The theme for the second edition of TEDxBangalore, where x refers to independently organised TED event, is All or Nothing . Moving from last year’s theme of Challenge — Sartaj Singh Anand, curator of TEDx Bangalore, says this year’s theme inspires action. “What the city needs is to be more decisive.” The event will be divided into three sessions: New Power , On the Fringe and Disrupt or Die . Talking about the sessions, Sartaj says: “New Power is an emergent global theme that has relevance to India. The speakers in the On the Fringe session have been chosen keeping in mind that often fringe ideas have been very good indicators of the mainstream. These are ideas that are waiting for their time. The theme of Disrupt or Die is built on the fact that we are often myopic in our views, it is important we think long term.”
The line-up of speakers, from India and abroad, come from diverse fields, from wildlife photography, social activism to music and urban farming, from technology and architecture to space-ship designing. The 14 speakers include, Yonatan Raz Fridman, CEO of Kano, Rohit Varma, founder of Nature InFocus, Arturo Vittori, director, Architecture and Vision, Natasha Singh, founder of Timeblur, Aathma, an Indian band, Aaron Sherinian, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, United Nations, Devina Kothari, founder of Zuan Design Labs, Stephen Larson, co-founder, OpenWorm, Susmita Mohanty, CEO Earth2Orbit, Chandni, a former rag picker and now veteran journalist with Balaknama, Ute Weimar, co-founder Lovetreats, Vani Murthy, Urban farmer, Dr. Anu Vaidyanathan, Triathelete & Founder, PatNMarks and Dr. Pramod Varma, chief architect, UIDAI.
Charanya Chidambaram, a TEDXBangalore team member, says encouraged by last year’s event, this year too they put their all into organising the event. “TEDX runs on the system of belief. It really happens because of the community and volunteer support. This year, there were 300 to 400 applications for 40 slots!”
Another aspect to the event is the art work that will be displayed. “We had emerging 11 artists, between the age group of 25 and 30, depicting their understanding of the theme, All or Nothing , through their art. Each work is fantastic!” says Charanya.
The event will be held on October 4 at MLR Convention Centre, Whitefield, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. For details visit: www.tedxbangalore.com.
