TEDxKrakówLive 2014: get energized by the “South!” TEDGlobal conference

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Ula Madej

Where is South?

In theory the answer to this question should be pretty straightforward no matter where you are, but if you ask around you realize it depends more on people’s background than their location. Americans will automatically think about the southern United States, Warsawians will direct you to the south of the city, and for some English native speakers “heading south” will mean for something to begin to fail or start going bad. Things can get even more complicated if you ask this question in China, where historically people orient themselves using not 4, but 5 cardinal directions, with the fifth one heading to the center of the country! The way we perceive the world is biased by our background, experiences and culture, and as Nelson Mandela said, “Where you stand depends on where you sit”.

Having that in mind, we invite you to look at the world from a different angle and get energized by fresh, innovative ideas from South America that will be presented at the next TEDGlobal 2014 conference “South!” taking place in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Join us on 9th October at TEDxKrakowLive 2014 to watch a live transmission from Rio de Janeiro and let us completely change your world perspective. The venue still remains a secret, but the registration will open very soon, so follow us and watch out for details!

Why “South!”?

South America and Brazil in particular have been experiencing rapid economic growth over the past few years, what is visible not only in the region’s financial results, but also in changes within society. The middle class is growing very fast; the government makes efforts to reform education, and the urban population growth forces cities to revolutionize their infrastructure. The fast growth brings challenges too and as Poles know from their own experience, nothing boosts the creativity more than difficult life conditions. And as investors turn South to look for business opportunities, TEDGlobal goes to Rio de Janeiro to hunt for fresh, innovative ideas and the energy that enables the South to grow and to turn upside down everything the western hemisphere often takes for granted.

For a taste of what is going on in the south, check out TED Talks from Latin American speakers, including a TED Talk from the Rio’s mayor – Eduardo Paes, presenting both challenges and hopes of the conference’s host city – Rio de Janeiro.

TEDKrakówLive 2014 – registration will start soon!

We will soon reveal the venue of the next TEDKrakówLive, taking place on 9th of October 2014 and open up the event registration. There is no admission fee to attend the event, but the number of seats is limited, so don’t miss your chance and follow our blog and Facebook for updates.

See you in the “South!”!

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Hot or not? Or How (not) to choose Kraków’s future

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Agnieszka Żarnowska

What are the key needs that have to be satisfied so that Krakow becomes “future proof” and a city that works for everyone who lives here? What can we do to help with it? And what should we know about the power we are about to hand over to politicians? The upcoming TEDxKrakówCinema on Tuesday September 2nd at the Pauza In Garden club at Rajska 12 will revolve around this kind of questions.

With expanding globalisation, the fact that cities becoming increasingly powerful entities in their own right, and the fast-approaching local government elections in Poland, it seems a good moment to reflect on our rights as citizens of this city, to influence its future. What kind of people should we elect to represent us and manage the mechanics of keeping Krakow going? Do we want pragmatists, or visionaries? How can we monitor if the power that we entrust to them is used properly?

The meeting is going to be led by two of our team members who are both fans of urban life: Ewa Spohn and Rafał Sanecki.

Ewa Spohn, curator of TEDxKrakow, during our main conference in 2013 at Stara Zajezdnia, and Marek Wierzbicki with whom she co-hosted the event.

Ewa, a born and bred Londoner, has been curator of TEDxKrakow for the last 4 years, where she manages a team of over 20 volunteers. She reads a lot, cooks very well and clearly has the talent and drive to find awesome speakers for our live conferences. As for Rafał, who looks after our sponsors, he comes from Mielec but has been living and working in Krakow for a couple of years. He is constantly passionate about the idea of smart city and also known in our team as a “city maniac” as he blogs at miastamaniak.pl.

Rafał Sanecki alias “city maniac” talks about Kraków’s challenges at the meeting organized in June 2014 at Wytwórnia by the Code for Poland and Social Innovations Workshop.

