD soon, exciting stuff! Thanks Waikato Uni!
3. MYNOKE
   • MYNOKE uses earthworms to solve industrial waste problems
   • We had the founder of MYNOKE, Michael Quintern on stage at TEDxTauranga 2015 and this year him and his team are back to help us put on the show. Thanks MYNOKE!
4. Bay of Connections

   • Is the regional growth strategy for the wider Bay of Plenty, with a vision of creating a prosperous region supported by sustainable sectors. Yay for the Bay!

5. Bluelab
   • Another amazing Tauranga based company, yay! Bluelab exports innovative high-end hydroponic technology to the world from Tauriko. Thanks Bluelab!

Quick Facts About TEDxTauranga 2017

• When?: Saturday 7 October 2017, 10am to 6pm
• Where?: Holy Trinity Church, 215 Devonport Rd, Tauranga
• What?: 10 live speakers on stage + 3 entertainment acts + glorious food all day
• Cost?: $100 per person (discounts available for students and seniors)
  • Tickets go on sale Fri 1 Sep 2017

How YOU can help us

• Can you help us spread the word?
• Who could you reach out to today to encourage them to join us for TEDxTauranga? (Send them to our email subscription page so we can keep them informed
• Could you put up a poster for us? Download and print out our A4 TEDxTauranga 2017 Poster (177Kb .pdf)

Thank you to all our amazing sponsors

• Platinum: Powerco
• Gold: Ignition Co-working Space / Tauranga City Council / The University of Waikato
• Silver: Comvita / MacKenzie Elvin / MYNOKE / Bay of Connections / Grow Coaching
• Bronze: Bluelab
• Media Partners: The Bay of Plenty Times / The Hits radio station / EventFinda / MailChimp

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Marketing Lead for TEDxTauranga 2017

Just 15 days until tickets go on sale for TEDxTauranga 2017!

Quick Facts About TEDxTauranga 2017:

• When?: Saturday 7 October 2017, 10am to 6pm
• Where?: Holy Trinity Church, 215 Devonport Rd, Tauranga
• What?: 10 live speakers on stage + 3 entertainment acts + glorious food all day
• Cost?: $100 per person (discounts available for students and seniors)
  • Tickets go on sale Fri 1 Sep 2017

We’ve had several awesome sponsors come on board in the last few weeks:

1. NZME
   • You’ll know them as The Bay of Plenty Times and The Hits radio station. They are a long-term supporter of TEDxTauranga and we are grateful, thanks NZME!
2. EventFinda
   • Have been doing our ticketing since our 2014 event, they just make things very easy, thanks EventFinda!
3. Ignition Co-working Space
   • PriorityOne’s co-working space on Grey Street, Tauranga is a modern workspace which houses a collaborative and diverse community. Useful for when you need a quiet workspace for period of intense concentration. Useful for when you need inspiration and ideas, just reach out to your fellow co-workers and collaborate, seek/share advice and think outside the box. Thanks Ignition!
4. PowerCo
   • Are connectors. They connect your homes and businesses with electricity and gas and now they are back to connect you to our event with their sponsorship, thanks PowerCo!
5. Comvita
   • We’re just so proud that Comvita is so awesome and world famous from here in the Bay, and they are back year after year to help us put on this show, thanks Comvita!
6. MacKenzie Elvin
   • Have been with us since the very beginning. Every year they come back with the question “What do you need? How can we help?” They’ve helped us set up our charitable trust, they just did the wills for my wife and I, and they provide a range of legal services that you might need. Thanks MacKenzie Elvin!

I need your help to spread the word:

1. Who could you reach out to today to encourage them to join us for TEDxTauranga? (Send them to our email subscription page so we can keep them informed
2. Could you put up a poster for us? Download and print out our A4 TEDxTauranga 2017 Poster (177Kb .pdf)

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Marketing Lead for TEDxTauranga 2017

Dear All

Welcome to our TEDxTauranga ticket update.

Just a reminder, the date of TEDxTauranga has been set to 7th October 2017.

This year at a new venue, the Holy Trinity Church, near Tauranga’s central business district.

We are sure this venue will provide a prime focus for the event, excellent facilities and a great atmosphere. Not to mention comfy seats!!

We are lining up a selection of wonderful speakers now, some from across the globe. We plan on continuing the TEDx tradition of a great day of meeting, conversation,  engagement. Be sure to tell your friends as this really is an opportunity to connect, enjoy all on offer and spark the imagination.

Previous attendees had this to say…

“I think it is a fantastic event and I know people who would really enjoy the day”

“I was hugely impressed by the quality of the speakers and the entire day. Well done!”

“Simple: intellectual stimulation and brilliant people”

Tickets will be on sale through Eventfinda and we will let you know as soon as they go on sale. Ticket prices will be $99 for the general public, with a discount for students and seniors.

As you all know entertainment is a key part of the TEDx experience. We now need 1 or 2 more volunteers to run our Entertainment Selection Project:

• You’ll be choosing the 3 entertainment acts that we will have on stage this year on Saturday 7 October at TEDxTauranga
• You’ll be making lots of phone calls and writing emails to research and interview potentials, and sorting out the logistics of the entertainers you book in
• You will be working with Raewyn Jones, our 2nd-in-command and Lead of the Operations team this year
• Please fill in this form: http://www.tedxtauranga.com/join-us/ and tell us why you’re the best choice for running this project. We look forward to you joining us!

Please enjoy this inspiration for the week.

Having trouble with the video? Watch it here on TED.com

Our team of 24 volunteers are hard at work on TEDxTauranga 2017.

We’ve already considered 86 potential potential speakers and we’ll be working hard at selecting our final 10 over the next few months.

3 things I need your help with today:

1. Save the TEDxTauranga date in your calendar: 10am to 7pm Saturday 7 October 2017
2. Join our Facebook event (and share it on your news feed)
3. Send the following content to your friends by email (or even talk to your friends face-to-face. I know it’s 2017 but that form of communication still works apparently)

—
Forward this bit:
—

Dear your_friends_name

Have I told you about TEDxTauranga?

• When?: 10am to 7pm Saturday 7 October 2017
• Where?: Holy Trinity Church, 215 Devonport Rd, Tauranga

It’s a day long event with 18 items of content (approximately 15 minutes long each). There are 5 components:

1. Live speakers on stage
2. Live entertainment
3. A selection of the best TED videos
4. Top quality food and beverage
5. Networking with like-minded individuals

It’s the highlight of my year because I get to:

• Engage with speakers and other cool BOP people
• Experience a TED-like event
• Find ideas worth spreading

What is TED?

• The history of TED  started in 1984 with the convergence of Technology, Entertainment and Design
• Since 2006 TED has been available online and is a collection of over 2000 talks
• Each talk is just 5 to 18 mins long
• A new talk is added every week day
• You can watch them all, for free, anytime

At TEDxTauranga every 15 minute component on stage will be different from the next:

• One might make you think
• Another, cry
• Another, change the way you live
• Another, motivate you to tell others
• Another, change your mind about something you’ve always believed
• Another, expose you to something you never knew could be so interesting

I do hope you’ll join me.

• Here’s what happened at TEDxTauranga 2016
• Here’s what happened at TEDxTauranga 2015
• Here’s what happened at TEDxTauranga 2014
• Here’s what happened at TEDxTauranga 2013

TEDx audiences describe the talks as one or more of the following:

• Persuasive
• Courageous
• Ingenious
• Fascinating
• Inspiring
• Beautiful
• Funny
• Informative

Want to stay informed about TEDxTauranga?

We’ll have 10 live speakers on stage, entertainment, healthy food, and 750 other like-minded people in the audience for you to meet.

Enter your email address here and keep up to date with TEDxTauranga

I think you’ll love it!

Cheers,

Your dearest friend,
your_name_here

—
Yay! Thanks, much appreciated!

What’s next?

1. Keep watching TED talks yourself
2. Share your favorites with friends and family
3. Re-watch the amazing speakers from past TEDxTauranga events: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013: TEDxTauranga Video Page

We’re looking forward to seeing you soon 🙂

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Marketing Team Lead for www.TEDxTauranga.com / Saturday 7 Oct 2017

It started with a shady looking character wondering onto stage… he’s our stand-in MC for the day?

He clears the stage for our mihi from Pahu Akuhata, our respected local Kaumatua from Ngati Ranginui and Kapahaka performance from Arataki School. The bright smiling faces and thumping feet build energy in the room and we’re all focused for the day ahead.

Our eyes are drawn to the big screens where we see the Arena doors open and two very smart machines stealthily roll into the break out area. The winners of the “win a ride to TEDxTauranga in a Tesla” competition are here and we’re ready to roll.

The day started with a confronting question: who is truly to blame for the environmental damage caused by farming. The farmer or us? Continue reading →

TEDxTauranga 2016 is fast approaching. For those of you who have tickets already we’ll see you next Saturday! For those who haven’t had a chance to get your tickets yet head to Eventfinda where you can buy online, or find out how to buy tickets over the phone or in person.

Times are approximate and subject to change on the day.

