TEDx Accra 2015 Officially Launched!!!

TEDxAccra officially launched today at the International Press Centre, Accra. The event, an independently organised TED talk organised by local communities, formerly operated under the brand TEDxLabone until a higher status was recently granted to the Curators by TED global so that it became TEDxAccra. TEDxAccra takes inspiration from TED talks, and will leverage the TED experience at a community level, bringing together innovative thinkers and pioneering doers.

TEDxAccra 2015 will be an annual event and will take place this year on 11 April, at the National Theatre from 7am to 7pm. It is expected to be the biggest TEDx event in Ghana to date. The theme for this year's TEDxAccra is “The Next Chapter”. Speakers have been selected from a distinguished nominations list, and include many based in Ghana as well as Ghanaians in the Diaspora. Speakers will deliver inspirational talks, performances and or presentations on new ideas, innovative creations and new, better ways of serving societal and business needs. The objective is that through each and every one of the presentations and performances, the audience is encouraged and inspired to move to their own personal next chapter.

In 2014, under its former name of TEDxLabone, organisers convened a host of rousing speakers such as the Honourable Hannah Tetteh (Foreign Minister), Kojo Oppong Nkrumah (former JOY FM Super Monrning Show Host),Mrs. Eva Lokko (Politician, Gender Activist, and CEO Totally Youth), Uche Ufodili (former Vodafone Ghana Chief Marketing Officer), M. Masoperh, Abla (Legal & Strategic Adviser), Paul Anomakodie (ETV visually impaired Newscaster), Papa Arkhurst (Entrepreneur & Public / Motivational Speaker), and Anthonia Senam Fesu (Broadcaster & Creator of Art).

Other speakers were: Regina Agyare (Software Developer & Social Entrepreneur) D.K Osei-Yaw (Writer, rapper, actor, musical and recording artist), Benjamin Gregory Aggrey (Social Entrepreneur & Brands Specialist), Patricia Obo-Nai (Chief Technical Officer, Vodafone Ghana), Daniel Antwi (Business Consultant & Entrepreneur), Makafui Awuku (Social Entrepreneur), Ken Fiifi Amoah (Writer and Financial Tax Auditor), Prince Williams Oduro (Social Entrepreneur & Business Consultant), Hayford Siaw (Social Entrepreneur & a Change Leader of the Reach), Toni Manieson (Jazz Musician) and Nathaniel Padi (Student & Mobile App Developer).

Speaking about how TEDxLabone has evolved to become TEDxAccra, the Curator of TEDxAccra Mr Emmanuel Addae Leslie, said: “With the 2014 event focusing on Informing, Empowering and Educating, where speakers informed, empowered and educated audience on their ideas, the next chapter of Ghana's success story must now be told.At TEDxAccra 2015 participants will take part in a TED-like experience that will ultimately equip and inspire both speakers and the audience alike unto boundless possibilities. The concept is to reflect ideas and inspire thinking of a new generation of African thinkers and leaders.” Mr Addae added that speakers have been already selected for the event, and informed that tickets are already selling online ahead of the event. He encouraged all interested parties to closely monitor and follow pre and post event activities closely through both online and offline platforms.

Various members of the organising team gave details of the event activities at the press launch as seen below in the press kit of this press launch. They included Curator, LeslieAddae who spoke on the journey fromTED,TEDx & TEDxLabone to TEDxAccra; RukaSanusion Speakers' Selection, Nabil Rafui on Volunteers' Selection;Kate Gyasion the line-up of activities for the Whole DayEvent;Amos Ghunney about the Concept and Future of TEDxAccra; and Victor Brachi who spoke onthe community's website, Ideas.tedxaccra.org.

TEDxAccra 2015 is proudly sponsored by Vodafone Ghana, and supported by Voltic Ghana,Type Printing, Azaliabooks.com, Zepto, Club Minerals, Chale, Generic 7 Consult, Quantum Shift Consulting, Sketch Ghana, Kwaku David Photography, Caminn MakeOver, Jumia, Trap Shoes and Scout Numero Uno.

