TEDx and what to expect from the talk

TEDxChennai 2018, an independently organised TED event, is a day-long platform—to be held on March 11, 2018 at Sir Mutha Venkatasubbarao Hall, Chetpet. Chennai—that will present uniquely crafted conversations and experiences that highlight the most pertinent ideas, trends and developments in areas of the society, economics, design, arts, technology and science; key areas that drive our future forward. 

TEDxChennai 2018 brings together more than 15 speakers—all experts in the fields as diverse as Artificial Intelligence, Agriculture, Medicine, Cryptocurrency, Art, Entrepreneurship, just to name a few—who will deliver TED’s famous under-18 minute talks, live.

Speaking about the curation of this edition, Kritika Jain, Curator, TedxChennai 2018 says, “Our attempt has been to bring together, under the same platform, the crazy and the quiet to share their journeys with us in the hope that their stories will enrich and spark off excitement amongst us to create, and make a difference.” Kritika Jain, 24, is a designer/architect by training and the Licensee & Curator for TEDxChennai.

Some of the speakers at TEDxChennai 2018 are: RS Prasanna—How to break a taboo without breaking a person—a tale of a Bollywood blockbuster RS Prasanna is a filmmaker whose kitty includes movies like Kalyana Samayal Saadham and Shubh Mangal Savdhaan. He has been credited with creating movies that are “fresh and heart-warming”. In both his recent films, Prasanna has used a unique way of storytelling to break taboos in a fun and entertaining manner. 

Marco Ferrario is the co-founder of MHS CITY LAB. An architect by training, Marco has a mind for creating workable solutions. In 2009, Marco co-founded MHS CITY LAB, a social venture with a scope to develop solutions to alleviate the problems related to housing of the urban poor.

Samyak Chakrabarty leads X Billion Labs—an ecosystem of impact enterprises. Samyak is currently developing a skilling model to enable India’s youth to remain professionally relevant in a digital economy (Skills Lab), an information access platform for rural Indian youth (Netpar - Tech Lab) and a behaviour change model to positively influence people’s choices (Action Lab. 

Aditi Prasad teaches girls to code to teach them bravery. The COO and CIO of Robotix Learning Solutions, is on a mission to inspire and educate young girls and boys to learn to code and develop real-world solutions for real- world challenges. 

Dr Uma Venkatachalam has been serving the poor and needy since 1987, right from the age of 12. She founded Suyam Charitable Trust in 1999, which is focussed on improving the lives of children in poor communities through education. Suyam’s flagship school, SIRAGU Montessori near Avadi, Chennai provides free education to 450 children of which 120 children are residential and focus is on overall development.

Prakash Iyer is a best-selling author, motivational speaker and leadership coach. Prakash speaks and writes extensively on motivation, leadership, teamwork and winning. His first book - titled The Habit of Winning—was published by Penguin in 2011. It has been translated into seven languages. His second book—The Secret of Leadership—was published in 2013.

Rakesh Raghunathan is a food traveller, show host and musician who travels to various parts of India to research and document food (heirloom recipes, quaint eats native to a particular region). 

Tishani Doshi is a poet, who has published six books on poetry and fiction. Her essays, poems and short stories have been widely anthologized. In 2012, she represented India at a historic gathering of world poets for Poetry Parnassus at the Southbank Centre, London. She currently lives on a beach between two fishing villages in Tamil Nadu with her husband and three dogs.

Trishya Screwvala is Founder/Director of Raindancer, a not-for-profit organisation that aims to inspire urban Indian youth to affect change by generating awareness and creating platforms for sustained volunteering. She started one of India’s first mentoring programs which connects educated youngsters, with children from under resourced communities through one-on-one mentoring, with the aim of developing their life skills, social skills and exposing them to a world outside of their community that is within their reach.

Anu Majumdar was born in Allahabad. Discovering Sri Aurobindo while in college in Kolkata was a life-changing experience which led her to Auroville in 1979. She has worked in different areas such as the Matrimandir construction site and as a dancer- choreographer with the Auroville Dance Lab. At present, her interest lies in city planning as a means to enable Auroville further. Her books include Refugees from Paradise & God Enchanter, (fiction), Island of Infinity & Infinity Papers (YA), as well as two collections of poetry. Auroville: A City for the Future is her first non-fiction book.

Gitanjali Rao, an eleven-year-old schoolgirl has been honoured as “America’s Top Young Scientist” for inventing a quick, low-cost test to detect lead-contaminated water. 

She was selected from amongst ten finalists who spent three months collaborating with scientists to develop their ideas. Her device uses carbon nanotubes to detect the presence of lead. Thousands of US water systems are reportedly contaminated by lead.