TEDxWaterloo 2010 - Program

Waterloo Waterloo

TEDx Waterloo, Ontario, Canada – February 25, 2010

Waterloo Waterloo

About TED

Table of Contents About TEDx Event Details Schedule Speakers Sponsors

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TED is an annual event where some of the world’s leading

TED was first held in Monterey, California, in 1984. In 2001,

thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are

Chris Anderson’s Sapling Foundation acquired TED from

most passionate about. “TED” stands for Technology,

its founder, Richard Saul Wurman. In recent years, TED

Entertainment, Design – three broad subject areas that are,

has expanded to include an international conference,

collectively, shaping our future. And in fact, the event is

TEDGlobal; media initiatives, including TED.com and

broader still, showcasing ideas that matter in any discipline.

TEDTalks and; and the TED Prize. TED2010, “What the

Attendees have called it “the ultimate brain spa” and “a

World Needs Now,” was held February 9 -13, 2010,

four-day journey into the future.” The diverse audience

in Long Beach, California, with a simulcast in Palm

– CEOs, scientists, creatives, philanthropists – is almost

Springs, California. TEDGlobal 2009, “The Substance of

as extraordinary as the speakers, who have included Bill

Things Not Seen,” was held July 21-24, 2009, in Oxford,

Clinton, Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Paul Simon,

UK, and TEDIndia was held in November 2009.

Sir Richard Branson, Philippe Starck and Bono.

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What is TEDx In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organized TED event.

Event Details TEDxWaterloo – February 25, 2010 Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Time: 1 p.m. – 8 p.m., followed by an afterparty.

Venue: Gig Music Hall, 137 Ontario Street North, Kitchener, Ontario.

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Welcome to TEDx Waterloo Welcome to the inaugural TEDxWaterloo, an independently

another and discuss what you have been experiencing.

organized TED event celebrating Ideas Worth Spreading.

Following the event, you are invited to the after party at the

You are part of an extraordinary community of enthusiastic

Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery, the perfect place to carry on

and accomplished individuals who have come together

discussions from the day.

today to be inspired, to share, and explore our theme: Tomorrow Started Yesterday.

It is our great honour to bring TEDx to the Region of Waterloo and we thank you for coming to share this experience with

We often find ourselves so focused on opportunities,

us. You are joining us from over 150 different companies,

problems or promises of the future that we can lose sight of

schools and organizations, representing the diversity of

valuable lessons and stories from the past. Every moment

the region of Waterloo and beyond. As an important part

that we look forward to has had its seed in the past, and

of this TEDx community, you will help further spread the

what we are living through today has grown from the chaotic

ideas presented today. As you get to know your fellow

complexity of what came before. Seen through this lens, our

attendees, you’ll have the chance to share your thoughts

ten speakers and three TED.com videos acknowledge and

and stories with them in this venue, and later online via the

celebrate the continuity of our journey from the past into

TEDxWaterloo Facebook group, Twitter tags #tedxwaterloo

the future, inviting you to reframe, rethink, and re-imagine

and #tedx, and Flickr pool ‘tedxwaterloo’.

what can be, from what is now, and from what once was.

We are looking forward to an unforgettable event, and we Our day includes three sessions, each with its own mini-

hope you are too.

theme: First the focus will be on design, art and technology.

X

Then we will look at our planet and cultures, and finally,

Jaclyn Konzelmann

we will consider the evolution of our own selves. Between

Matt Gorbet

each session will be a break to relax, mingle with one

Renjie Butalid 6

Event Team JaclynKonzelmann - Co-host

Schedule MariaArshad - Logistics & Finance

Jaclyn Konzelmann is currently studying Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo. She is the president of EPIC Technology Organization, a non-profit, student-run initiative dedicated to connecting students, academia and

MladenRangelov - Logistics RichardHarbridge - PR Lead

MattGorbet - Co-host

RamyNassar - Sponsorship

uses technology in creative ways to create delightful experiences

DanTaylor - Logistics

for exceptional spaces. He and his partners are currently implementing a comprehensive physical, technological and human systems infrastructure for technology-based public art at the new San Jose International Airport in Silicon Valley.