Reports of drug cheating splash across our headlines every week. Systemic in Russia, crossing disciplines, its presence is felt throughout sport. Anti-Corruption pioneer Michael Hershman will shine a light into the dark corners of this world wide practice.

It’s time to announce our next two speakers! One is a highly successful and awarded entrepreneur coming all the way from New York and the second is both a clinical psychologist and a senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Waikato.

Get your tickets now for TEDxTauranga 2016 through Eventfinda.

Joshua Konowe

TEDxTauranga 2016 Speakers

Joshua is a judge at Georgetown University’s entrepreneurial MBA program, a mentor at the Founder Institute, and volunteers at the Children’s Science Center, a non-profit in Washington DC.

---

Armon Tamatea

TEDxTauranga 2016 Speaker

Step inside the mind of a psychopath this year with our speaker Armon Tamatea! A clinical psychologist and senior lecturer in psychology; his current research interests include psychopathy, gang communities, criminal justice and indigenous peoples, and institutional violence in prisons.

Check out our current list of speakers and their full biographies here on our 2016 speakers page.

The TEDxTauranga 2016 volunteer team is proud to announce our next two speakers for this years event on the 20th August.

Get your tickets now through Eventfinda.

Mike and Sharon Barton

TEDxTauranga 2016 Speakers

Firstly we have Mike and Sharon who are heavily involved in the science and policy driving protection of Lake Taupo’s water quality from the effects of farming.

Dr. Heather Hendrickson

TEDxTauranga 2016 Speaker

And secondly we have Dr. Heather Hendrickson; her and her lab at Massey University in Auckland study various aspects of how bacteria evolve and exchange genetic material.

Check our current list of speakers and their full bio’s here on our 2016 speakers page.

We are very pleased to announce that tickets for TEDxTauranga 2016 are now on sale via the Eventfinda website.

You can also purchase tickets by phoning 0800 BUY TIX (289 849) or visiting an Eventfinda ticketing outlet.

Head to tedxtauranga.com/news for all the latest details on TEDxTauranga 2016.

We look forward to seeing you on the 20th August!

TEDxTauranga 2016: Tickets on sale Tuesday

WE KNOW THE DATE

WE KNOW TWO OF THE SPEAKERS

AND NOW WE KNOW WHEN THE TICKETS ARE ON SALE

This Tuesday, at 9am, tickets for TEDxTauranga 2016 officially go on sale. The TEDxTauranga volunteer team is excited to bring you 10 live speakers, 3 TED videos, live entertainment and a special screening of the winning video from the Enspire Youth Video Challenge on the 20th August at ASB Arena, Mount Maunganui. Oh, and don’t forget the food, we feed you too*!

General admission tickets are $100 + booking fee and we also have a limited number of discount tickets available to students and senior at $70 + booking fee**. Tickets will be available here from Tuesday.

The last three years TEDxTauranga has sold out, so don’t miss your chance to experience this amazing event.

To see our latest updates checkout TEDxTauranga.com/news

*Our menu is still in progress (stay tuned) but we aim to cater to all our audience members by supplying options for diabetics, vegetarians, vegans and those with dairy and gluten intolerance.
**Discount ticket holders must present the appropriate photo ID on arrival at the event.

This Year TEDxTauranga is Bringing the World to You!

We at TEDxTauranga are absolutely thrilled to announce Michael Hershman as our second speaker who will be live on stage on the 20th August.

Michael Hershman, based in Washington D.C., is an internationally recognised expert on matters relating to transparency, accountability and corruption. Michael has also been recognised by the Ethisphere Institute in their list of the top 100 most influential people in business ethics worldwide.

Some of Michael’s accomplishments include:

• Co-founder of Transparency International, an independent, not-for-profit coalition promoting transparency and accountability in business and in government
• CEO and President of The Fairfax Group, a world leading risk management firm
• Member of the board of the United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation
• Member of the board of directors and the executive committee of the Center for International Private Enterprise
• Served for two years on the FIFA Independent Governance Committee

We look forward to welcoming Michael to the TEDxTauranga stage on the 20th August at ASB Arena, Mount Maunganui.

Keep an eye out for more announcements as tickets go on sale on the 10th May. 
Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

First Speaker Announcement for TEDxTauranga 2016

We are excited to announce the first of our speakers for TEDxTauranga 2016:- Bryan Winters

Bryan Winters has survived several Information Technology revolutions in his thirty years in the industry around the world. With experience ranging from the once largest company on the planet to being self employed, he is fascinated by the impact of computing on society. An internationally published author, Bryan and his wife Rosie live near the beach at Mount Maunganui, describing himself as an ageing surfer.

We look forward to welcoming Bryan to the TEDxTauranga stage on the 20th August at ASB Arena, Mount Maunganui.

Keep an eye out for more announcements in the coming days. 
Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

NEWSFLASH – AUGUST 20th 2016

What’s special about August 20th? It’s the new date for TEDxTauranga!

The team have been working feverishly to bring you a better than ever TEDxTauranga!

What’s up next? April 19th we’ll be announcing the first three of our speakers for 2016.

Tickets go on sale 10 May so mark the date in your calendar!

Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

TEDxTauranga 2016

20 August 2016
ASB Arena
Truman Lane, Mount Maunganui

TEDxTauranga2016: Speakers Update

Nominations for Speakers for TEDxTauranga 2016 have now closed and we are well into meeting and interviewing speakers for the event. The quality of nominations this year has blown us away and it has generated some keen discussions on who should be progressed to the next stage. Our “speakers team” have been excited about some amazing national and international speakers who have committed to be on stage, and we are all eagerly waiting for the announcements. In the mean time we can leave you with a teaser about one of our topics that promises to keep us all enthralled on the big day……
· Interesting protein alternatives for the future

Cheers, Prathima
Speakers and Marketing team member for TEDxTauranga 2016

If you were invited on stage for TEDxTauranga 2016, what idea would you share?

If not you, then who do you know that has an idea worth spreading?

• Nominate a speaker for TEDxTauranga 2015
• or, Apply to Speak yourself!

Who are we looking for?

• Someone who can tell us an idea worth spreading
• Someone who can teach us something new
• Someone who is deeply fascinated with their own favourite topic (that kind of passion and enthusiasm is contagious)
• Someone who can share that fascination with us by telling an engaging story
• Someone who can prepare a talk between 5-15mins long
• Their delivery could be:
  • As they are, just talking
  • Or with the support of a few powerpoint slides (photos are fine, graphs are fine, 1 word or 1 sentence on a slide is fine – but no bullet points are allowed)
  • Or with a physical prop
• Someone who has a connection to the Bay of Plenty area is an advantage (but not essential)

Nominate a speaker for TEDxTauranga 2015 or Apply to Speak

What might they talk about?

Here is a list of the latest talks on the TED.com website. Can you think of someone who could give a talk like one of these?

1. The secret sneaker market — and why it matters
2. The chilling aftershock of a brush with death
3. How I’m working for change inside my church
4. The moral bias behind your search results
5. This is what LGBT life is like around the world
6. A musical escape into a world of light and color
7. A breakthrough new kind of wireless Internet
8. The coolest animal you know nothing about … and how we can save it
9. A boat carrying 500 refugees sunk at sea. The story of two survivors
10. The heartbreaking text that inspired a crisis help line
11. How to stay calm when you know you’ll be stressed
12. Art that lets you talk back to NSA spies
13. The enchanting music of sign language
14. How I teach kids to love science
15. Social services are broken. How we can fix them
16. Deep under the Earth’s surface, discovering beauty and science
17. An Internet without screens might look like this
18. We can now edit our DNA. But let’s do it wisely
19. The secret US prisons you’ve never heard of before
20. The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds
21. Two nameless bodies washed up on the beach. Here are their stories
22. Why medicine often has dangerous side effects for women
23. The future of flying robots
24. How we can make the world a better place by 2030
25. Home is a song I’ve always remembered
26. You can grow new brain cells. Here’s how
27. Design at the intersection of technology and biology
28. Soon we’ll cure diseases with a cell, not a pill
29. Climate change is happening. Here’s how we adapt
30. Why some of us don’t have one true calling
31. How my mind came back to life — and no one knew
32. Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades
33. Don’t ask where I’m from, ask where I’m a local
34. Alzheimer’s is not normal aging — and we can cure it
35. 4 powerful poems about Parkinson’s and growing older

When is TEDxTauranga 2016?

Nominations/Applications are now open for speakers for TEDxTauranga 2016!

We are looking for speakers who are either based in the Bay of Plenty or have close ties to our region.

Who should we talk to next?

• Nominate a speaker for TEDxTauranga 2015
• or, Apply to Speak yourself!

Who are we looking for?