Whether you’re a committed voter or an ambivalent transient, join us from 6.30pm on Tuesday 2 September at Pauza In Garden (ul. Rajska 12, entrance from ul. Szujskiego) for a discussion on where we’re heading (we’ll start with the TED Talks and discussion at 7pm sharp). The TED Talks will be in English with Polish subtitles and the discussion will be primarily held in Polish, however contributions in English will be welcome. The number of spaces is limited so registration is essential.

You can register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tedxkrakowcinema-tickets-12823000941

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Happy City: True or False?

Posted on May 30, 2014 by Agata Lagodzinski

Is there such a thing as a happy city, or is it just an imaginary concept, which in recent years gained  a lot of popularity? The truth is that this is a complicated subject, but we’re getting closer to answering this question,  because it will be the main topic of our next TEDxKrakówCinema.

zdj. Miastamaniak

Unfortunately, the data speaks for itself: cities occupy only 2% of the Earth’s surface, but they are home to half of the population of our planet that is responsible for as much as 75% of energy consumption and up to 80% of CO2 emissions. These factors are significantly impacting our cities and our lives forcing us to adjust and find new ways to happily live in this new reality. Krakow, just like any large city,  has its problems. Smog, traffic jams, public transport, bicycle paths are only a small representation of what we face as residents of Krakow. Fortunately, we live in a city where people are not afraid to express their opinions and fight for what they believe in. An increasing number of organizations and social movements is an example of that. “Such organizations have an increasing impact on the lives of the city, they are able to convince other people to believe in their case, as it happened in the case of the Olympic Games . We can also see that these different movements are working together, like the newly established Cracovians Embassy on ul. Stolarska where organiztions can meet and work on joint projects,” says Rafał Sanecki, the organizer of the June’s TEDxKrakówCinema. “Committed residents are the greatest treasure that a city can have” he adds.

Rafał himself is passionate about cities and runs a blog related to this topic. “I write about ideas for a better life in the city and I want to inspire and mobilize Polish cities to make similar improvements,” adds Rafał.

At the June edition of TEDxKrakówCinema, Rafał will show us different solutions from cities around the world that improve the lives of their residents. We will talk about sustainable energy, waste management, smart solutions, transport, cars, bikes and urban design. And with this global perspective in mind, we’ll focus also on challenges for Kraków and our region.

TEDxKrakówCinema will take place on June 3 at Klub Pauza at ul. Florianska 18 (IN THE BASEMENT, NOT ON THE SECOND FLOOR AS BEFORE); registration is required. We will start at 18.30 with icebreakers, then  at 19.00 we will begin the official part of watching curated TED Talks followed by discussions, and at 20.30 we will move to Klub Pauza (1st Floor) for less official discussions. The TED talks are in English but the discussion will be in Polish. The main partner of this event is Malopolska Region.

 

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TEDxKraków Transcribeathon

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Ewa Spohn

Have you ever wondered (a) how the subtitles on TED and TEDx talks happen and (b) why some TEDx talks have subtitles, but others don’t (but they should)?

Well, here’s a chance to find out about (a) and do something about (b).

On Sunday 8 June we’re organising the first TEDxKrakow Transcribeathon at Pauza In Garden (the cafe in the basement of the Małopolska Arts Garden, entry from ul. Szujskiego). We’ll be giving you an introduction to the TED Open Translation Project (a worldwide network of volunteers who translate TED and TEDx Talks) and you’ll have a chance to get going on your own transcription – the first step to sharing ideas worth spreading in over 100 languages!

Up until recently, the OTP project has concentrated on translating the 1,000+ talks on TED.com, but now they’re getting going on the 22,000+ TEDx talks. That includes those from all the Polish TEDx events, many of which are still on the “to-do” list.

We want to change that!

It’s going to be a business-and-pleasure meeting and it doesn’t matter whether you’re new to the OTP or are experienced – we’d love to meet you! Coffee (lots of coffee) and maybe some cakes will also be provided to keep you going!

