“We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearing house that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.” http://www.ted.com

Starting out in 1984 as a conference bringing experts from the world of Technology, Entertainment and Design, it has since evolved into something more. Ideas and concepts that resonate. Shared. Spoken about. In the spirit of spreading ideas, TEDx has been created, enabling communities around the world to construct a TED-like conference with support from TED.

Here at UBC, we have our very own TEDx Terry Project. The project launched last year and was received with tremendous success. This October 3rd would be the 2nd Terry round of talks and registration is now open!

“Imagine UBC’s most fascinating and engaging students coming together for a day, giving ‘the talk of their lives,’ sharing their ideas and discussing their visions for UBC and the world. Now imagine being there, with students, alumni, faculty, administration, and members of the general public watching this unfold and partaking in the various discussions, and think of all the possibilities that this idea-share holds.” — http://www.terry.ubc.ca

photo credit: abdallahh

Registration is free and comes with a free lunch. It is currently restricted to UBC students, staff and faculty and some alumni. To reserve a ticket, click here, and to have a glimpse of what is in store for us, check out what happened last year!

I had the pleasure of attending TerryTalks last year and it was a wonderful experience. UBC has some of the brightest student minds in North America and the ideas that were shared last year blew me away. I am definitely not missing this year’s! Get your tickets now and see you there!

The main speakers of the event would be World Peace through Personal Peace @ UBC Chan Centre:

1) The Dalai Lama “When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us.”

2) Desmond Tutu …is a South African cleric and activitist who won a Nobel Peace Prize in his fight against apartheid. He also won the Albert Schweitzer prize for Humanitarianism and the Gandhi Peace Price. Desmond Tutu campaigns for human rights, the oppressed, AIDS, homophobia, poverty and racism. Tutu is widely regarded as “South Africa’s moral conscience” and has been described by Nelson Mandela, as ” the voice of the voiceless.”

3)  Matthieu Ricard — http://www.matthieuricard.org/ …is a Buddhist monk, author and photographer in Nepal. Dubbed as “the happiest person in the world” by scientists, Ricard’s books mainly center around the meaning and fulfillment of happiness. He is also deeply engaged in the effect of mind training of the brain at Princeton and Berkeley. Ricard received the French National Order of Merit for his humanitarian work in the East.

4)  Eckhart Tolle … is a Canadian-German spiritual teacher, author and motivational speaker. He is most famous for his book “The Power of Now”, which emphasizes not being caught up in thoughts of the past and future and being aware of the present moment. It has been a NY Time bestbeller, and listed as one of Oprah’s favourite book. Since, he has published “A New Earth” exploring the structure of the human ego and how it acts to distract people from their present experiences.

Other notable speakers are:

Co-Recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize Mairead Maguire and Betty Williams for their work in Peaceful resolutions in Northern Ireland, Nobel Peace Prize Jody Williams for her work in banning landmines, Ken Robinson (Creativity expert), Daniel Siegel, Kim Campbell and Ashley Judd.

Tickets start at $100 for the main event and $60 for the others.

The event can be viewed here. Tickets can be purchased here.

See YOU there!

Note: Bios of speakers and pictures are taken and paraphrased (bios) from Wikipedia