• Someone who can tell us an idea worth spreading
• Someone who can teach us something new
• Someone who is deeply fascinated with their own favourite topic (that kind of passion and enthusiasm is contagious)
• Someone who can share that fascination with us by telling an engaging story
• Someone who can prepare a talk between 5-15mins long
• Their delivery could be:
  • As they are, just talking
  • Or with the support of a few powerpoint slides (photos are fine, graphs are fine, 1 word or 1 sentence on a slide is fine – but no bullet points are allowed)
  • Or with a physical prop
• Someone who is based in the Bay of Plenty (Tauranga, Rotorua, Whakatane, KatiKati, Kawerau, Waihi, Opotiki etc) or has a strong BOP connection (eg used to live here, has family here)

Nominate a speaker for TEDxTauranga 2015 or Apply to Speak

What might they talk about?

Here is a list of the latest talks on the TED.com website. Can you think of someone who could give a talk like one of these?

1. The secret sneaker market — and why it matters
2. The chilling aftershock of a brush with death
3. How I’m working for change inside my church
4. The moral bias behind your search results
5. This is what LGBT life is like around the world
6. A musical escape into a world of light and color
7. A breakthrough new kind of wireless Internet
8. The coolest animal you know nothing about … and how we can save it
9. A boat carrying 500 refugees sunk at sea. The story of two survivors
10. The heartbreaking text that inspired a crisis help line
11. How to stay calm when you know you’ll be stressed
12. Art that lets you talk back to NSA spies
13. The enchanting music of sign language
14. How I teach kids to love science
15. Social services are broken. How we can fix them
16. Deep under the Earth’s surface, discovering beauty and science
17. An Internet without screens might look like this
18. We can now edit our DNA. But let’s do it wisely
19. The secret US prisons you’ve never heard of before
20. The unexpected beauty of everyday sounds
21. Two nameless bodies washed up on the beach. Here are their stories
22. Why medicine often has dangerous side effects for women
23. The future of flying robots
24. How we can make the world a better place by 2030
25. Home is a song I’ve always remembered
26. You can grow new brain cells. Here’s how
27. Design at the intersection of technology and biology
28. Soon we’ll cure diseases with a cell, not a pill
29. Climate change is happening. Here’s how we adapt
30. Why some of us don’t have one true calling
31. How my mind came back to life — and no one knew
32. Stunning photos of the endangered Everglades
33. Don’t ask where I’m from, ask where I’m a local
34. Alzheimer’s is not normal aging — and we can cure it
35. 4 powerful poems about Parkinson’s and growing older

When is TEDxTauranga 2016?

A sold out crowd. 1010 lanyards collected. 1010 faces turned towards the big screen. We were ready for TEDxTauranga to begin.

I found myself sitting next to one of last year’s speaker’s who was able to describe how charged the speakers will be feeling and how many weeks and months of polishing had gone into preparing the messages we were about to hear.

Lead organiser Sheldon Nesdale introduced us to what we could expect to experience today; thoughts we may have never had, friends we would have never otherwise met, conversations you just ever get the chance to ordinarily have.

After the housekeeping rundown and description of how the zero-waste event was to run, we were issued with three orders; ignore people you know, fall silent when there is a speaker on stage, and meet someone new in the breaks.

And with that, TEDxTauranga 2015 began.

1. Ellis Bryers: Our cultural identity as New Zealanders. Our Kiwi-Tanga

Growing up the son of a Maori dad and a Pakeha Mum in 1970s New Zealand, Ellis was told that the Maori world was a dying one.

Later in life, deciding on his own cultural transformation by “stepping through the greenstone door”, Ellis saw the irony in people who were fluent in Te Reo being just about the only ones  guaranteed a job.

As a cultural advisor in the Bay of Plenty and having now officiated his 95^th local wedding, Ellis is witnessing in real time the development of what he calls “Kiwitanga’; Maori welcoming the development of their ancient traditions and pakeha embracing a cultural identity that respects the Maori heritage from where it came.

He believes this is a significant moment in our country’s evolution – one of unity and respect.

Best thought challenge –  if we don’t put a stake into the ground that declares what our unique identity stands for, then others will for us. How will I express my kiwitanga?

Spine tingling moment – Ellis’ taiaha demonstration. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up

2. Dr David Pattemore: The pollination puzzle: Unexpected alternatives to honey bees

Bees, as hear endlessly in the mainstream media, are bad news. Well, losing them will be bad news for the earth, this we know.

But this is only a scary headline that represents a sliver of the wider problem and the wider solution.

These headlines are in fact referring to the European Honey Bee, which is one of 7 varieties of honey bee, among 25,000 other species of honey bees.

These bees are certainly in danger but the picture is wider and less grim than this.

Because David’s research on predator-free islands such as the Little Great Barrier showed that a variety of species actually love to pollinate our native plants too – birds, bats, beetles, and flies all help to move the pollen around to keep our native plants reproducing and flourishing.

Head-tilting moment – the New Zealand avocado industry sees a Central American fruit being pollinated by the European Honey Bee and grown in a South Pacific climate. It’s a human engineered process.

The bottom line takeaway– while the European Honey Bee is in trouble, there are some under-explored alternatives that must be investigated

3. Catherine Iorns: How a Simple Change to the New Zealand constitution could protect the environment

Catherine opened with a challenge that we’re being asked currently in New Zealand; that 100% Pure tourism campaign provides a convenient screen for a host of evils currently afflicting our natural environment.

Catherine used New Zealand’s waterways to illustrate her argument that this can no longer be accepted as the status quo; Nitrates, pesticides, fertilizers and toxic fracking waste are raising potentially lethal issues in the use of this water.

Catherine’s solution is to provide for environmental protection in our human rights legislation.

A line in the Bill of Rights or Human Rights Act would allow the protection of the environment be discussed in national courts, and therefore compel governments and populations to take active measures to protect these most precious of resources.

Biggest wake up moment: The Philippines has a more advanced formal environmental protection regime than New Zealand. I’ve been to Manila, yikes.

Question I’d love to have been able to ask –  how central has been formal human rights recognition been for the development of rights relating to women, race, and sexuality? A conversation that is worth having.

4. Sir Ray Avery: Disruption, Innovation, Spin-Offs: 3  reasons New Zealanders are better at turning dreams into reality

A man approaching household-name status in New Zealand, Sir Ray strode onto the stage musing that humans are the only species that know we are going to die, yet we still haven’t done anything about it.

He is determined to use what days he has changing the world, and asked us what we wanted to use our remaining days doing.

He believes innovation is primarily driven by the power of observation: it was by observing the details in front of him that allowed him to have breakthroughs in designing and bringing to market the Lifepod Infant Incubator.

He says New Zealanders are perfectly suited to innovation because we don’t like rules, they don’t like the status quo, and they dare to dream.

Best sharing-the-love moment – Sir Ray listed off a list of New Zealand companies who you’ve never heard of but whose products billions of people around the world use every day, such as Buckley System’s electromagnetic chips sitting in our iphones.

Fun trivia – When Sir Ray is called “Sir” when shopping he never knows if they know he’s a knight, or they are just being polite!

Lunch time! Yum Mexican inspired snacks in compostable boats. An hour to chat and mingle and digest the food and thoughts.

5. John Boone

Coming back from the first break, the crowd each grabbed one of a thousand hand-held drums that were stacked on the side of the venue.

What for? We found out as John Boone sang and drummed a call-and-response routine. Singing, banging, clapping, giggling. The dude was a hilarious conductor and we all decided we were buying a bongo drum tomorrow. Uplifting.

6. TED Video: Rita Pearson: Every kid needs a champion

A video TED talk from Rita Pearson discussing education followed.

I won’t forget her describing how she graded failing students; she’ll focus on giving credit for the two answers they got right rather than the 18 they got wrong; “Minus 18 sucks the life out of you. Plus 2 says I’m not all bad”.

7. Dr Bronwen Connor: How to Turn Skin Cells into Brain Cells

Holding up a real human brain (preserved in resin), Bronwen described how when a healthy human brain works as it should, it is a natural supercomputer.

1 in 50 New Zealanders, however, suffer from  some sort of neurological disease and this number is increasing.

Bronwen’s research team devised a technique called direct reprogramming which forces genes into skin cells to make them behave like, and eventually turn into, healthy brain cells.

This has radical potential for understanding for the first time how normal and diseased brain cells differ, thereby understanding what is needed to cure neurological diseases.

Bronwen reminded us that we need to trust our crazy ideas, even, or perhaps especially, in fields of work that look linear like science.

Coolest thing – Bronwen, along with her technical staff, was the first person in history to physically see what a brain cell grown from a skin cell looks like.

Interesting factoid I learned – the majority of testing is done on rodents and drugs don’t reach humans until clinical trials which are admitted under very limited circumstances.

8. Dr Harold Hillman: Should you fit in or stand out? Finding your authentic voice

In 1993 Harold was one of a select group invited to serve on a governmental commission to investigate whether the US military’s policy of banning homosexual men and women from serving should be overturned.

While honoured to have been selected for such a prestigious role, Harold was equally terrified.

He was homosexual, but was so caught in his projection of what was required of him as a “professional” that he felt he compelled to hide this truth.

He spent his days in the commission listening to and watching brave pro-gay advocacy groups make their submissions in the face of both passive and aggressive anti-gay pressure and wondered why he couldn’t be his authentic self.

