TedXAuckland speakers Vaughan Davis, Max Cryer, Steve Hathaway, Steve Pointing, Billie Jordan, Shaun Hendy, Riley Hathaway, Sir Bob Harvey. Photo: Ted Baghurst
For those who have been living under a WiFi-less rock, TED talks are 20-minute bursts of inspiration delivered in the form of a lecture by an expert in their field, and going under the tagline 'ideas worth spreading'.
Like a global fringe festival, TedX talks are the same, only more prolific. The online TedX library boasts more than 30,000 videos from 130 countries. Our own version, TedXAuckland, takes place tomorrow.
And now, once again, it's Auckland's turn. The fourth TedX to be held in Auckland, this year sees the talk fest moved to a new, larger home at the Victory Convention Centre in Freemans Bay to accommodate the sell-out crowd.
Here are this year's speakers:
Sir Bob Harvey
Sir Bob Harvey is chairman of Waterfront Auckland, has served six terms as Mayor of Waitakere, and was awarded the United Nations Award for Peace in 1997; United Nations Lifetime Achievement Award for the Environment in 2007 and a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013.
Tame Iti
Tame Iti has been branded many things... activist, artist, terrorist and cyclist. Literally wearing his Tuhoe heritage on his face, Iti has a 40-year history of controversial and theatrical displays of political expression. Expect fireworks.
Billie Jordan
After narrowly surviving the Christchurch earthquakes, Billie Jordan quit her job, moved to Auckland, taught herself to dance hip hop, then gathered her elderly neighbours (aged 68 to 96 years old) to establish the Hip-Operation crew.
Gavin Healy
Element's publisher, Gavin Healy, is the co-founder of Element in 2012 and Good magazine before that. He has dedicated his working life to using the power of the media to for social and environmental good.
Bailey Wiley
Bailey Wiley's honeyed voice joins the high ranks of New Zealand singers boasting similar skills such as Ladi6 and Hollie Smith. 'Effortless' and 'organic' have been used to describe her style, showcased on her debut record IXL.
Tom Scott
What can't Tom Scott do? Award winning political columnist, editorial cartoonist, documentary maker and dramatist, he has no plans to slow down - despite earning himself a gold card.
His current work is a six-part television production on Sir Edmund Hillary.
Grant Schofield
Grant Schofield is Professor of Public Health at AUT, and director of the University's Human Potential Centre. His career has focused on preventing the diseases of modern times, and seeing what it takes to help people live a long, healthy and happy life.
Max Cryer
Max Cryer (MBE) has been a professional singer and quiz and live talk-variety show host, before turning his attention to writing. He has had 18 books published, holding the No.1 spot for non-fiction three times. For the last 19 years he has been answering listeners' questions on etymology on RadioLive.
Michel Tuffery
Michel Tuffery is a community artist. "Using an holistic approach has lead me to work in an increasingly social realm, collaborating with a wide range of communities to produce art together. I have a deeply held belief in the possibility of art to create connections."
Dr Hong Sheng Chiong
Dr. Hong Sheng Chiong is fighting the fight against preventable blindness. His exposure to third world medicine in Kenya, Nepal and Malaysia inspired him to found OphthalmicDocs, an R&D company that focuses on the development of mobile and economical eye tests and diagnostics devices.
Dr. Siouxsie Wiles
An award-winning scientist, Siouxsie Wiles has realised that sexism and gender stereotyping prevails even in the simplest Lego toys. She believes this should be stopped, with easy fixes like producing mini-figurines with double-sided heads: one male, one female, letting children decide who they want them to be.
Shaun Hendy
Shaun Hendy is the founding director of Te Pu?naha Matatini, a Centre of Research Excellence at the University of Auckland, and a lecturer in the Department of Physics and the University's Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In 2013 he co-authored the book Get Off the Grass with the late Sir Paul Callaghan.
Riley and Steve Hathaway
Riley Hathaway is a 14-year-old ocean ambassador, who presents her own TV series called 'Young Ocean Explorers'. In Young Ocean Explorers, Riley and her father Steve present a captivating series of stories about what happens when a teenager comes face to face with marine animals.
Lisa Matisoo-Smith
Lisa Matisoo-Smith is the Professor of Biological Anthropology in the Department of Anatomy at the University of Otago, and a principal investigator in the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution and with National Geographic's Genographic Project. Her primary area of interest is in looking at the biological evidence for the human settlement of the Pacific.
Janette Searle
Janette Searle is changing lives with 'Take My Hands - a not-for- profit organisation that redistributes prosthetic, orthotic and medical equipment to those in need using spare space on freighters.
Sir Bob Harvey
Sir Bob Harvey is the Chairman of Waterfront Auckland, has served six terms as Mayor of Waitakere, and was awarded the UN Award for Peace in 1997; the UN Lifetime Achievement Award for the Environment in 2007 and a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013. Recently he published his biography 'A Life Less Ordinary'.
Billie Jordan
After narrowly surviving the Christchurch earthquakes, Billie Jordan felt there was more to life than working for large corporations. She quit her job, moved to Auckland, taught herself to dance hip hop, then gathered up her elderly neighbours (aged 68 to 96 years old) and established the Hip-Operation crew.
Steve Pointing
Steve Pointing is an astrobiologist specialising in finding life in extreme environments that can be used as models for extraterrestrial life. He has explored the icy deserts of Antarctica, boiling hot springs in the Phillippines and the high altitude salt lakes of Tibet.
Dale Pfeifer
Dale Pfeifer is the Kiwi founder of GoodWorld - a US-based social enterprise which empowers non-profits to raise money on social media, as simply as donors writing a comment on Facebook or a Tweet. She recently presented the model to President Barack Obama.
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