RenjieButalid - Lead Organizer Renjie Butalid is interested in social innovation and social entrepreneurship, and believes that young people have the power and opportunities like never before to affect positive change in the world. He is currently the Communications Coordinator for Social Innovation Generation at the University of Waterloo.

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Opening Remarks

1:00 pm

Design Started Yesterday

business with an interest in technology and innovation.

Matt Gorbet is a co-founder of Gorbet Design, Inc., a firm that

Registration

SajjadKamal - Oganizer TareqIsmail - Website Lead JoannaWoo - Social Media Lead

• Philip Beesley • TED.com Video – “Aimee Mullins and her 12 pairs of legs” • Ray LaFlamme

Our World Started Yesterday

3:40 pm 4:40 pm

• Paul Saltzman • Caroline Disler • TED.com Video – “ Wade Davis on endangered cultures” • Madhur Anand • Michael Sacco

Break

Our Identity Started Yesterday

2:15 pm

• Terry O’Reilly

Break

2:00 pm

6:15 pm 7:00 pm

• Darren Wershler • TED.com Video – “Matthew Childs’ 9 life lessons from rock climbing” • Marty Avery • Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Closing Remarks

8:15 pm

Afterparty

8:45 pm

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Speakers TerryO’Reilly

RaymondLaflamme

What you think is not always what you’d think. Terry O’Reilly shares some surprising insights about human behaviour that have led to a counterintuitive approach to marketing.

Throughout history, our innate human curiosity has driven us as we seek to understand and transform our world. This curiosity has now led us to the quantum frontier, where the mind-boggling rules of the subatomic realm promise to fundamentally challenge our very perception of reality.

Terry O’Reilly began his career as a copywriter for some of

series, “The Age of Persuasion.” He’s co-written a best-selling

Raymond Laflamme is originally from Québec City, where he

Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) under

Canada’s top creative ad agencies. In 1990, he co-founded

book based on the radio show, published by Knopf Canada,

studied physics as an undergraduate at the Université Laval.

the direction of Stephen Hawking. Laflamme and his colleague

the audio production company Pirate Radio & Television,

which hits American bookstores this year.

After surviving part three of the Mathematical Tripos at the

Don Page are responsible for having changed Hawking’s mind

University of Cambridge, he completed his PhD on aspects of

on the reversal of the direction of time in a contracting universe

general relativity and quantum cosmology in the Department of

(see Hawking’s book, A Brief History of Time).

now in Toronto and New York City.

The advertising industry has given Terry three lifetime Terry has won awards around the world for his writing and

achievement awards, even though, to the best of his

directing. When he’s not creating advertising, he’s talking

knowledge, he only has one life.

about it, as host of the award-winning CBC/Sirius radio

PhilipBeesley Can buildings literally come alive? With the Hylozoic Ground project, Philip Beesley demonstrates how buildings in the future might move, and even feel and think.

Philip Beesley is an associate professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo, and creates immersive, responsive environments. His projects feature interactive kinetic systems that use dense arrays of

Is it true that we all have prejudices? and why do we so rarely talk about them? Paul Saltzman wants to change this, starting with his film Prom Night in Mississippi.

Paul Saltzman is a two-time Emmy Award-winning Toronto-

the week, and in 2008, he made his feature-film directorial

based film and television producer-director. He began his

debut with the documentary Prom Night in Mississippi with

career in 1965 at the CBC and then moved to the National

Morgan Freeman, which premiered in competition at the 2009

His current Hylozoic Ground project will transform the

Film Board of Canada. In 1968-69, he assisted in the birth

Sundance Film Festival. He is currently editing his second

Canadian Pavilion at the 2010 Venice Biennale with an

of a new film format, as second-unit director and production

feature, the documentary Return to Mississippi. Paul is a

environment made of tens of thousands of digitally-fabricated

manager of the first IMAX film, produced for the 1970 World’s

member of the Director’s Guild of Canada and the Academy

components fitted with meshed microprocessors and sensors.