He left the military as Obama overturned the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy that that 1993 commission had implemented and swore to never again lose his integrity for the sake of being accepted by others.

Best breath-intake moment – “When you’re too focussed on holding yourself in, it’s harder for people to make a connection with you”.

Thing to remember – you may see someone receiving medals and plaudits, but you don’t know what inner battles they are waging.

9. Bekki Richards

Becky Richards’ short film entitled “There’s a Problem in our Backyard” was about environmental protectionism in the Bay of Plenty was shown. A young, local, film-making talent.

Afternoon tea break! Cupcakes and tea!

10. Marcus Winter a.k.a. The Sand Man

The end of the break saw us ease back into the sessions with Marcus Winter, the ridiculously talented sand performing artist.

A what? I hear you ask.

Marcus moves dry sand around a backlit lightbox while filming it from above, creating images that shape-shift and transform in front of our eyes as he makes and destroys them to tell a story.

He presented an utterly compelling sound and visual performance of the Battle of Gate Pa, a very significant piece of local history during the Maori Land Wars. Hard to describe, impossible to forget. Magical.

11. TED Video: Rana el Kaliouby: This app knows how you feel — from the look on your face

A video TED talk from Rana el Kaliouby illustrated how she has been developing technology that allows screens to literally read emotions.

How would you describe the difference between a smile and a smirk? It’s hard, but computers can now tell the difference, with huge implications for human social development.

12. Dr Michael Quintern: The 600 million year old technology beneath our feet

This is a guy that likes muck. Which is lucky, because New Zealand has a lot of it and needs to work out what to do with it. Primary industries in New Zealand create a lot of waste product like fibrous wood chip waste and sludge from dairy factories.

This waste is urgently needed to produce hummus for our soils that are lacking in nutrients.

But, this mucky waste is difficult, expensive, and occasionally unsafe to transport around leaving most of it abandoned to methane-producing dumps.

The cutting edge technology needed to solve this equation is: Earthworms.

They churn through waste and turn it into vermicast which is fluffy, nutrient-dense, and economical fertilizer that farmers love.

Best soundbite – Look for global worming, not global warming

Best worm trivia – worms eat their body weight a day, they can double their population within two months, and compress waste into 80% of what it was. If they were pretty they’d be everyone’s favourite creature.

13. Jason Edgecombe: Do you always read the label? When diagnosis can suppress recovery

As a kid in the ‘90s, Jason’s parents were given his diagnosis; doctors declared him afflicted with Attention Deficit Disorder and therefore mentally disabled.

Worse even than the fact that this diagnosis was incorrect (he has high-functioning autism) was that the adults in his life told him that his differences meant that he would never achieve social, academic, or professional success.

Negative feedback from his external environment compounded the harsh negative messages Jason gave himself.

By drawing inspiration from the video game characters he loved, Jason challenged the assumption that he wouldn’t find success by studying martial arts, moving across the world, finding love and ultimately deciding to abandon the fruitless task of hating himself.

Now a dad, he’s discovering that there is a lot to love.

Note to self to follow up – I want to learn more about the differences that exist in people’s experience of autism;  what’s the difference between high functioning autism and other experiences of autism?

Best chat during the break – everyone was reminding each other to be kind to those who experience life differently than the majority after this talk

Our third break saw me refuel with a frittata (and possibly a second cupcake).

14. Phil and Tiley

Settling in for the final session of the day, the smooth acoustic tones of Phil and Tilley washed over my buzzing brain.

One of the duo played an instrument I’d never seen before, it looked like a deconstructed double bass adding a baritone to the guitar accompaniment.

They played a song about leaving someone you love and not feeling right until you’re back with them – we all know how that feels, gulp.

15. TED Video: Julian Treasure: How to speak so that people want to listen

A final video TED talk came from Julian Treasure talking about how the human voice can be used to its most powerful effect.

The seven deadly sins of verbal communication (gossip, judging, negativity, complaining, excuses, lying, dogmatism) can be overpowered by HAIL; honesty, authenticity, integrity, love.

By being aware what you say, and how you say it, powerful change can come from your voice.

16. Rachael van der Gugten: Fart free for life: Why good digestion is essential for optimal health

We all do it, but do we all know that flatulence is actually a warning sign of what’s going on in our bellies? Rachael’s research is joining others in showing that a diet too heavily reliant on carbohydrates causes an imbalance of microflora in our guts.

Over-consumption of carbohydrates can cause the “thunder from down under” that sounds funny, but is probably a sign to eat more nutrient dense meat, healthy fats, and fibre.

And if your “yodelling from below” is stinky? It may be that your stomach is low in acid and therefore not properly processing the food that is in it.

Stress, nutrient deficiencies, and some medications can cause farts to be smelly and another sign to check your overall health.

Most helpful contribution from the audience – my neighbour suggested I could remember that carbohydrates and stress may cause loud and smelly flatulence by naming them ‘stink links’. Thanks, neighbour.

A more relevant helpful hint – Rachael suggested you can test your stomach acid levels by drinking a glass of water with ¼ teaspoon baking soda in it; if you burp right away your stomach levels are fine, if it takes longer than 5 minutes to burp it’s time to look into it.

17. Stephen Lethbridge: How to create a workforce that can answer “ungoogleable” questions

If we are in the golden age of connectivity, and about to enter into the age of hyper-connectivity where machine intelligence works inextricably in with our daily lives, then someone is going to need to know how to create this with code.

Stephen is a principal of an Auckland school that is focussing on nurturing a generation of kids that know how to be digitally literate.

By offering innovative programmes such as Zombie Robot Club encouraging children to tinker, design, collaborate, and iterate Stephen is turning the kids in his school into effective problem finders as well as problem solvers.

The school’s Make Club sees kids join with their parents to work on issues such as making the 3D printer print with chocolate rather than clay, thereby encouraging both generations to welcome mistakes and teach each other.

Best head-nodding moment – when kids ask, “what should I do now”? Answer with “how might you find out what you should do now?”

Idea that reaches across disciplines – Stephen said that we mustn’t limit our children to the world that came before them. While he was referring to what they are taught in school, it can apply to so many aspects of a child’s development. Fascinating.

Closing Address

Sheldon closed this transformative day by thanking the 40 businesses that put their hard-earned money and services towards this wonderful event.

The speakers and performers were applauded again, and the team of amazing volunteers who collectively donated over 3000 hours to make TEDxTauranga fly.

Members of the audience shared some thoughts they had of the day including expressing their appreciation to Sheldon for his mammoth efforts.

One more drink with the crowd before it was time to take my bursting brain home to let the experience wash over.

Final Thought

TEDxTauranga is not simply a collection of live speakers.

It’s not simply a local community event.

It’s not simply an art experience.

It’s one of those things you do that you can’t file neatly next to something similar you’ve done recently.

It transcends genres and expectations.

It’s connection, and challenging assumptions, and sparking neurons you didn’t know you had.

It’s a supremely hopeful experience.

One you’ve got to have, at least one time.

Written by Claire Piper

We have about 70 tickets left (out of 1,000) so this is your last chance to get your ticket for TEDxTauranga (if you haven’t already).

(If you have your tickets, that’s great, but don’t just sit there, spread the word for us!)

Do the people in the collage below from our 2014 event look happy?

You bet.

You can have a smile on your dial by ensuring you join us this year.

8 Facts You Need To Know To Help Your Decision:

1. When? 10am to 7pm Saturday 25 July
   
2. Where? ASB Arena, Tauranga
   
3. What? 10 live speakers on stage + 4 entertainers: https://www.tedxtauranga.com/speakers/
4. How much? Tickets are $85: https://www.tedxtauranga.com/event/tickets/
5. Food is included all day
6. Got more questions? Check the FAQs: https://www.tedxtauranga.com/faqs/
7. Can you trust me when I say it will be awesome? Here’s what our audience said last year: https://www.tedxtauranga.com/reputation/
8. Always playing with your smartphone? Download our SmartPhone app: https://www.tedxtauranga.com/app/

See you soon.

Sheldon.

We are mere days away from TEDxTauranga 2015!

Click here to grab a ticket before they disappear.

Today we speak to a previous attendee about why you should come!

Interview with Heather Vail

Q: “Who are you and what keeps you busy?”

I’m Heather Vail – an educator, family member, someone who is curious about the world. I’m also the founder and director of Stor-E-Cards, a business that offers a new form of greeting cards. I take photographs that become a greeting card, each of which has a story attached to it which can be accessed online. We believe that every picture tells a story.

Q: “What did you love about TEDxTauranga last year?”

I loved the buzz – just the sharing of so many great ideas, experiences; the great talks, music and food.  I had two favourites – first Puawai Cairns for how she brought history to life with help from social media. And second Marty Hoffart for encouraging everyone to take a stake in keeping the New Zealand environment clean.

Q: “What changed in your life following TEDxTauranga last year?”

