By Alyse Horn
At 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 26, TEDxGrandviewAve will host an event at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square E.
TEDx is similar to the annual TED Conference, but TEDx is an independently organized and community based version of the original TED experience.
At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group, according to its website.
Kacey Wherley, the founder and director of TEDxGrandviewAve, said this will be the organizations second event in Pittsburgh. The first event was in February 2013.
Wherley said the events tend to not focus on one specific industry, but try to incorporate all fields through a similar theme. This year the theme is “Dare to Create.”
“We focus on local speakers,” Wherley said. “We feel that Pittsburgh has so much to offer that there is no need to fly people in… when we have neighbor’s everyday doing cool things.”
The speakers will not be publically announced until March 3, which is also when tickets go on sale, and there will be at least 10 speakers at the event.
Wherley said the speakers were chosen on their ability connect with the community. The reason she started the TEDx event was to create an atmosphere that anyone could feel welcome in. Wherley said the demographics at the February event ranges from high school students to retirees.
“[This is an] event to celebrate Pittsburgh and get to know the people that are living and working around you,” Wherley said.
The event will start around 11 a.m. and end around 5 p.m. followed by an after party at the National Aviary.
Tickets for just the TEDx conference will be $40, and a ticket to the event plus the after party is $55.
According to its website, TED is a nonprofit organization and acronym. It’s a movement devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading in ‘T’echnology, ‘E’ntertainment and ‘D’esign.
Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
For more information visit www.tedxgrandviewave.com.
