TEDx checks out speakers for new programme

TEDx organisers interview potential speaker Dr Harold Hillman.

Organisers this week launched the audition process for TEDxTauranga 2015, which is scheduled for Saturday, July 25.

The aim is to arrive at 10 speakers, says Sheldon Nesdale, the driving force behind the all-day event.

This week saw 98 people interviewed by phone/Skype and a further 40-plus in person at a meet and greet at the Tauranga Club. The organisers expect to see around 20 speakers run through the practice talks between now and June as they whittle the numbers down for the final line-up.

"We are talking to a wide range of speakers this year," said Mr Nesdale. "Our speakers put in an enormous amount of effort to get to the practice talk stage. We can only choose 10, so it's hard to turn another 10 or more away, but they tell me they find the process thoroughly rewarding." TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a non-profit organisation "devoted to ideas worth spreading", which started in 1984 as a conference. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx programme but individual TEDx events are self-organised.

Both previous Tauranga events had sold out, with the 2014 TEDx attracting 500 people, said Mr Nesdale, who added he was optimistic attendance this year could reach 1000.

Potential talk titles under consideration include:

-How to inject compassion into an overburdened health system.

-Mistaken identities and translation errors: The first interactions between Maori and Pakeha in the 1800s.

-Is it possible to reduce a pest population to zero?

-Never too old, never too late. Learning is the fountain of youth.

-Can worm farming scale to industrial sizes?

-The pollination puzzle. Unexpected alternatives to bees.

-How to make a positive impact on those affected by divorce.

-Generosity with no strings attached.

-My lips refuse to move. How my on-screen avatar speaks for me.

"We're asking our potential speakers to boil down what they know into 15 minutes," said Mr Nesdale.

"They all find that very tough.

"But in the end, they take on the challenge and feel better for it, and the audience will get those ideas in short, sharp, interesting chunks."