I reflected on the talks all year. I walked away thinking even more about how positive and powerful  media and technology can be.  I also teach communication at Waiariki Institute of Technology and I use TED talks as apart of my teaching – particularly for  international students who are find English a barrier; it can be great way to teach the language through subtitles, non-verbal communication, paralinguistic, etc. I find there is a TED talk for every subject.

Q: “What are you looking forward to at TEDxTauranga this year?”

Definitely Sir Ray Avery – I read his book a few years ago. There is a group of ten of us coming up from Rotorua for the day, we’d  love to see a speaker from Rotorua represented in years to come!

Q: “What TED talks do you recommend to people?”

A favourite is Ron Finley: A guerrilla gardener in South Central LA.

Being an American I love the notion of brining power back to the people.

I also loved Tama Iti’s talk in the recent TEDxAuckland, Mana: The power in knowing who you are. His discussion of culture and activism was empowering.

Thanks Heather! Looking forward to seeing you at this year’s event.

Buy tickets now!

Today we are 3 weeks away from our community’s opportunity to think, thrive, and transform at TEDxTauranga on 25 July 2015.

This event links Tauranga to the global phenomenon of TED where ‘ideas worth spreading’ unite people around in the world through inspiring stories.

TEDxTauranga will feature 10 speakers on stage with 3 live entertainment acts. (And we’ve been told that our all-day-catering is a big selling point too).

Whether you’re a TED talk connoisseur or a newbie to the format, the breadth and depth of the topics being covered at TEDxTauranga has something for everyone

If you’re interested in how cultural diversity affects a nation and its people:

• Then you’ll want to see Ellis Bryers speak of his vision to see Maori cultural practices understood and utilised by all New Zealanders.

Some eye-opening TED talks on cultural diversity are:

• The Paradox of Diversity: Dr. Marylin Sanders Mobley
• Embracing Otherness, Embracing Myself: Thandie Newton

If you’re interested in how scientific innovation can be used to make quality healthcare and equipment accessible to the vulnerable people who need it:

• Then you’ll want to see Sir Ray Avery talk about his inventions such as the Lifepod Infant Incubator that uses technology to reduce mortality rates of premature babies.

Some mind-blowing TED talks on scientific innovation in healthcare are:

• Medicine’s Future: There’s An App For That: Daniel Kraft
• Health Care Should Be A Team Sport: Eric Dishman

If you’re interested in how our food systems are coping in our changing ecology:

• You’re going to want to see Dr David Pattemore talk about alternative pollination of our most important New Zealand crops.

Some thought-provoking TED talks on food systems and how they are changing are:

• What’s Wrong With Our Food System: Birke Baer (he’s 11!)
• The Other Inconvenient Truth: Jonathan Foley

Ready?

• Go to: TEDxTauranga.com
• Read the FAQ’s to find out about what you’ll be eating, what’s the schedule for the day etc
• Buy your ticket for $85, if you haven’t already
• Watch the videos from TEDxTauranga last year

Great news!

For TEDxTauranga 2015 (25 July) we will have the following 10 speakers live on stage.

(Got your tickets yet? Buy Your Tickets For TEDxTauranga Now)

In alphabetical order, they are:

1. Sir Ray Avery

Associate Professor Bronwen Connor is head of the Neural Reprogramming and Repair Lab at the University of Auckland.

Her research is in the identification and development of new treatment strategies to prevent or repair brain cell loss in neurological diseases or following brain injury, with particular focus on the potential use of stem cell therapy and gene delivery techniques.

Recently, Bronwen’s research has focused on developing a technology known as direct cell reprogramming.

This allows her to generate brain stem cells directly from human skin, providing a unique ability to obtain human brain cells from patients with neurological disease for both research and clinical application.

4. Jason Edgecombe

An aspiring entrepreneur with a unique perspective, and a touching story.

Jason will share with you the cost he paid to be “normal” and the tool which helped him begin his path to self acceptance.

The true greatness of a story’s hero is not the goals they achieve but the struggles they overcome.

5. Dr. Harold Hillman

Harold Hillman is a leadership coach, radio commentator, author and managing director of Sigmoid Curve Consulting Group, based in Auckland.

Raised and educated in the U.S. and a New Zealand citizen since 2008, Hillman coaches business leaders and executive teams to be more purposeful about leadership.

A clinical psychologist in his early career, Hillman developed a passion for leadership development while teaching at the United States Air Force Academy.

He authored The Impostor Syndrome, which was Whitcoulls’ business book of the year in 2013.

Hillman’s second book, Fitting In, Standing Out, will be published by Penguin Random House in August.

6. Catherine Iorns

Catherine Iorns is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law at Victoria University of Wellington, where she researches, writes and teaches on environmental law, human rights, and statutory interpretation.

Ms Iorns is also a national board member of Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, of 350 Aotearoa, and of Environment and Conservation Organisations of New Zealand.

She is a member of the ILA Committee on the Implementation of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law, and she holds an LLM from Yale University.

7. Stephen Lethbridge

Stephen Lethbridge is Principal of Taupaki School in the north west of Auckland. He is all about learning and growing leaders of the future.

He is currently thinking about robotics, arduino, design thinking, maker spaces in school, BYOB, and e-learning where the e stands for effective.

Stephen has presented at workshops and keynotes across New Zealand and Australia, and has just been invited to attend Tim O’Reilly’s FOO camp in the United States.

He is a connected and future focused education leader who is all about fostering curiosity and creativity in our children.

8. Dr. David Pattemore

After an initial career in conservation, David headed to Princeton University on a Fulbright Award in 2005 to begin his PhD.

It was during his doctorate that he got hooked on pollination, with a focus on native NZ plants.

As a scientist with Plant & Food Research he now studies the pollination of economically important crops, bringing an ecologist’s perspective to production systems.

He leads a government and industry funded programme to develop alternative pollination systems, and spends considerable time pondering the complexities of avocado pollination and dreaming up new ways to house bumblebees.

9. Dr. Michael Quintern

Michael received his Diploma in Agricultural Engineering (Dipl. Ing agr) in 1993 from Georg August University, Göttingen, Germany, and his Doctorate in Agriculture in 1997 from University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany.

He was working as assistant professor in the field of land utilisation of organic waste-to-land, on organic (and conventional) managed farms until 2006.

He carried on his international career as senior scientist at SCION, Rotorua, New Zealand and was the Technical Manager of the New Zealand Land Treatment Collective until 2009. Michael developed industrial vermicomposting technologies for primary industries and municipal organic wastes in New Zealand.

In 2015 the 4 vermicomposting operations diverted 150,000 tonnes of organic wastes from landfills.

Michael is responsible for research and developing of future technologies for utilisation of organic wastes. Michael’s passion are soils and he believes in sustainable soil management.

10. Rachael van der Gugten

Rachael has a diploma in Nutritional Medicine from the University of West London.

Through discovering nutritional interventions, she overcame health issues and infertility to have 4 amazing children.

She worked as a Nutritional Therapist in Switzerland for several years and returned to New Zealand with her husband and children in 2013.

She has a passion for empowering people to understand what is going on in their bodies and loves piecing together the many parts of the puzzle in a memorable and easy to understand way.

She believes digestion is the key to optimal health and being fart free for life!

Got your tickets yet?

Buy Your Tickets For TEDxTauranga Now

Hi, my name is Roberta, and it has been a great privilege working with the team putting together the 2015 event.

Volunteers are so amazing and the passion for TEDxTauranga make this one of the most exciting groups I have ever worked with.

I’m going to ask you to do one thing today:

• Just put TEDxTauranga into your calendar: 10am to 7pm Saturday 25th July 2015
• If you are ready to buy a ticket today, sure, you can go ahead, but just putting the date in your calendar is the first step

Joining us in person is an exciting, energised, fun experience that you don’t want to miss, but if you absolutely can’t join us on the day, we will release the videos of the talks a few weeks later.

Roberta Budvietas
Volunteer

The future of medicine has reached new heights with scientists now able to take mature human skin cells and “reprogram” them back to stem cells to replace tissue lost through disease or injury.

Photo Credit: Fiona Goodall, East & Bays Courier

This is Associate Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Auckland, Bronwen Connor.

Bronwen has developed a novel technology which allows human skin cells to be turned specifically into brain stem cells.

What does this technology mean for the future treatment of currently incurable brain diseases and injuries?

You’ll find out when you see her live on stage on Saturday 25 July 2015 at TEDxTauranga.

The draft title for her talk is “How to turn skin cells into brain cells”.

3 more reasons for you to buy your ticket to TEDxTauranga (10am to 6.30pm Saturday 25th July 2015) today:

1. Value: For just $85 you’ll see 10 speakers live on stage + entertainment acts + a selection of the best TED videos
2. Sustenance: Food and hydration is provided all day
3. Connections: You will make new friends. Only the most interesting people on the planet come to TEDx events like ours which makes every conversation you have, an interesting one

Photo Credit: Newstalk ZB

This is Sir Ray Avery, a leading New Zealand scientist, innovator and inventor.

And we are confident that he will challenge you and prompt you to Think, Thrive and Transform when you see him live on stage during TEDxTauranga on 25th July 2015.

You might be interested in his TEDxAuckland talk in 2010:

The draft title for his TEDxTauranga 2015 talk is “Disruption, Innovation, Spin-offs. 3 reasons NZers are better at turning dreams into realities“.

Avery’s inventions include:

1. Acuset IV Flow Controller: A device that facilitates the safe administration of potent IV drugs
2. Lifepod infant incubator: A high-tech low-cost incubator that uses patentable technology to reduce the mortality rates associated with upper respiratory tract infections of premature babies
3. Proteinforte: An amino acid based functional food used for the treatment and prevention of protein-energy malnutrition

3 reasons for you to buy your ticket to TEDxTauranga (10am to 6.30pm Saturday 25th July 2015) today:

1. Value: For just $85 you’ll see 10 speakers live on stage + entertainment acts + a selection of the best TED videos
2. Sustenance: Food and hydration is provided all day
3. Connections: You will make new friends. Only the most interesting people on the planet come to TEDx events like ours which makes every conversation you have, an interesting one

Buy your ticket today

I’ve watched over 1000 TED.com videos, but I watched 4 in a row this week that amazed me!

I could actually feel them reconfiguring my brain 🙂

Here’s a 5 minute video summary of my favourite bits:

Want to watch the full videos?

http://www.ted.com/talks/ricardo_semler_radical_wisdom_for_a_company_a_school_a_life

Enjoy!

Sheldon Nesdale
Lead Organiser of TEDxTauranga

Good news, we have closed nominations for speakers for TEDxTauranga 2015!

It’s good news because we’ve had 98 nominations to work through this year which is awesome!

There are 5 stages in our speaker selection process:

1. Nomination
2. Phone Interview
3. Face-to-Face interview (which we call “Meet & Greet”)
4. Practice Talk (where our semi-finalists present their 15 minute talks to us and we provide them with feedback)
5. Selection of the final 10

Here’s where we stand:

• 98 nominations that we’ve interviewed on the phone
• 40+ is how many potential speakers we’ve interviewed in person at our “Meet & Greet” evenings at The Tauranga Club
• 20+ is how many practice talks we’ll be watching in person between March and June
• 10 is how many speakers we’ll be choosing for our event

The purpose for telling you this is to give you confidence that TEDxTauranga 2015 will be on of the best TEDx events on the planet.

Convinced?

Good. 🙂

3 more things I need your help with:

1. Have you saved the date for TEDxTauranga in your calendar yet? 10am to 7pm Saturday 25 July 2015 (We’re planning an after-party also, so you might want to set a home time of 10pm 🙂
2. Get your peeps to sign up via email so they don’t miss out on early-bird tickets (April) and other announcements
3. Keep watching and sharing your favorite TED talks with friends and family in person, via email & Facebook etc (and drop in the fact that they can join you for a live event in July)

When can you get tickets?

• Early-bird tickets will go on sale in early April for those on our email list

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Head Organiser for TEDxTauranga
Phone: (07) 575 8799
Mobile: 021 128 5046

Below is a list of testimonials & reactions that we’ve collected over the last 5 weeks since TEDxTauranga (you can add your own to the comment section at the bottom).

4 things for you to do next:

1. Note the date for TEDxTauranga if you haven’t already: Saturday 25 July 2015
2. Volunteer to join the 2015 team
3. Become an event sponsor/partner (or let us know who we should talk to)
4. Nominate a speaker for 2015

I love talking about TEDxTauranga so pick up the phone anytime.

Cheers,
Sheldon Nesdale
(07) 575 8799, or 021 128 5046

TEDxTauranga Speaker Reactions

If you know someone who would make an awesome TEDxTauranga speaker in 2015, you can nominate them.

“Thank you for the opportunity to speak, it was a truly inspiration experience, and great to meet your amazing crew. Awesome job pulling it all together!”
– Nicole Masters, 2014 TEDxTauranga Speaker

“I commend you and am so grateful to you for your courage and vision… You’re definitely making a difference in our community and in the world, thank you.”
– Dr. Liza Schneider, 2014 TEDxTauranga Speaker

“Congratulations on managing such an awesome event. Everyone I spoke to really enjoyed the TEDx event – me too! I felt honored to be one of your speakers.”
– Dr. Rodney Ford, 2014 TEDxTauranga Speaker

“Wahoo! Loved the TEDx experience! Inspiring and mind blowing. Great job crew. Thanks for the invite!!!!!”
– Nicole Masters, 2014 TEDxTauranga Speaker

Sponsor Reactions

If you would like to sponsor the 2015 event, call Sheldon on 575 8799, or 021 128 5046.

“What a great experience and event – well done! I thoroughly enjoyed the day/night and just wanted to commend you and your team for a fantastic TEDx show where all of the speakers and performers lived up to their billing.”
– Tait Grindley, General Manager at New Zealand Institute of Management Inc.

“As a firm we want to engage with our clients at a deeper level than as a simple service provider. Part of that engagement is the exchange of ideas and interests. By sponsoring TEDx we demonstrated to our clients that as a firm we value the power of ideas to make a difference. As an event it also gave us multiple opportunities to Network with many people on the day between speakers. There was a real buzz in the breaks and striking up a conversation was dead easy. We would definitely recommend sponsoring the event to any business that wants to make a difference and be associated with a diverse audience of all ages , views and backgrounds. The experience at the event was outstanding. It was a very professional event of high quality. A visitor from London said that it was better than a TEDx event she had been to in New York.”
– Mackenzie & Elvin – Platinum Sponsor

“Tedx Tauranga was a well organised professional event with many thought provoking speakers. As an organisation SmartGrowth values the same ideas as TEDx and aligns with new and innovative approaches to growth and planning. Highly recommend to be part of as a sponsor.”
– Justine Brennan, SmartGrowth Implementation Manager

Audience Reactions

“What a fantastic event!!… It was well run; with great speakers and good catering but most of all was the atmosphere and the buzz in the air to be in a room with 500 plus creative, interesting and thinking people. Can’t wait until next year.”
– Bernie van der Lee

“Thank you for a wonderful day yesterday, loved it, speakers were awesome.”
– Sharon Lambert

“Sheldon was funny and so full of passion. Great range of well prepared thought provoking speakers
Entertainment of a high standard. Venue was great and plenty of parking always a bonus. The folk foods and presentation were awesome & quantities seemed spot on.”
– Carla Beazley

“Well done, you carried the day in an easy going and entertaining way. I enjoyed the stimulation of different perspectives – putting a bit of music in there helped too.”
– Dave Collins, Service Supervisor at Komatsu, Auckland

“The venue was fantastic and getting a good seat was not too difficult. There was the free shopping experience – great giveaways – and the chance to rub shoulders with people before the show got under way. The event started on time – always a plus for punctual me – and your introduction was informative, fun and….. quirky. From the first speaker to the last and including the video talks, the material was always of at least decent acceptable, sometimes superb and occasionally, totally sooooo inspiring. Fantastic, that us GFs were well catered for.”
– Murray Maunder

“We had fun, met people, ate delicious food, heard some fantastic ideas from our people that were definitely worth sharing. Robyn and I will definitely plan TedxTauranga 2015 into our diaries and tell lots of our friends to give it a go.”
– Robyn Maunder

“TEDxTauranga was a dynamic mixture of real time speakers, new ideas, innovative music, lots of passion and an opportunity to meet great people and discover new adventures for both the body and the mind. The speakers were interesting and committed and for most of them this was a great place to get their message out and get reactions. The day made a difference in all the lives of those present I believe. It did in mine and I am looking forward to working with several presenters and several attendees on new ideas and campaigns.”
– Roberta Budvietas, Business Mentor at BUDZ Business Services

“We had a great time with several speakers of direct interest to family and it was particularly satisfying to watch their enthusiasm for all things grow. Lots of buzz all the way home to Hamilton and we are going to have TED video nights once a week.”
– Nigel Byron

“#TEDxTauranga amazing today! Learnt what a gluten is”
– Jim Grafas ‏‪@jimgrafas, via Twitter

“Wonderful ‪#tedxtauranga event well done ‪@SheldonNesdale !! Looking forward to the next one! “
– Tim Nesdale ‏‪@Nez99, via Twitter

“Thanks to ‪#tedxtauranga. A cool ocean breeze of brain food.”
Trent Yeo ‏‪@wherestrentnow, via Twitter

“Thank you ‪#TEDxTauranga for new ideas and making me question those I had….. I will never think of CAT in the same way again.”
– Louise Miller ‏‪@louise_miller44, via Twitter

“Finishing up at # tedxtauranga so much fun!!”
– Sarah-Hope ‏‪@Hopey11, via Twitter

“TEDx was an amazing heartening positive informative day, a much needed antidote to the Fear based NEWS, which seldom features the people taking us to a positive future. The group of speakers and entertainers we had in Tauranga this weekend form part of that positive growing movement. Thanks for bringing TED to Tauranga and including Local issues too.”
– Kyle Ashley, via Facebook