Fair. In 1973, Paul founded Sunrise Films Limited. Since then,

of Canadian Cinema and Television.

he has produced television series, miniseries and movies of

microprocessors, sensors and actuator systems arranged

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PaulSaltzman

within lightweight “textile” structures. These environments

Beesley’s work is widely published and exhibited, and has

pursue distributed emotional consciousness within

been distinguished by awards, including VIDA 11.0 and

synthetic and near-living systems.

FEIDAD, and by the Prix de Rome in Architecture (Canada).

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CarolineDisler

MichaelSacco

Caroline Disler explores the history of how language and cultural exchange have led to what has come to be called, somewhat ironically, “Western civilization.”

With chocolate, Michael Sacco invites us to think differently about food, community, business and our planet.

Caroline Disler is a master of translation. With reading knowledge

work and teaching reveals how we come to think the way we

Michael Sacco is a technologist, writer and chocolatier. He

Honoured as Toronto Food Policy Council’s Local Food Hero

of many modern languages such as Spanish, Portuguese,

do, examining the largely unexplored role of translation itself in

founded ChocoSol, an artisanal chocolate company which he

in September 2009, he believes in open-source learning and

Swedish, Danish, Polish, Modern Greek and Arabic, as well as

ancient history. Drawing from original source material such as

has termed a “learning community social enterprise,” promoting

building, and has been designing green production systems

working knowledge of ancient languages including Sumerian,

pagan Ugaritic epics and original Moabite, Babylonian, Syriac

the diversity of production of organic cacao through a structure

using solar power, pedal power, and waste diversion and

Akkadian, Edomite, Ancient Hebrew, Egyptian, Sanskrit, Latin

and Coptic texts, her studies of history, society and translation at

defined as “horizontal trade.” Rather than sell commodities,

upcycling techniques. ChocoSol’s bicycle-powered chocolate

and Greek, she has unique perspective on the sources of

York University explore intercultural transfer of information from

says Michael, ChocoSol extends symbolic invitations: “The

grinders earned it the title of Toronto’s Best New Bicycle

human thought. In addition to translating modern books and

the dawn of writing to the present day.

chocolate is an expression and vehicle for our dignity, creativity

Business in 2008.

and learning.”

academic papers from German, French, Dutch and Italian, her

MadhurAnand

DarrenWershler

What is the colour green? Madhur Anand explores the science and poetry of ecological remembering.

Untimely? Conceptual? Impossible? Darren Wershler introduces the rich history and critical importance of imaginary media.

Madhur Anand is an internationally-recognized scientist and

Dr. Anand is also a poet. Her poetry has been published

Darren Wershler is a Canadian experimental poet, non-fiction

Wershler’s The Tapeworm Foundry was a Trillium Book Award

professor with over 45 publications in peer-reviewed scientific

in CV2, The New Quarterly, The Malahat Review, Room,

writer and cultural critic. A former gravedigger, he was the senior

finalist in 2000. He has instructed courses at York University

journals, and currently holds the Canada Research Chair in

Grain, Interim, Vallum and Maple Tree Literary Supplement,

editor of Coach House Books between 1997 and 2002, where

and currently is an assistant professor of communication

Global Ecological Change at the University of Guelph. Her

anthologized in The Shape of Content: Creative Writing in

the works he edited included several highly acclaimed books

studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. He has authored several

research in forest ecology, ecological modeling and biodiversity

Science and Mathematics (2008) and nominated for a

of contemporary innovative poetry, including Fidget by Kenneth

books about the Internet, technology and culture, as well

spans several countries, including Israel, Europe, India, China,

Pushcart prize (2007).

Goldsmith (2000); both volumes of Seven Pages Missing, the

as occasional essays on pop culture for newspapers and

Brazil and the USA. She serves on several granting panels and

collected works of Steve McCaffery (2000, 2002); Lip Service by

magazines such as Brick, Broken Pencil and This Magazine.

journals’ editorial boards and is currently president of the Sigma

Bruce Andrews (2001); and Eunoia by Christian Bök (2002).

Xi Scientific Society (University of Toronto Chapter).

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Afterparty MartyAvery Marty Avery offers us a decoder ring for everyday clues and takes us spelunking for the inner treasure that makes our outer world richer. What if?

The TEDxWaterloo afterparty will be held at the KitchenerWaterloo Art Gallery which is located at 101 Queen St North. The Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery (KW|AG) connects people and ideas through art. The Gallery’s exhibits and programs are built on a vision of art as the catalyst for

Marty Avery is a business advisor who collaborates with

at Buzz, a CEO think tank in California. Chief Catalyst

business founders and leaders to design and implement

at What If?, a member of the faculty at the Canadian Film

shared experience, dialogue and imagination. KW|AG

prosperity strategies. She has been consulted by the Prime

Centre’s Media lab and at the Banff Centre’s BNMI, Marty’s

emphasizes contemporary art, has a 4000 work permanent

Minister’s Task Force on Women in Business, as well as

passion is using the power of networks and connection to

collection, and offers artistic experiences for adults, children

NextMEDIA & Fortune Magazine. Marty has presented on

build a world where you can extend your reach.

and families. Established in 1956 and operating within

Digital Delivery at several CEO forums and on social change

Centre In The Square, KW|AG is the oldest and largest public gallery in Waterloo region: roots in the community,

Amy KrouseRosenthal Amy Krouse Rosenthal shares some notes on life, from A to G-sharp.

Ground Level Whether through perspective or actual material components, the works in Ground Level are either ‘of’ the ground or ‘from’ the ground. Peter Von Tiesenhausen and Jim Reid’s work utilize two opposing vantage points: a view from the ground looking up and the other of the ground viewed from above.

Other selections are composed of earth elements, like the stone carvings of Stanley Lewis, or are intended to act as a segment of earth, as in Graham Peacock’s Seasoned Ground Vee.

eyes on the world. Current exhibitions will include:

Pandora’s Box

Being Magnified: Heroes and Villains Being Magnified focuses on works that depict the

Curated by Amanda Cachia. Organized and toured by Dunlop

fully realized being; those who through exceptional

Art Gallery with the financial assistance of the Regina

ability in the physical, intellectual or spiritual realms, are

Public Library, The Canada Council for the Arts and the

considered heroic by the multitude. The works in this

Saskatchewan Arts Board. Inside Pandora’s Box viewers

exhibition delineate a common thread of all myths, which

encounter myths, folk tales, stereotypes and ambiguity.

Joseph Campbell called ‘The Heroes Journey’.

To say Amy Krouse Rosenthal is a writer, filmmaker and

Duck! Rabbit! and Cookies: Bite Size Life Lessons. Duck!

radio host does not do justice to the variety and sheer

Rabbit! was selected as Time Magazine’s best children’s

innovation behind her creative endeavours. The New York

book of 2009. As for her adult work, Amazon named her

Times said this about her work: “Her books radiate fun the

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life one of the top 10 memoirs

way tulips radiate spring: they are elegant and spirit-lifting.”

of 2005. Amy is also the creator of YouTube sensations such

contexts. They share personal fictions, political statements

Rosenthal has published 12 children’s books (and 8

as “17 Things I Made” and the international film project,

and psychological manifestations. We are invited to reflect

forthcoming), including The New York Times bestsellers

“The Beckoning of Lovely: A Feature Film Featuring You.”

on larger human issues such as birth, death, parenthood,

International artists challenge myths and fairy tales to make them a more accurate mirror of female experience in new

relationships, rites of passage and multiple identities through an engagement with other worldly creatures and everyday environments.

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Sponsors

Thank you to Joseph Chen for use of the Theater.

Map

Partner:

Artbar

The Gig Theatre

101 Queen St N

137 Ontario St N

Kitchener, ON

Kitchener, ON

Artbar

Networking: The Gig Theatre

Friend:

Media:

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Notes:

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