Re-arranged volunteers meeting

Due to the snow, and lots of people seemingly not in work today we’ve decided to re-schedule the volunteers meeting to next Tuesday. Sorry for any inconvenience. Please spread the word.

Don’t worry if you can’t make it. There’s plenty of time to get in touch and offer your help. We’re going to need PR & marketing peeps, runners, a stage manager, someone to film & edit talks, possibly a set dresser and definitely some stuff we haven’t thought of yet. If you’d like to come along then we’ll be more than happy to see you. We’ll be at Shot In The Dark, probably upstairs… All are welcome, regardless of skills or experience!

When: 6pm, Tuesday 19th January

Where: Shot In The Dark, City Rd. Map.

Second speaker

We loved DK’s talk at Ignite last year so much that we asked him if he’d like to do a TEDxCardiff talk. And he’s come up with a brilliant idea. He’s asking 100 people (aged 1-100) about what inspires them. He’s going to publish the results in a free e-book and present the results to us on the 14th April. If you’d like to be one of the lucky one hundred featured, then please hop on over to his blog and drop your email in the relevant space.

DK is the founder of MediaSnackers. MediaSnackers was a term he coined back in early 2006 whilst describing what young people were doing with media—the site was launched a few months later in June.

He has an educational background in communications and media, plus a professional background in local government (he was the UK’s first and only Corporate Youth Officer… oooh!).

First speaker announced

We’re really excited by the speakers we’ve got lined up for you. They’re all genuinely brilliant.

And, without further ado, here’s the first one!

Paul Clarke has a 15-year background in public service information, having worked in most of the large government departments – and across local authorities – on technology and business change programmes. This included two years as Head of Strategic Proposition for Directgov. He has specialised in recent years in digital strategy, and how technologies such as social media can support engagement between citizens and government. In the social media world he is known for the “Tweetbike” – a mash-up between Twitter and a motorbike, to rescue stranded commuters during Tube strikes – and for creating a data standard that allowed users’ reports of snow conditions (‘#uksnow’) to be made into a useful, real-time map.

Paul is passionate about photography, and the ways in which image can enhance other forms of communication. He has documented much of the social media and technology ’scene’ in London and across the UK, and is working on a project that links together his interest in citizen/government engagement with his love of striking images. His other great interests are music (particularly the science of harmony), psychotherapy, and the challenges faced by men in a world of changed expectations and equalities.

You can follow Paul on Twitter here.

We’ll announce a couple more next week!

Volunteers meeting

POSTPONED DUE TO SNOW.

MEETING RE-ARRANGED TO 6PM ON TUES 19th JANUARY, SHOT IN THE DARK.

14 year old Malawian builds wind turbine for his family

At age 14, in poverty and famine, a Malawian boy built a windmill to power his family’s home. Now at 22, William Kamkwamba, who speaks at TED, here, for the second time, shares in his own words the moving tale of invention that changed his life.

First details

So, we can now announce that TEDxCardiff will take place on 14th April, 2010 in the Wales Millenium Centre.

More details will be announced in the new year, but for now please join our Facebook page, register your interest on the event page, and give us your thoughts on who you would like to see as speakers and sponsors here. You can also use that link to get involved. We need PR people, runners, people to film/photo/document, AV types, energetic helpers and anyone who wants to be part of one of the most inspirational events to come to Wales in a long time….

We’re very, very excited!

Very important news!

Get your diaries out – we’ve confirmed a venue and a date!

It’s going to be on the 14th April at the Wales Millenium Centre.

And when you’ve put a big red circle round that date, click here and tell us who you would like to see speak, if you have any ideas for sponsors, or if you would like to volunteer/get involved in any way….

When is it?

Well, Claire and I have been concentrating hard on getting Ignite Cardiff #3 over with. It was a big success, and now we’re going to be going full steam ahead with TEDxCardiff.

We’ve been speaking to sponsors, venues, speakers, volunteers etc, but will be ramping that up over the coming months, with a view to the date being sometime next year.

If you want to volunteer, recommend a speaker, know someone who’d like to give us some money to make it work, or know of a great venue that we can use, please get in touch!

Let’s make beautiful music!

It’s been a great week or so since we announced that we’re independently organising a TEDx event. We’re very grateful to the good people at TED for granting us the licence, and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response and the amount of hits we’re getting on this web page, our Twitter, and the Facebook group.

So here’s some utterly beautiful, uplifting and heart-warming music for a Friday. Really worth watching through to the end for putting a huge Friday smile on your face. And thanks to my Dad for pointing it out!

TED poetry

DK from Mediasnackers loves this poetry. Thanks for the suggestion via our Facebook page, DK!