“A huge thank you to everyone who worked on, and in this event. It was a huge success. Sheldon and team… I laughed. I danced. I learnt. I had fun. I was inspired. I didn’t cry… Until the very end…when you got teary eyed thanking people. I’d like to add to that… And thank your wife for sharing you with all of us. She must be an incredible woman! PUCKER up guys and I look forward to seeing you next year at TEDx Tauranga.”
– Rachelle Sutton, via Facebook

“Thanks for a very enjoyable day, left feeling very inspired can’t wait til next year!”
-‪ Sarah Raman, via Facebook

“Sheldon you should be soooo proud of yourself and the team it took to put it together. Without doubt the best day of the year for me so far. A magic mix of information, inspiration, and an overwhelming feeling of kindred spirits there throughout the day. I spoke to so many people I’d never met before.
The mix of speakers covered all bases and I found that even if I had a preconceived idea about whether this or that person would be interesting to me, they actually were, because of the way they presented it and their obvious passion about their topic.”
– Steph Holloway, via Facebook

“TEDx was an amazing heartening positive informative day, a much needed antidote to the Fear based NEWS, which seldom features the people taking us to a positive future. The group of speakers and entertainers we had in Tauranga this weekend form part of that positive growing movement. Thanks for bringing TED to Tauranga and including Local issues too.”
– Kyle Ashley, via Facebook

“TEDxTauranga – Thank you for a great day of “Info-tainment”! I left feeling inspired and energised, with new ideas and some new friends too. Well done to the team for such a great programme and well executed event. Looking forward to next year already.”
– Pip Loader, via Facebook

“Really enjoyed attending this event yesterday!! All you organisers did such a FANTASTIC job of putting on a very inspiring thought provoking, high-energy event! Looking forward to the next one!!”
– Lorna Kennedy, via Facebook

“Beyond fabulous day, thank you so much. Astounded the way the stories all interconnected on a similar level. Such powerful, thought provoking speakers, original, beautiful music. Loved the ‘shopping on us’ isle, felt like a celeb being able to choose bits and pieces to pop in my bag. Great food, great company, 10/10 to every single person on the team that brought us TEDxTauranga!!! Already looking forward to next year.”
– Su-an McMahon, via Facebook

“TEDx allows people with a passion for bringing about positive change to a planet that has separated itself from the natural world, to share their solutions. Sheldon Nesdale, who I would vote for Mayor in a heartbeat and his team of Ted-X disciples, gave us all in the audience, cool kai for thought. It was served up by beautiful minds and beautiful music and it came gift wrapped in a whole lot of love.”
– Tommy Kapai, Bay Of Plenty Times

“Changing the world involves spreading ideas locally. TEDxTauranga connects you to that change. Bringing inspiring people to a stage and an audience to whom you’ll find an instant connection.”
– Isaac Tanner- Dempsey

“Absolutely LOVED the entire afternoon/evening. The time flew by as we, the audience, were whisked from interesting topic’s to relevant research to new thoughts and ideas. For anyone interested in an injection of inspiration, ‘feel good’ factor, and debate I recommend you participate in next year’s event.”
– Jess Somerville, Community Relations Representative at Trustpower

“TEDx was amazing! Well done, it was a treat for the mind and soul!”
– Tania Gaborit

“TED is one of the few events that features speakers talking about a diverse range of topics. It’s not the theme of the event that attracts people, it’s the philosophy and the common ideals of the participants that make it such an inspiring experience. And you get to meet lots of new people! TEDx Tauranga was no exception, a fantastically well organised event, very polished speakers and some fascinating topics. Well done team!”
– Ben Rickard, via Facebook

“It was a fantastic event. Sheldon was such a warm host, the speakers and singers were inspirational and it made you feel good. Thanks so much to Sheldon and his team of volunteers for giving back in the Bay.”
– Cherie Hawkins, via Facebook

“What a wonderful event!”
– Kathlene Cook, Community Relations Representative at Trustpower

“The TEDx event in Tauranga was a huge hit. A diverse range of local and international speakers shared a variety of topics. There was and even some singing and dancing…Plans are already underway for a bigger and better event next year.”
– TaurangaTech

“I had so much fun, both photographing and listening. Count me in for next year, I’d be honoured to be back!!”
– Little Miss Rose (Official event photographer)

“Awesome, awesome, awesome…Beautifully done. Interesting, with no boring bits. Fabulous mix of speakers and the whole thing just looked polished and professional.”
– Steph Holloway

“Was pretty excited coming up to Taurangas Tedx talks Saturday just passed. Walked away feeling it was one of the most inpiring things I have ever done. Stuck in an arena for 8 hours and lots of breaks with 500 other people being inspired. Wicked!
– Helen Copplestone

“In a nutshell….. I FREAKIN’ LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!! I had bought a ticket for my 23 year old daughter as a Christmas present last year, and she said it was the best Christmas present she has ever had! The entire time, I didn’t get bored or fidgety once. I felt so great being in a huge room with 500 other people who love to learn, and think, and make a difference. The vibe was just amazing!
The whole day was a feast for my mind, my ears, my taste buds.”
– Genevieve White

“Fab event luved it! We were able to meet the speakers, so they became ‘real’. We were a part of an energy-filled space that seemed to just magnify after every speaker.”
– Angie Davies

“Positive awakening to see so many ‘open minded’ people in one place – they all brought a great vibe to the room. Of course the MC did a sterling job too.”
– Annabel Davies

We are super stoked to announce our line-up of speakers for TEDxTauranga 2014! Hooray!

1. Puawai Cairns

Talk Title: Forgotten grandfathers: Newly discovered stories from the Maori men of World War I.

Puawai is a Curator at Te Papa Tongarewa. Let her take you on a journey discovering the motivations and emotions of the Maori Contingent at Gallipoli as their stories are told through their families.

2. Ben Warren

Talk Title: Modern lives are longer lives? Why that might NOT be true for you.

Through the story of his own journey to health, former professional golfer, nutritional and health expert Ben will help us discover why, as a society, we aren’t living longer, healthier lives.and what exactly we can do about this.

3. Dr Ian G. McLean

Talk Title: Love your children? Keep their enemies close.

From the wilds of Canada, through warzones in the middle east to small town New Zealand, Biologist Dr. Ian G. McLean explains how our ability to adapt our behaviour to whatever threatens us will allow us to survive in the face of adversity.

4. Marty Hoffart

Talk Title: Still a clean, green New Zealand? Three opportunities to rescue our slipping image.

Do you know how many discarded tyres there are in the landscape of NZ? What happens to your old TV when it goes to the dump? Marty is co-founder and trustee of The Environmental Education for Resource Sustainability Trust (EERST), Chair of the Community Recycling Network (CRN) and is the director of a Tauranga based waste minimisation consultancy Waste Watchers Ltd. His ideas on waste minimisation will challenge your perception of how we deal with waste in New Zealand.

5. Dr. Rodney Ford

Talk Title: Daily bread: Can ANY human body handle gluten?

Gluten – friend or foe? Will Dr. Rodney Ford, MB. BS. MD. FRACP, and a pioneer in the field of paediatric food allergies, convince you that nobody is equipped to digest gluten? Through decades of research, Dr. Ford believes that abundant health can be achieved by anyone who eats the appropriate foods.

6. Vikki Kelly

Talk Title: The three second kiss: Why our future depends on it.

Mindfulness is available to us all. We are losing our ability to relate to one another but with a few simple tools we can reverse this process– Let’s PUCKER up with development coach Vikki Kelly to rediscover this lost art and improve our relationships with each other.

7. James Ross

Talk Title: Learning differently: What if words in every book leaped up and came to life?

How do you go from school drop-out to finding power in seeing words in three dimensions? James Ross is passionate about showing people how dyslexia can be nurtured by teaching 3D learning.

8. Dr. Liza Schneider

Talk Title: Sustainable healthcare for our pets: Why the answer is not in the bag.

Dr. Liza Schneider is a holistic vet. She works hard to help in the pursuit of happier, healthier lives for our pets. Could we learn from these principles and apply them in our own lives?

9. Nicole Masters

Talk Title: Down and Dirty: A pile of reasons to fall in love with soil.

Are you a “germaphobe”? Why not let Agroecologist, Nicole Masters, explain how deeply microbes affect everything about us and why taking action to save the health of our soil offers a wide range of benefits not only to the environment but to society as a whole.

Got Your Tickets Yet?

If not, get a move on! www.tedxtauranga.com/buy-tickets/

If you have, don’t just sit there, invite people to join us! www.tedxtauranga.com/help-out/

Oooo I’m so excited!

I just had to give you this quick update on our speakers.

Firstly, did you know there are 23 in our organising team now?

We are all un-paid volunteers and we all have to juggle our day-jobs, family commitments and somehow find the time to work on our list of a thousand things that need to be done before we deliver you the TEDxTauranga event in 57 days from now.

What an amazing bunch of people, I’m honoured to be part of this group.

Now, I’ve had lots of people ask “who’s speaking at TEDxTauranga?”

Here’s where we stand:

• 51 is how many potential speakers we’ve interviewed on the phone
• 28 is how many potential speakers we’ve interviewed in person at our “Meet & Greet” evenings at The Tauranga Club
• 16 is how many practice talks we’ll be watching in person over the next 5 weeks
• 8 is how many speakers we’ll be choosing for our event

There are 5 stages in the speaker selection process:

1. Nomination
2. Phone Interview
3. Face-to-Face interview (which we call “Meet & Greet”)
4. Talk practice (where our 16 finalists present their 15 minute talks to us and we provide them with feedback)
5. Selection for the final 8

So we should be able to leak a few names to you mid-June.

But why let that stop you buying tickets and telling your friends and family to buy their tickets?

Looking at the process I’ve outlined here today, do you have any doubt that the speakers are going to be awesome? I certainly don’t 🙂

And don’t forget the 500 other awesome people in the audience with you! You might meet 5 or 10 or 20 or 50 of them. And a few of those meetings might just change your life.

Buy Tickets: https://tedxtauranga.eventbrite.co.nz/

Now ask yourself, “who can I forward this email to?”

And now send it. We need your help to spread the word.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Head Organiser for TEDxTauranga
Phone: (07) 575 8799
Mobile: 021 128 5046

Here’s a collection of feedback about TEDxTauranga which was held on Tuesday 30 July 2013 (if you’ve got something to add, do so in the comments section below):

“Participating in the first TEDx Tauranga was an honour. Being an avid online TED talk watcher, it had never occurred to me that I might have something TED-worthy to talk about. I love learning about new ideas and perspectives and so it was interesting to change my perspective on my own experience. I was definitely inspired and humbled by my fellow speakers and walked away with some serious food for thought. The deconstructed format of the evening fostered interaction between attendees and speakers which made it relaxed and enjoyable and a perfect forum to meet new people.”
– Charlotte Yates

“My partner, Lockie Martin, and I attended the Tedx, last night.  It was great!  Well done on getting some interesting and inspiring speakers!”
– Carolyn Mooney

“Thank you for organising a fantastic event.  I can’t wait for the next talk.”
– Ingrid Booysen

“What a positive experience the first TEDx Tauranga has been. As one of the group that gathered around Sheldon to make the event happen  here I can honestly say that it has been a wonderful  journey. It is also one that I want to continue for as long as I can perform a useful role as part of the fantastic TEDx Tauranga team. If I could find an adjective to describe the experience it would be” invigorating”. I liken it to something I did in April a couple of years ago when I jumped from the back of a yacht into the chilled waters of  Milford Sound – your body is shocked into life , your heart skips a beat and your mind is attuned to the whole experience. Ideas are powerful and story telling is powerful as we learned last night especially from Tommy Kapai. Ideas and storytelling – inspiring us to make ourselves, this community and its people truly “alive” .
– Marcus Wilkins 

“It was a great night, good range of people, plenty of energy, positive, great start.”
– Greg Sowter

Did you miss out on TEDxTauranga, 30 July 2013?

Did you attend, but want to relive the evening?

Then I have great news for you because here are the videos of each of the 6 speakers on the night:

(See this playlist on YouTube)

Speaker #1: Dean Parchomchuk & Charlotte Yates: “Tokelau, Bringing Solar Power to a Nation”

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Watch video on YouTube

Speaker #2: Hans Rosling: “The Magic Washing Machine” [VIDEO we played]

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Watch video on YouTube

Speaker #3: Peter Blakeway: “Should We Eat Our Pets?”

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Watch video on YouTube

Speaker #4: Nik Gregg: “Compassionate Business”

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Watch video on YouTube

Speaker #5: Joseph Kim: “The Family I Lost in North Korea. And the Family I Gained” [VIDEO we played]

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Watch video on YouTube

Speaker #6: Tommy Wilson: “Edu-tainment is the Silver Lining of the Long White Cloud”

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Watch video on YouTube

What do you think?

Share your reaction on our blog post or on our Facebook page.

Just a quick note to let you know how it went last night.

I was the emcee for the event and I started the night with 5 promises (and at the end of the night I checked with the audience if I had kept them):

1. You will hear new ideas [achieved!]
2. You will meet new people [achieved!]
3. You will cry at least once [achieved!]
4. You will laugh at least twice [achieved!]
5. You will clap until your hands are raw [achieved!]

Recently I’ve come to realise that with events like this, that 1/3 of the value of attending is the content and 2/3rds the people that you meet before, during and after. So I made sure to include at least 4 minutes of time between talks so everyone could meet new people.

We had 6 talks (4 live speakers + 2 videos):

#1: Dean Parchomchuk & Charlotte Yates “Tokelau: Bringing Solar Power to a Nation”

#2: Hans Rosling “The Magic Washing Machine” [VIDEO] 

#3: Peter Blakeway “Should we eat our pets?”

#4: Nik Gregg “Compassionate business”

#5: Joseph Kim “The family I lost in North Korea. And the family I gained” [VIDEO]

#6: Tommy Wilson “Edu-tainment is the silver lining of the long white cloud”

For our live speakers, we hope to have videos to share with you in a couple of weeks.

Photos are coming soon (hopefully in a few days).

And we’ve started talking about the next one, penciled in for July 2014 (for up to 1000 people).

Would you like to help with the next one?  I’m looking for help in 3 ways:

1. Yes, I can help with sponsorship
2. Yes, I know of someone that would make a great speaker for next time
3. Yes, I would like to volunteer to help organise the next one

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Head Organiser of www.tedxtauranga.com / Tuesday 30 July 2013

That’s right, tickets to TEDxTauranga 30 July 2013 have SOLD OUT!

Did you get a ticket? If so, my team and I look forward to meeting you in 9 days time!

Did you miss out on a ticket? I’m so sorry!

1. You can follow our Twitter for live reports during the event 6pm – 9.30pm Tue 30 Jul 2013 (Hash Tag #TEDxTauranga)
2. We are recording the talks and will put them up on YouTube in August

5 Things You Need To Know:

1. Tickets: Have you joined the TEDxTauranga tribe? If so, you will be first in line for tickets to the next TEDxTauranga, yay!
2. Community: Join us on Facebook to be part of this community. Contribute to discussions, start discussions of your own, ask questions, answer questions, share your favourite TED talks: https://www.facebook.com/TEDxTauranga
3. Sponsorship: We need sponsorship to keep our ticket prices down. Who do you know that we could send our sponsorship pack to? Let me know.
4. Volunteers: Would you like to join our team to organise and run the next TEDxTauranga event? Reach out to me
5. Speakers: Who do you know that would make a great TEDxTauranga speaker? You can nominate them here

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Head Organiser of www.tedxtauranga.com / Tuesday 30 July 2013

Just 2 weeks until TEDxTauranga! It’s going to be awesome!

Good news, we’ve made room in our schedule for a 4th live speaker!

So the evening will be made up of 4 live speakers + 2 pre-recorded talks plus 3 sessions for mixing and mingling with other Tedsters like you that love hearing ideas worth spreading.

Yay!

The last batch of invites for tickets goes out on Thursday morning so if you haven’t already, filled in the application form to get tickets to TEDxTauranga right now. This is your last chance!

Oh yea, one more thing: The organising team have been talking about the next TEDx event which might be as early as November 2013 (another 100 person event) + we are looking at July 2014 for a really big one (up to 1000 people).

Wouldn’t it be great if you could say “Yes, I went to the very first TEDxTauranga where it all started”?

Cheers,

Sheldon Nesdale
Head Organiser of www.tedxtauranga.com / Tuesday 30 July 2013

Less than 4 weeks until TEDxTauranga and we are so pumped and excited!

Just last night, half of the TEDxTauranga organising team met with half of our potential speakers.

It was fantastic hearing their amazing stories face-to-face.

We’d love you to hear them all but we have the difficult task of choosing just 3 speakers for TEDxTauranga.

So hard in fact, we are desperately trying to find room in our schedule for 1 more live speaker.

We will have one more evening for potential speakers next week to find 1 more speaker and a few back-ups.

In the meantime you can check our speakers pageto see who we have locked in so far.

Just a reminder, if you haven’t filled in the application form to get tickets to TEDxTauranga, do that today.

Wow, things are going to move quickly now!

Licence?: Yes! We have our official TEDx licence.

Date?: Yes! We have the date: Tuesday 30 July 2013, 7pm – 9.30pm (drinks and nibbles from 6pm).

Team?: Yes! We have the team: 14 of us meeting every Tuesday morning

Speakers?: We have a list of 40 potential speakers to work through in the next couple of weeks. We will have 3 lives speakers on the day (+ 2 videos)

Venue?: Still to be finalised

Tickets?: There will be 100 tickets for sale (price to be finalised)

How you can help?

• Help spread the word through Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TEDxTauranga
• Spread the word via email with the email template below
• Let me know how else you’d like to help (I need more organisers for my team, sponsorship, resources, advertising & marketing)

Sheldon Nesdale
Head Organiser of www.tedxtauranga.com / Tuesday 30 July 2013
“Ideas worth spreading”

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