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

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.

So do you have any New Year resolutions? How do you go about making them? What are you planning? What have you promised yourself that you’ll do? We’d love to find out so we hope you’ll join us at the next TEDxKrakowCinema. For some inspiration, watch these talks listed by TED on their blog.

And even if you have already decided on your New Year resolutions, there’s always room for a few more. We’ve chosen some TED Talks that might not talk directly about resolutions but we think they may just give you some new ideas, if not change your (and our) world. Come tell us what you think!

As always, we’ll be at Kino Pauza (2nd floor, ul. Floriańska 18) from 7pm on Tuesday 8 January. The discussion will be held in Polish and we’ll head downstairs for a more informal chat over a beer at 8:30pm.