TEDx Brighton 2015

So what exactly is “TEDx”? You’re probably familiar with the famous TED talks that started as a 4 day conference in California 25 years ago. TED is a non-profit organisation committed to 'Ideas Worth Spreading'. 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, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Isabel Allende.

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organised, with TEDxBrighton now being one of the biggest TEDx events in Europe.

This year, the theme is “Losing Control” as we seek to set unconventional theories free and break down the walls of everyday thinking. The full range of speakers can be found at tedxbrighton.com but a few to mention are:

Niko Larsen, Danish documentary maker focussing in migration and disenfranchised communities

James Wong, ethnobotanist and publisher of “Grow Your Own Drugs” which was also broadcast on BBC2

Chris Alton. founder of the EDL – English Disco Lovers that is; countering divisive messages of hate with funky tunes and flares wherever they can

Laura Marshall Andrews and Chris Dance from the UK’s first NHS integrated primary care and healing arts centre, started right here in Brighton

Nick Weston survival expert for Channel 4’s Shipwrecked

Jo White of Sussex’s Wishing Well programme that brings creative music to hospitals and hospices across the county to help patients re-discover their control of their environment

Buy tickets here