Our strong media partners areCitifm, GhanaGist, Enewsgh.com, Daily Graphic, Daily Guide, Ghanaian Times, TV3, Business World Magazine, LiveonCampus, Face2Face, Wasuptek, GhanaWeb, Ghana News Agency, Radio Universe, Joy FM, Metro TV, Viasat 1, Peace FM, ETV and Starr FM,

Journey from of TED,TEDx & TEDxLabone to TEDxAccra
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences run by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan "Ideas Worth Spreading".TED was founded in 1984 as a one-off event; while the annual conference series began in 1990. TED's early emphasis was technology and design, consistent with its Silicon Valley origins, but it has since broadened its focus to include talks on many scientific, cultural and academic topics.

The main TED conference is held annually in Vancouver, British Columbia, and its companion TEDActive is held in Whistler, B.C. Prior to 2014, the two conferences were held in Long Beach and Palm Springs, California, respectively. TED events are also held throughout North America, Europe and Asia, offering live streaming of the talks. They address a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture, often through storytelling. The speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. Past speakers include Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Richard Dawkins, Bill Gates, Bono, Mike Rowe, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, George Ayittey and many Nobel Prize winners. TED's current curator is the British former computer journalist and magazine publisher Chris Anderson.

Since June 2006,the talks have been offered for free viewing online, under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons license, through TED.com.As of April 2014, over 1,700 talks are freely available on the website. In June 2011, the talks' combined viewing figure stood at more than 500 million, and by November 2012, TED talks had been watched over one billion times worldwide.

TEDx are independent TED-like events, which can be organized by anyone who obtains a free license from TED, agreeing to follow certain principles. TEDx events are non-profit, but may use an admission fee or commercial sponsorship to cover costs. Similarly, speakers are not paid. They must also relinquish the copyrights to their materials, which TED may edit and distribute under a Creative Commons license.

As of January 2014, TEDx talk library contained some 30,000 films and presentations from over 130 countries. In March 2013, eight TEDx events were being organised every day, from five in June 2012, in 133 countries. TEDx presentations also include live performances, which are catalogued in the TEDx Music Project.

In 2011 TED began a program called "TEDx in a Box" that allows people in developing countries to hold TEDx events. TEDx also expanded to include TEDxYouth events, TEDx corporate events and TEDxWomen.

In May 2013, I was granted a License from TED to organise TEDxLabone which was for maximum of 100 attendees. The event was organised at Kama Conference Centre on 5th April 2014.

Nearly three months after the event, I was granted a Scholarship to be part of TEDGlobal 2014 in Brazil.

Upon returning to Ghana, TEDxLabone was lifted higher to TEDxAccra which will be the biggest TEDx event in Ghana.

TEDxAccra will be an annual event, where thinkers and doers of our community will gather to create and share ideas. This year, we are preparing for TEDxAccra 2015 which seeks to develop and leverage the TED experience at a community level, bring together innovative thinkers to connect and discuss great ideas. At TEDxAccra 2015 participants will take part in a TED-like experience that will ultimately equip and inspire them into boundless possibilities. The concept is to reflect ideas and inspire thinking of a new generation of African thinkers and leaders, presenting to an audience committed to engaging and reengaging in an active and meaningful manner with the continent.

TEDxAccra is for thinkers, doers and dreamers of Accra to meet and share ideas. An action-packed event that would run from 7am to 7pm. TEDxAccra is meant for people who want to hear new ideas — then create ripple effects of action.

TEDxAccra 2015 is expected to be the biggest TEDx event in Ghana. TEDxAccra 2015 dubbed “The Next Chapter” which would take place at the National Theatre on 11th April, 2015; is set to thrill audience. With 2014 event focusing on Informing, Empowering and Educating, where speakers informed, empowered and educated audience on their ideas, the next chapter of Ghana's success story must now be told.

Speakers' Selection –
This year we had over 10,000 nominations coming through when we opened the speakers nominations. We asked the general public to nominate either themselves or someone they thought had an interesting story to share. The Nominations were opened in October 2014 and closed in November 2014.

We evaluated these applications and we selected our final speakers for the event.

We asked all the potential speakers to submit One Page of the Ideas they want to share with our audience based on our theme, The Next Chapter.

We are so passionate about the event because we believe that Ghanaiansare Ideas Worth Spreading.

In all, fifteen (15) speakers have been selected this year for our Main TEDxAccra sessions and other 15 speakers for our Empowering Business Sessions.

Some of the Names Includes:
• Kwame Leslie Dougan
• Sena Dede Ahadji
• Bernardino Koku Avle
• Elizabeth Kanburi Bidzakin
• Street Etiquette
• Ruka Sanusi
• Sheila Aboagye
• Rita Kusi
• Bernard Kelvin Clive
• Eyram Tawia
• Fiifi Baidoo
• Sylvester Phish
• Princess Umul Hatiyya Ibrahim Mahama
• Elizabeth Akua-Nyarko Patterson
• Prince Adu-Appiah
• Peace Hyde
• Mansa Ayisi-Okyere
• Eric Ofori Kwaah
• Lauren Grimanis
• David Kwaku Sakyi
• Audrey Forson
• MaameYaa Boafo
• Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond
• Ethel Cofie
• Gena West
• Mohammed Issa
• Isaac Badu Boateng
Volunteers' Selections
All volunteers were selected through an open application on tedxaccra website. The event is organised by volunteers who are willing to offer their time and professional experiences in organizing the event.

These experts were gathered from numerous fields such as Accounting, Communication, Media, IT, Management and Marketing.

We current work with 15 committed Core Team Members and 20 volunteers.

It is free to be part of volunteers, provided people would be committed in executing their roles to the letter. For this year, the volunteer's selection is closed and will opened for 2016 after the 2015 event.

All the interested volunteers should look for the application in October on www.tedxaccra.org

Concept & future OF TEDxAccra – By Amos Ghunney
TEDxAccra is an annual event, where thinkers and doers of our community are gathered to create and share ideas. It is an event funded by corporate companies who believe in Ghanaian Ideas Worth Spreading.

The concept is to reflect ideas and inspire thinking of a new generation of African thinkers and leaders, presenting to an audience committed to engaging in an active and meaningful discourse.

With TEDxAccra we are looking at organizing this event annually for two years then add a youth based event called TEDxYouth@Accra for Ghanaian youth.

The main aim of organizing TEDx event in Ghana is to create space for hope and possibilities for the future leaders of Ghana.

Ideas.tedxaccra.org – By Victor Brachi
Exploring Ghanaian ideas worth sharing, everyday.
The question has been this, so after sharing the ideas at the event, people get inspired, lives are impacted and videos are shared on Youtube, what is Next?

The TEDxAccra Organising Team has realised the need for follow ups of the ideas being shared on TEDxAccra events.

Last year, we selected One of the Talks at the TEDxLabone and discussed it into details. There was a talk from Former Vodafone Marketing Manager Uche Ofodile about Mentorship. We set a focused Group of Mentors for every area of LIFE who are now groomed and ready to serve members of the general public for FREE through the ideas.tedxaccra.org platform.

Now, www.ideas.tedxaccra.org is an open blog where Ghanaians can post, share and comment on issues from designs, innovations, graphics, educations and more.

With TEDxAccra 2015 event, we are asking graphic designers, video animators and others to send us their designs for our theme 'TheNextChapter' for review on www.ideas.tedxaccra.org. This could be in the form of pictures, teasers, videos and clips with maximum time of 60 seconds for the videos.

The selected videos, pictures and designs will be shared on the upcoming event on April 11, 2015 at the National Theatre, and the sender will be officially invited by the TEDxAccra Team.

For any clarifications send us an email to [email protected] or call Victor on 0540210554

Line-Up Of Activities For The Whole Day Event
TEDxAccra 2015 Event Schedule
Saturday 11, April 2015
7:00AM Registration+ Information Desk
7:00AM Community Health Screening
7:00AM Social Spaces
8: 00AM Active Studio
9:00AM Introduction About 'The Next Chapter' Host

9:30AM: Session 1: Ideas Discovery Host
11:00AM Morning Break/Networking
11:00AM Speaker Meetups/Networking
11:30AM Session 2: The Dream Makers Host
A TED talk: Recorded: Fred Swaniker- The leaders who ruined Africa, and the generation who can fix it

1:00PM Community Lunch/Networking
1:00PM Speakers Meetups/Networking
2:00PM Session 3: The Fighters Host
4:00PM Afternoon Break
4:00PM Speakers Meetups
4:30PM Empowering Businesses: Host
5:30PM Open Mic Host
6:00PM Innovative Sponsor Talk Host
7:00PM Good bye
Signed:
Yvette Appiah,
Communication Team Leader,
TedxAccra
About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world's leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Long Beach, California (along with a parallel conference, TEDActive, in Palm Springs), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily; the new TED Conversations, enabling broad conversations among TED fans; and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.

TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities. For information about TED's upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registrationFollow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED