TORONTO, March 26, 2013 – From Toronto’s chief city planner to a Cirque du Soleil choreographer, this year’s TEDxYorkU event on Thursday, March 28, will feature a diverse group of speakers and performers with one thing in common – they’re all trailblazers in their fields, embodying the York University motto of Tentanda Via – the way must be tried.
Below is a list of the 2013 TEDxYorkU speakers. Visit the TEDxYorkU speaker page for their detailed biographies.
1:21-1:30pm: Jennifer Keesmaat, chief planner for the City of Toronto, will speak about the importance of getting people to buy into ideas in order to be successful.
1:39 - 1:45pm: CEO of United Way of York Region Daniele Zanotti will speak about the United Way's journey to build civic muscle in York Region.
1:47 - 1:59pm: Sam Egonu, founder of 180 Change Street, an award-winning transitional program that targets young offenders or youth who have come into conflict with the law, will discuss the prison-industrial complex and normalizing gay people in the prison system.
2:49pm - 2:58pm: Isaac De Souza, a space engineering student at the Lassonde School of Engineering, will share his personal journey of discovery and the human need to explore, discover, push boundaries and not accept failure.
3:07 - 3:25pm: Vanessa Shaver, a consultant and creative producer in the area of convergent media, will speak about pursuing a dream you cannot see and creating with tools that do not yet exist.
3:27pm - 3:45pm: Award-winning choreographer Debra Brown will explore communication and its ability to create deep and meaningful connections, and how often these connections are on platforms that are invisible and intuitive.
3:47pm- 3:55pm: Priscila Uppal, writer and first-ever poet-in-residence for Canadian Olympic athletes, will talk about the importance of creative health to our overall health.
4:39 - 4:51pm: Author and health educator Kathy Kastner will speak about her journey as a non-healthcare professional to understand the way life ends, filling in gaps in patient education.
5 -5:12pm: Ban Kattan, an organizer for TEDxBaghdadWomen – the very first event by and for women in today’s Iraq – will focus on her experience of returning to Iraq to help organize the events and what she took away from it.
5:14 - 5:23pm: Lorne Sossin, a professor and Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, will talk about the nature of courts, and how circuit courts and virtual courts are challenging the very concept of a geographic and public space in which justice is both done and seen to be done.
5:30 - 5:42pm: Chris Penrose, executive director of Success Beyond Limits, will explore the nature of the York U and Jane/Finch relationship as it relates to communities and to borders.
Mike Prosserman, founder and executive director of UNITY Charity, an organization which empowers youth to be role models and leaders in their communities through after-school programs in break dancing, graffiti art, spoken word poetry and beat boxing, will serve as master of ceremonies at the event.
What: TEDxYorkU 2013
Where: Tribute Communities Recital Hall, York University (see map)
When: Thursday, March 28, 1 - 6pm
About TEDx
In the spirit of "ideas worth spreading," TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxYorkU, where x = independently organized TED event. At TEDxYorkU, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place on the West Coast, with simulcast nearby; TEDGlobal is held each year in Edinburgh, UK. TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to organize local, independent TED-like events around the world; and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.
Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, and on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.
For information about TED's upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registration.
About York University
York University is helping to shape the global thinkers and thinking that will define tomorrow. York’s unwavering commitment to excellence reflects a rich diversity of perspectives and a strong sense of social responsibility that sets us apart. A York U degree empowers graduates to thrive in the world and achieve their life goals through a rigorous academic foundation balanced by real-world experiential education. As a globally recognized research centre, York is fully engaged in the critical discussions that lead to innovative solutions to the most pressing local and global social challenges. York’s 11 faculties and 28 research centres are thinking bigger, broader and more globally, partnering with 288 leading universities worldwide. York's community is strong − 55,000 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and more than 250,000 alumni.
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Media Contact: Robin Heron, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22097 / rheron@yorku.ca