You may be wondering why transcribe and not just translate directly? Well, having a good transcript in the original language means you can automatically extend your audience by reaching the deaf and hard of hearing. And secondly, a good transcript provides a solid baseline for translation into English, and this allows the OTP to translate it into many many other languages. But don’t worry, we’ll explain how the process works!

You don’t need any special training – all you need is a good grasp of Polish OR English and A LAPTOP and HEADPHONES if you have them.

You should also set up an account with TED and REGISTER WITH AMARA – it’s free but it takes a while to go through, so it’s best to do it a few days before. More instructions are here but we’ll explain everything on the day as well!

So please come join us at Pauza In Garden on Sunday 8 June. We’ll be starting at 11am and going until at least 4pm. Join us whenever you can make it – we will have regular quick intros to transcribing and the OTP for newcomers, and you can stay as long as you like.

Of course, if you’re an experienced OTP translator, or have some experience in writing subtitles, do come along – we’d love to see you!

You can find out more about the OTP and transcribing here.

We hope to see you soon!

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Create TEDxKraków with us!

Posted on April 23, 2014 by maro

Dear friends of TEDxKrakow! We’re writing this post to let you know we have two good pieces of news for you. First, we’re looking for great people to join our team. And secondly, we’re starting work on the next edition of TEDxKraków which will take place in spring 2015. Just think of all the fantastic things you can do when you don’t have to worry about the weather!

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.

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TEDxKrakówLive – what an evening that was!

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Ula Madej

Bill and Melinda Gates, Sting, Philip Zimbardo and other popular TED speakers on one stage, during one evening, with lots of interesting people that came to share their amazing ideas? If you attended TEDxKrakówLive last Wednesday, you know what we’re talking about. That evening, Klub Pauza was full of interesting TED talks and even more interesting conversation.

The house was full of people right when the event started at 16.00. Everyone looking forward to having a chance of participating in the 30th anniversary TED conference. We started the evening off with a discussion on which Polish people should be nominated for the TED Prize – a prize of one million dollars for implementation a wish that will change the world for the better. It was great to hear everyone’s ideas!

Afterwards, everyone took seat and prepared for tuning in to Session 4: Wish straight from Vancouver, Canada, where this year’s TED conference was taking place. The first speaker, son of a terrorist, Zak Ebrahim, told a story of how he had to learn to question beliefs in which he was raised. Then Bill and Melinda Gates in an interview conducted by Chris Anderson, shared their thoughts on philanthropic activities. Later, Charmian Gooch of Global Witness organization and winner of this year’s TED Prize, discussed fighting with anonymous, corrupted companies. And at the end of the evening, Sting performed songs from his latest album The Last Ship as well as his hit Message in the Bottle.

After nearly two hours of presentations, the time came again for some interaction. “When planning TEDxKrakówLive, I wanted to get participants to talk to each other, to know each other, and above all – to think critically about ideas they heard from Canada,” said Ula Madej, one of the organizers of the event. “Are the ideas from Canada actually worth promoting? Do you want them to be implemented in our local community?” she continued.

TED’s slogan is ” ideas worth spreading” and TED encourages us to take a critical approach to the submitted ideas and share the really valuable ones as that is the purpose of our local TEDx events.

Group discussions emerged and a lot of interesting ideas were shared from certificates granted by consumers for ethical companies through teaching kids located in rural areas how to better present their ideas. It’s amazing how much you can come up with in just 20 minutes of discussion with people you have never met before. You can find the notes taken during the event on our Facebook page and we encourage you to continue the discussion!

After a short break, we moved back in front of the screens to see the All Stars session: Beauty and the Brain.” It was fairly short with some of the best speakers who appeared on the TED stage in previous years. Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist, talked about the impact of computer games as well as growing up without a father on the development of young boys; Jane McGonigal talked about the benefits of computer gamers on mental health; Jill Bolte Taylor (her TED Talk already has 15 million hits!) talked how TED has changed her life; and Emily Levine presented a short video that was different but entertaining.

Thank you again to everyone that came that evening to support TEDxKraków. As soon as the recording of the conference will appear on TED.com, we will let you know via Facebook.  Also, big thank you to iMad for renting us the registration equipment, Very Nice Media for preparing promotional video and Bartolomeo for taking pictures at the event.

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What’s TED Prize?

Posted on March 17, 2014 by Agnieszka Żarnowska

If you were to list people who are able do positively influence others through their passion, what names come to mind to you? Who from Krakow or Poland would deserve to be on that list? Owsiak, Ochojska, or maybe your next door neighbor that no one has ever heard of?

We are looking for people who are doing something special, have charisma and know how to involve others to change the world for the better. Do you know someone like that? Nominate him for the 2015 TED Prize! You really should, because the award is not only prestigious, but is awarded to an extraordinary individual with a creative and bold vision to spark global change. TED Prize supports that one wish to inspire the world by giving that person $1 million dollars towards their powerful idea.  This year’s winner has just been announced! Charmian Gooch, focused on fighting against corruption, is the 2014 TED Prize recipient.

Don’t miss this chance to nominate someone special you know. Nominations for the 2015 TED Prize may be submitted until March 31, 2014.

Join the discussion this week…

This Wednesday at 16.00, we will meet in Krakow’s Klub Pauza to watch together the broadcast from this year’s main TED conference in Vancouver, that will include a speech from Charmian Gooch. But before we broadcast the first session, we will want to talk to you about your ideas for 2015 TED Prize nominees from Krakow or Poland. The mic will be yours; we will listen and take notes. The criteria for nominations is pretty simple: any individual that envisions and executes a high-impact project that can spur global change. We hope that you will come on Wednesday with many great ideas to share!

Past Award Recipients…

In 2010, Jamie Oliver, who advocates the culinary revolution working to build healthy habits in kids and adults through impacting school institutions, businesses, and the government received the TED Prize. Healthy eating is, according to Jamie, the key to health and the most effective remedy for the high rates of obesity in the United States.

Among winners of the TED Prize, there are also politicians, scientists and artists. In 2007, the prize was awarded to Bill Clinton, who through his Clinton Health Access Initiatives foundation ( CHAI ) has created together with the Government of Rwanda a program to combat HIV / AIDS. Through this initiative, hospitals and a network of qualified medical personnel who support the local community in terms of medical assistance were established in Rwanda, as well as educational program about HIV infection prevention.

Past TED Prize Winners.
In 2011, a French photographer called JR was recognized for his art project Inside Out. JR traveled from Ecuador to Nepal, and Mexico to Palestine, inspiring group actions on topics such as hope, diversity, gender-based violence and climate change. As part of the Inside Out project over 110,00 portraits have been posted in 108 countries.
“Women Are Heroes” organized in Kenya by JR.

Qualification Process…

After the submission deadline of March 31 passes, a judging committee goes through all the applications until June 11. After July 21, the selected finalists undergo thorough examination by the judges and a winner gets selected. Results will be announced during next year’s TED conference in March 2015.

Nomination evaluation process.

Hope to see you on Wednesday (19 March 2014) at 16.00 in the basement of Klub Pauza on Florianska 18. Remember, seating is first come first serve.

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Straight from Vancouver to Kraków: TED2014

Posted on March 11, 2014 by Agata Lagodzinski

Can’t wait for TED’s 2014 conference? Guess what – we are bringing two sessions straight from Vancouver to Krakow on March 19 long before they’re available on TED.com!

TED’s 30th anniversary conference is set to better understand how the most significant developments from the last 30 years will shape our future.  “The Next Chapter” brings some of the most intriguing speakers of all time to TED’s main stage as well as to five special All-Stars sessions during which these speakers will expand on their ideas and join audience in breakout groups for further discussions.

TEDxKraków will stream two of the sessions on Wednesday, March 19. In addition, in the spirit of bringing positive change to our local community, we also prepared some fun activities for Wednesday’s afternoon. We will start at 4pm at Klub Pauza with an activity designed to select local nominees for the TED Prize. At 5pm, we will stream Session 4: Wish. The speakers for this session include Zak Ebrahim, peace activist inspiring to reject path of violence; Charmian Gooch, activist against corrupted exploitation of natural resources; Bill and Melinda Gates, two philanthropists and founders of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; and Sting, composer, singer, author, actor, activist.

After this session, we will have another TEDxKraków activity and at approximately 7:45pm, we will stream one of the All-Star sessions: Beauty and the Brain. Here, you will hear from a 14-year old nuclear scientist that wants to save our seaports from nuclear terror, a Harvard psychologist researching true happiness, an advertising guru designing cutting-edge interactive campaigns, and many more.

This will be one truly inspirational afternoon! The entry is free, but the number of seats is limited so please register at: https://tedxkrakowlive.evenea.pl/.

During registration you can order a TEDxKraków KeepCup. Krakow’s cafes are partnering with us to provide discounts to anyone that uses a TEDxKraków cup…stay tuned for more details.

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One more time…TEDxKrakow 2013

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Agata Lagodzinski

If you missed this year’s awe-inspiring TEDxKraków conference, do not worry! We just posted all of the talks to the TEDx YouTube Channel – so watch, give thumbs up, share and comment on them. One thing is sure, you will not regret it as all of this year’s talks were phenomenal!

TEDxKraków 2013 took place on October 25 and was a true celebration of the maker culture. We had fantastic speakers from all over the world come to Kraków to show us how baking, coding, teaching, dancing, singing or innovating changes the world around us. It was one-of-a-kind event that inspired over 600 people in the audience and more that tuned in through the live stream. Here are our 2013 speakers and short descriptions of their presentations:

Adam Karcz shared his story of how he rebuilt a lunar excavator in just a few days just to compete at a NASA competition.

Agnieszka Stach made law understandable to the average Joe.

Anna Nacher talked about the unofficial flow of information around a city.

Catherine Bracy talked about how technology has mobilized grassroots movement and allowed for creating open governments around the world. She also helped launch the Polish movement to open government called Open Malopolska – a hackathon that took place after our live event.

Gever Tulley talked about how children should be respected and trusted with all sorts of objects especially the “too dangerous” ones.

Janusz Makuch demonstrated that you can do anything you want if you put your heart and soul into to, just like he did starting the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival.

Jeroen Beekmans showed us how cities are collections of ideas rather than buildings and that there are many options nowadays to make your city a better one.

Krakowski Teatr Tańca – KTT (Cracow Dance Theatre) demonstrated what love making is about.

Michał Żołnowski demonstrated how he built an observatory in Italy and manages it from Kraków.

Ralph Talmont taught us how smiling is important to our health and that we, Poles, really need to smile more.

Recycling Band showed us how you can make music out of anything, including trash.

Richard Satava talked about how new ideas generated and how he revolutionized operating rooms.

Roger Antonsen taught us that mathematics is more about communication than equations.

Steve Crawshaw talked about how impossible can become possible and that any regime can be overthrown simply by the strength of individuals joining forces to fight back.

Trine Hahnemann not only cooked lunch for us, but also taught us how to bake bread and why rye is so important to health.

Waldemar Domański showed us modern patriotism celebrated through singing.

We hope you enjoyed them. Again, we’d like to hear what you thought, so give us thumbs up, comment and share these talks via Facebook or Twitter!

-TEDxKraków Team

 

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The December edition of TEDxKrakówCinema

Posted on December 9, 2013 by maro

The December edition of TEDxKrakówCinema was highly popular – thank you all for coming! For those of you who were not able to join us, here’s a little summary of the evening!

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 ;)

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