TEDxRockfordLive Feb. 28 at NIU Rockford

Staff Report

TEDx Rockford will host a live stream of TED2013 at TEDxRockfordLive Thursday, Feb. 28, at the Northern Illinois University Meeting and Conference Center, 8500 E. State St., Rockford.

TEDxRockfordLive is a local public viewing of TED talks recorded the previous day at TED in Long Beach, Calif.

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 for 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 former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The annual TED Conference takes place each spring in Long Beach, Calif., along with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs; the annual TEDGlobal conference is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

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 stands for “independently organized TED event.” The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

TEDxRockfordLive is divided into four sessions throughout the day, and attendees are welcome to attend as many as able. These talks will not be published online until mid-March, so this is an exclusive opportunity to view these talks before the general public has access.

Between events, discuss and create ideas with your fellow attendees. In addition to the breaks, stay for the lunch and the open TEDxRockford committee meeting (RSVP required for the provided lunch at the meeting), and join fellow attendees after the fourth session for the after-party.

TEDxRockfordLive is free and there is no RSVP to attend.

Learn more about the speakers and connect with other TED fans on the TEDxRockford Facebook page and at www.TEDxRockford.com.

From the Feb. 20-26, 2013, issue