Photograph by Giulia C. for Parasol Photo

Building on the enormous success of our 2012 conference, the TEDxToronto team is thrilled to announce our 2013 theme, The Choices We Make.

“We are our choices.” 

- Jean Paul Sartre

Our choices may be logical, based in moral principle, made by gut instinct, or determined by the heart. They can be singular actions or collaborative ones. In the case of too much choice, we can face confusion and indifference. We are who we are today because of the choices we have made in the days that precede it. Sometimes our choices are forgettable, sometimes life changing, and occasionally, they change the world.

With this theme in mind, we’re currently looking for speakers, performers, and technology demonstrations for our 2013 conference, to be held on September 26th at The Royal Conservatory of Music.

If you are an inspired and curious thinker seeking a deeper understanding of the world — someone who wishes to share with the local and global community — we hope to hear from you. We’re looking for speakers across a breadth and depth of disciplines including science, business, the arts, politics and education. Based on this, if you believe you or someone you know would make a great addition to our roster, please apply today.

As well, we’re always looking for enthusiastic partners and volunteers. If you’re passionate about ideas worth sharing, send us a message.

In the past 5 years, seven of our talks have made it onto TED.com. And one of the key reasons that TEDxToronto has been able to continually deliver amazing talks, performances, and demos is because of the help Torontonians and Canadians have provided in discovering them.

We need your help to ensure we don’t miss someone fresh, amazing, and inspiring.

In addition to great speakers & performers, we’re searching for the city’s most innovative technology demonstrations to take the stage at TEDxToronto. We want to see the revolutionary products & inventions that are making waves in Toronto and beyond.

There are 7 short days left to apply or nominate, if you think you or someone you know would make a great speaker, performer, or provide a great demo, please APPLY TODAY. 

TEDxToronto is now in its 5th consecutive year, having established itself along the way as one of the top TEDx events around the world.

 Our 2013 conference, to be held September 26th at the Royal Conservatory of Music, has a potential for impact reaching far beyond our city and into the global community. And until May 15th, we’re looking for performers and demos that inspire and ignite the imagination.

 Captivating and original, a TEDx performance plays an important role in the day’s events by reminding us that not all ideas are vocalized the same way. Last year saw KRNFX & Elysha stun the crowd by blurring the lines (both literally and figuratively) between the sounds of man and machine.

 Also from 2012, Marcelo da Luz and the solar car provided a perfect example of technology in action. It was a learning experience for all of us who listened in amazement at the story of a flight attendant with no engineering background who slowly pieced together a world record-breaking vehicle.

 So plug us in Toronto! Who aren’t we seeing? Who’s missing? What ideas would make this the single greatest TEDx event of 2013?

If you think you or someone you know would make a great speaker, performer, or provide a great demo, please APPLY TODAY. Nominations will close on May 15.

As such, we’re asking for your help in discovering speakers, performers, and demos that should be considered to appear on stage at TEDxToronto 2013.

In the past 5 years that TEDxToronto has been active, seven of our talks have made it onto TED.com. And one of the key reasons that TEDxToronto has been able to continually deliver amazing TEDxTalks is the participation of the Toronto community in the nomination process.

What makes TEDxToronto so different from any other speaker series is its focus on ideas over speakers. While it’s certainly important to engage an audience and communicate an idea clearly, a TEDxTalk really begins not with the Speaker, but with their Big Idea. Case in point is Dr. Joseph Cafazzo who spoke on the subject of self-care at TEDxToronto 2012.

As a team, we canvas far and wide for speakers with a strong Toronto connection, but we need your help to ensure we don’t miss someone brilliant.

If you think you or someone you know would make a great speaker, performer, or provide a great demo, please APPLY TODAY. 

Not Far From The Tree’s Founder and Director, Laura Reinsborough, spoke at TEDxToronto 2012. She shared the story of Not Far From The Tree and how it has captured the hearts and imaginations of so many Torontonians, simply by picking fruit.

You’re invited to celebrate with Not Far From The Tree this Friday!

On November 9th, from 7-10 pm, Not Far From The Tree is throwing a bash to celebrate the season gone by. Come party it up at the Centre for Social Innovation in the Annex.

We will be showcasing local artists, pouring plum and sumac beers from the Indie Alehouse and Bellwoods Brewery, awarding amazing raffle prizes, and serving up specialty pies and preserves.

Everyone is invited.

WHY?  Five years of urban fruit-picking, we want to party!

WHAT: Not Far From The Tree’s End of Season Celebration

WHEN: Friday, November 9th from 7-10 pm

WHERE: The Centre for Social Innovation Annex. 720 Bathurst St.

COST: $10

Get your tickets here or buy them at the door.

About Not Far From The Tree

When a homeowner can’t keep up with the abundant harvest produced by their tree, they let us know and we mobilize our volunteers to pick the bounty. The harvest is split three ways: 1/3 is offered to the tree owner, 1/3 is shared among the volunteers, and 1/3 is delivered by bicycle to be donated to food banks, shelters, and community kitchens in the neighbourhood so that we’re putting this existing source of fresh fruit to good use. It’s a win-win-win situation!

It’s the first day of Movember and appropriately, the TEDxToronto 2011 Talk by Adam Gerone, CEO and Founder of the month-long male-cancer awareness & fundraising event, has been selected as the TEDTalk of the day at TED.com.

TED only chooses one talk a day to feature on TED.com from among thousands of annual TED and TEDx Talks worldwide.  We are extremely proud that Adam’s is the sixth TEDxToronto Talk to be featured on TED.com.

Yesterday we posted the first 4 Talks from this year’s TEDxToronto and will continue posting throughout the month.  Before it’s time to shave off all those ‘staches, we’ll have the entire series of 2012 Talks online.  Watch again or for the first time, share, and be inspired by these ideas worth spreading.

Photography by Lana Khakham, Parasol Photo

We’d like to express our heartfelt thanks to…

Our Committee Members

Co-Chairs:
Afshin Mousavian
Darius Bashar

Marketing:
Jodi Brown, Director
Robyn Payne
Lisa Pozhke
Siri Agrell
Stephanie Brown
Gloria Chik
Anita Li

Programming:
Darius Bashar, Director
Jeff Lohnes
Emma Brooks
Jen Polyzotis
Mo Bot
Chris Tindal
Andrew Peek
Samantha Wright
Russell Sakauye
Cathy Sobocan
Amanda K. Dawson

Logistics:
Arati Sharma, Director
Caroline DuWors
Mariella Irivarren
Bernadette Le-Quang
Rachel Kucharzuk
Simone Wright
Valerie Bruce
Jill Eisnor
Melanie Woodward

Community:
James Gen Meers, Director
Anjuli Solanki
Nekhat Ahmed
Linda Theron
Howard Tam
Dumitru Onceanu
Ainka Jess

Partnerships:
Melody Khodaverdian, Director
Shazya Ladak
Ben Zayandehroudi
Rachit Chakerwarti

Advisors:
Kerry McKibbin
Satish Kanwar
Dan Jacob
Elizabeth Caley

…And a huge shout-out to our conference and After Party volunteers 

Photography by Chris Krikorian

As well as our Partners and Sponsors – we couldn’t do it without you! 

TEDxToronto 2012 was made possible thanks to the generous support of our partners and sponsors: Biz Media, Jet Cooper, The Working Group, Metro News, Rethink, Pilot PMR, AusCan, Andrew Richard Designs, Samsung, PayPal, Barberian’s Steak House, Marketwire, Sheridan College and The Printing House.

 Photography by Lana Khakham, Parasol Photo

To continue creating ALCHEMY after the conference and beyond, follow our blog, subscribe to our email updates, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Talks from TEDxToronto will be going online soon, so keep posted!

Delegates, please arrive at 8 a.m. to register for the conference. You must present photo I.D. to pick up your TEDxToronto badges. Doors will close at 8:30 a.m., and talks will begin at 9 a.m. sharp. Dress is “creative casual.”

For those of you expecting to receive a log-in password for TEDxToronto’s Official App please check your email ‘junk folders’ as all passwords have now been emailed out.

For those of you attending TEDxToronto’s Official Viewing Party, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., we look forward to you joining us at Daniels Spectrum’s Ada Slaight Hall (585 Dundas Street East). Please RSVP here to attend this free event.

Our ALCHEMY theme will continue into the evening with TEDxToronto’s Official After Party, taking place at Andrew Richards Designs (571 Adelaide Street East) from 8:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. And we have good news for those who want to join the fun — After Party ticket sales have been extended! Get tickets here while they last.

We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow at our conference, Official Viewing Party and Official After Party. Get ready to celebrate ideas worth spreading!

It features a full conference schedule, speaker and performer profiles, intro videos, as well as live tweets categorized into streams, so you can easily follow conversations on Twitter from delegates, speakers and TEDxToronto’s official account.

Delegates attending TEDxToronto 2012 in-person at the Sony Centre can access the People section of the app with their event-registration login. Here, you can invite other delegates and speakers to connect before, during and after the conference to share ideas worth spreading.

Delegates: On Oct. 24, you will get a unique password to login, so you can access the app’s People section.

Built by Toronto-based companies The Working Group and Jet Cooper, the app is also available for use by TED and TEDx communities around the world.

Be sure to visit Apple’s App Store to download the official TEDxToronto iPhone app today!

…And don’t forget to download the Uber app for TEDxToronto’s Official After Party

Looking for the best way to make an entrance (or exit) to this year’s Official After Party at Andrew Richard Designs?

Uber, the on-demand car service, is offering $10 off a ride to or from our After Party.

To redeem the discount, iPhone and Android users must download the free Uber app to set up an account, enter the promotion code “TEDXTORAPARTY,” then request a ride. BlackBerry users must sign up at uber.com/promo, enter the code, then request a ride at m.uber.com.

  COBA, Collective of Black Artists (photo credit: Nzewhua Anderson)

Aqua (Native Earth)

Steve Harmony (Spoken Word Artist)

Trevlyn Kennedy (Spoken Word Artist)

ArtHeart Community Art Centre (Art Installation)

To learn more about The TEDxToronto Official Viewing Party or other viewing party locations throughout the city click here.