As you know, last year’s event was a big success and we were thrilled to have received so much positive feedback. Thank you! Thanks to you we know that it’s worth changing Kraków and speaking loudly about the value of ideas.

We also know that we raised the bar and next time we want to raise it even higher. Even though we still have some time to catch our breath and recharge our batteries, this doesn’t mean that in 2014 nothing’s going to be going on – quite the contrary!

We’ve just had the first TEDxKrakówLive of 2014 where over 300 of you gathered to watch the livestream of TED from Vancouver. During the discussion in the breaks, you (and we) learned about some of the amazing people and initiatives that are taking place in Kraków. As a result, our nominations of Cracovians to the TED Prize have already been submitted. Keep your fingers crossed.

We also recently changed the way we run TEDxKrakówCinema. For this year, the guest curator of each event will be a different member of our team – they’ll choose a subject that they love, select the TED Talks they want to show, and lead the discussion. We’ve been doing this since January and we’re finding it a great way for us to get to know you (and, we hope, vice versa).

We also want to let you know that we have some openings in our team and we’re looking for new members.

We already know that the next TEDxKraków conference is going to be bigger and brighter. We want to involve more of the amazing people who are up to something in Kraków and for this, we need your help in creating the event!

We are currently looking for experienced people to join our team. We’ll be looking for more hands to join us nearer the time, but for now if you have experience in any of these areas, get in touch:

• Communication (media relations, copywriting, social media) – if you can write, or know how to get people to look at and understand what someone else has written, recorded or drawn – we need you!

• Creative direction – we want to showcase great design from Krakow. If you know exactly where you would start with this, get in touch.

• Sponsorship – if you know how to find the sponsors right for TEDxKraków and how to make the relationship work for both the sponsor and our nonprofit organisation – we need you!

• Production – most of the heavy work is done by our fantastic events contractor, but we need a small team of practical and detail-oriented people who can figure out where the gaps are (and fill them automatically). If you’re a natural born organiser and fixer, we need you!

• Programme team – if your address book is full of people who are up to something great who really should be better known, or if you have a passion and talent for getting people (particularly Polish people and women ) to express themselves, come and talk to us.

So, if any of this sounds like you, send us an email telling us about yourself: why you want to get involved, what you do on an everyday basis and what role you see for yourself. For extra points, tell us what you’d change about TEDxKraków and how you would go about doing this.

You can email us at useme@tedxkrakow.com by May 10.

We had a pleasure to host Richard Lucas, who has been a TED and TEDx friend for quite a long time already. You may remember him from TEDxKraków 2013, where he presented Benjamin Zander’s TEDTalk on classical music. Richard joined us at TEDxKrakówCinema to make you dwell upon changes, which shape the world around us.

At first, we watched Matt Ridley’s story on what happens when ideas have sex – on the basis of some historical examples, he showed how collective thinking influences the development of society. If you haven’t seen this Talk so far, you should definitely catch up with it! The second Talk was Ben Goldacre’s presentation on bad science – the way huge pharmaceutical companies manipulate their research and how we perceive them. This one stroke up the biggest discussion among the audience. For the end Richard left Tim Harford’s advice to make mistakes – however surprising this may seem.

Everybody seemed to like the topic of this month’s Cinema – we spent quite a long time discussing in Pauza afterwards. But maybe this was also a result of some ice-breaker activities we conducted – we hope you liked them and you remember what animal you are

Yes…you should definitely save this date!

We meet again at the event of the year – TEDxKraków will take place on 25 October at the AWESOME  Małopolski Ogród Sztuki.

We’re also very happy to announce the theme for this year conference which is…Make!

But what exactly does this mean?

Making = taking your life into your own hands.

Maker culture is spreading – from coders, hackers and 3­D printing communities to bakers, artists, brewers, activists and academics – people are choosing to create and do it for themselves, by themselves.

The individual maker has been around since the beginning of humanity, but we are now moving beyond the artisan and entering a new era of DIY where sharing with the wider community is key and learning is not the mechanised, formalised process offered by our education system. Rather, it’s an exploration through creativity and play – something many of us will have to re­learn!

Key to this is the rise of open source, open hardware, open data… The world is opening up and the idea of centralised command and control is crumbling. New software, hardware and digital technologies means that anyone with enough interest anywhere can start to turn their idea into reality.

So this year’s TEDxKraków will be a celebration of making. We’ll be asking our speakers to explore and demonstrate the practice, and to ponder what it takes to make more makers. We’ll be featuring some of Kraków’s makers and encouraging our audience to have a go at making something – anything!

Together we can make Kraków better.

This small team are all individuals who are are connected to Kraków to varying degrees,but what they all have in common is a lack of indifference to their environment. We’re connected by our energy and enthusiasm for action, to get involved and also our hard work.

We’re planning to step up a gear this year. After our visit to TEDxAmsterdam, we’ve got lots of new ideas as well as a new understanding of what we need to do to make them really world class. We know we can do it – but not alone!

Hence our campaign to find some new people for our team. We’re looking for people who are up for a challenge, for learning and who like to have a clear goal for their work

In particular we’re looking for:
- bloggers
- copywriters
- social media specialists

If you have experience in these areas (any one is enough ) and want to be part of TEDxKraków, let us know by sending an email to useme@tedxkrakow.com

If you’re not sure if this is for you, here are some more details of what we’re looking for:

blogger/copywriter
- regular posting on our blog and in our newsletter
- creating a unique style that is consistent with all TEDxKraków communication
- writing in English (native speaker) or Polish
- creating content for our website, press materials and printed materials
- a creative approach and a willingness to get involved in preparing promotions
- being proactive in looking for information, news and ideas worth spreading

social media specialist:
- looking after our channels, including Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn (we can agree which ones)
- regular posting and replying to comments
- increasing our social media interaction

Join us and together, let’s get Kraków moving!