TED finds talent in Joburg

Auditions are taking place in Soweto for TED2013, with a select 15 speakers who were chosen to participate from their video submissions.
FIFTEEN talented people with ideas worth sharing will stand up on stage as speakers and finalists in the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) worldwide talent search, being hosted at the MIAGI Music Centre in Soweto on 3 May.

MiagiThe MIAGI Music Centre in Soweto is hosting auditions for TED2013It is part of TED’s 14-city search for “The Young, The Wise, The Undiscovered” to participate in the TED2013 conference in Long Beach, California; Joburg is one of only three African cities in the talent search.

The 15 speakers auditioning in Soweto were selected from the videos they submitted for consideration. “In these 15 speakers, TED has successfully found remarkable people doing great work, across disciplines, ready to showcase Africa’s ingenuity on a global platform,” said TEDxSoweto convenor, Kelo Kubu. TEDx is an independently organised TED event.

Speakers in Soweto will include Lee Swan, the first African woman to reach the magnetic North Pole; Steve Barnett, the silent conductor; Toby Shapshak, the technology expert and editor; Jodi Bieber, the photographer and winner of World Press Photo of the Year in 2011; and the barefoot astronomer, Simon Ratcliffe; among others.

Each speaker will deliver a talk of three to six minutes in front of TED directors.

TED is a non-profit organisation seeking “ideas worth spreading”. It was started 25 years ago as a four-day conference in California, and has since grown immeasurably. It features an annual conference in Long Beach, where the world’s leading minds speak for 18 minutes. These speeches are then made available on TED.com.

Previous speakers at TED conferences have included Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson, Al Gore, Jane Goodall and the former British prime minister, Gordon Brown.

People can apply to be in the audience at the Soweto auditions through TEDxSoweto online, or by emailing info@tedxsoweto.co.za.