Interview opportunity: Marc Garneau – 9:30 a.m.

A media scrum will be available with Mr. Garneau at 9:30 a.m. Media interviews with all other speakers and performers are also available throughout the day. Please contact Kate Ingram at kateingram@trentu.ca for full details and to book an interview.

TEDx is coming to Trent University Oshawa, bringing a dynamic and inspiring group of speakers, including MP and former Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau, to the Thornton Road Campus on Saturday, January 18, 2014 beginning at 10 a.m. in room 121.

Conceived as a student-driven initiative, TEDxTrentUniversity was born out of the hard work and passion of Trent Oshawa student and vice-president of University Affairs with the Trent Oshawa Student Association, Chris Fernlund.

"TED Talks have been extremely influential in my life; they taught me that education can come in many forms and experiences,” says the third year Psychology major. “I have also been very passionate about the TED mission, which is ‘ideas worth sharing.’ After attending various TEDx events globally, I decided to establish a TEDx event here at my own university.”

After obtaining a license from the official TED organization and forming a working committee comprised of other students, faculty and staff at the Trent Oshawa campus, Mr. Fernlund has worked tirelessly for months to plan the upcoming TEDx conference, complete with thought-provoking and influential speakers and performers.

The January 18 TEDxTrentUniversity event will feature speakers discussing topics ranging from space to marketing, solar cars to critical media labs, and more, all the while threading the conference’s theme ‘creativity, collaboration and engagement’ throughout their talks.

A full list of speakers and performers for TEDxTrentUniversity is as follows:

Session #1: 10:00 a.m.

Marc Garneau – MP, Former Canadian Astronaut

Sara Humphreys – Professor, Trent University; published in the field of video game studies and rhetoric

Derek Blais – Senior Art Director, BBDO specializing in digital, social and branded content

Taylor O’Meara – Singer/songwriter/student

Session #2: 1:00 p.m.

Lon Appleby – Reporter, writer, director, producer, teacher – The Global Classroom

Marcelo da Luz - Catalyst of The Power of One, solar car project

Jes Sachse – Writer, journalist, artist and curator who juxtaposes archetypes with self-representations, sarcasm and contradiction

Marcel O’Gorman – Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Waterloo and Director of the Critical Media Lab

Unity singers – collective talents of Barb Rivett, Brenda Maracle O’Toole, Heather Shpuniarsky, and Joeann Argue - acappella women’s group who perform their own works as well as traditional Aboriginal music

TEDxTrentUniversity is a free event and is open to the public. Tickets are limited. Visit tedxtrentu.com to register.

For more information about TEDxTrentUniversity, visit www.tedxtrentu.com or follow the event on Twitter @TEDxTrent or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/tedxtrentu

About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California almost 30 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes on a diverse mix of topics. Many of these talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The TED2014 Conference will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia, along with the TEDActive simulcast in neighboring Whistler. TEDGlobal 2014 will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TED Talks are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; and TEDBooks, short e-books on powerful ideas. TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world get help translating their wishes into action; TEDx, which supports individuals or groups in hosting local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities. Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED