TEDx welcomes ideas worth sharing to Naperville on March 25, 2010

Self-organized TED event brings world class speakers to North Central College

NAPERVILLE, IL (25 February 2010) – With the Wentz Concert Hall as its backdrop, TEDxNaperville is launching its inaugural conference. The kickoff event will be held at North Central College in Naperville Illinois on March 25, 2010 from 1PM to 5PM. Cost of this event is only $25 and is payable online at tedxnaperville.eventbrite.com

About TEDx

In the spirit of “ideas worth spreading,” TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDx[name], where x = independently organized TED event. At TEDxNaperville, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.
TEDxNaperville is a local, self-organized event modeled in the spirit of TED.

“Through TEDx, the TED organization has created a viral movement that allows great ideas to be spread – starting at a local level,” said Arthur Zards, founder and curator of TEDxNaperville.

The March 25th TEDxNaperville event includes the following speakers:

•    Bryan Campen, new media associate at the Long Now Foundation
•    Charlie Catlett CIO of the U.S Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory
•    Dr. Robert Wolcott, the Executive Director of Kellogg Innovation Network and a founder/faculty Member, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Kellogg School of Management and Author: Grow From Within – Mastering Corporate Entrepreneurship and Innovation
•    Michael Kiefer, general manager of BrandProtect, outlines his vision for the future of art and music distribution,
•    Geoff Rhyne, chef de Cuisine at SugarToad Restaurant and founder of Slow Food Upstate in Greenville, South Carolina
•    Harold Clampitt who will share lessons learned, especially the confluence of disruptive technology, decision making and success
•    Todd Flaming, a passionate proponent of rethinking design
•    Douglas L. Sisterson, Operations Manager US Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility.

Tickets are $25 and go on sale immediately at tedxnaperville.eventbrite.com. Seating is extremely limited. Interested parties can also visit www.tedxnaperville.com for complete speaker bios and the most up-to-date event and ticket information. After the event, from 5 to 6:30PM, there will be a cocktail reception with cash bar.

At 7PM, after the TEDxNaperville event, Geoff Rhyne, chef de cuisine at SugarToad restaurant has planned a private “chef’s choice” four-course meal with wine-pairing. If you love good food and great conversation, don’t miss this private dinner. Space is extremely limited. The cost of this event is $112 per person and is payable online: http://tedxnapervilledinner.eventbrite.com

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani,Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs; TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, 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 TEDFellows 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.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED.

TEDGlobal 2010, “And Now the Good News,” will be held July 13-16, 2010, in Oxford, UK. TED2011, “The Rediscovery of Wonder,” will be held February 21-25, 2011, in Long Beach, California, with the TEDActive simulcast in Palm Springs, California.

About the TEDx Naperville Sponsors

Arthur Zards, curator, host and chief organizer of TEDxNaperville is the co-founder and President of XNet Information Systems - a B2B ISP that offers clients secure, high availability Internet access and datacenter solutions.

TEDxNaperville executive producer Ben Bradley is founder of Macon Raine - a B2B lead generation and public relations firm that uses agile marketing, selling and lead generation strategies to help companies find new customers.

TEDxNaperville connector David Metcalfe is an independent artist, media theorist and cultural historian whose recent animation collaboration, A Serious Inquiry into the Vulgar Notion of Nature, was featured at the Chicago Fringe Artist’s Networking Night and The Moon Lounge Variety Night in downtown Chicago.

Don & Kate Gingold of Gnu Ventures Company provide Internet Marketing Services and Website Lifecycle Management to small and medium sized businesses. Gnu Ventures provided the TEDxNaperville website design.

J & S Tech Designs: Jim Nagy and Susan Steele of J&S Tech Designs deliver powerful websites based on the Web Content Management system called DotNetNuke). J&S contributed the setup and provides the hosting for this site.

WebRocket Video creates targeted, authentic and personal stories for Business Marketing to advance your sales process. WebRocket contributed video production for the TEDxNaperville event.