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).

Bend Senior High School
230 NE 6th St
Bend, Oregon, 97701
United States

Aisea Taimani

From the Kingdom of Tonga, which is a Polynesian archipelago, multi-instrumentalist and artist Taimani has recently recorded and produced his first self-titled EP. Although primarily raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, it is his Tongan heritage and personal history that inspires his music. Taimani is not only a singer-songwriter but also a storyteller. His father was the first to introduce electronic instruments into sacred spaces in the Tongan Islands, by way of gospel music. While Taimani’s music is called “island soul,” it embraces and overlaps multiple genres, allowing for a wider breadth of connectivity. Taimani travels the world working with youth outreach, bridging music and spirituality. His influences include James Brown, Ben Harper, Robert Nesta Marley and Bill Withers.

East Forest

Under the moniker of East Forest, Portland’s Trevor Oswalt weaves ethereal soundscapes from vintage keys, intimate vocals and original field recordings. His sonic architecture reflects motifs of nature and the inner spiritual landscape, and experiments with elements of pop and contemporary themes. The wide-ranging textural sound has been called “blissful” by National Public Radio and has been compared to Sigur Ros, Bon Iver and Explosions in the Sky. He has collaborated with Deepak Chopra, shared stages with artists including Moby, Sarah Neufeld and Random Rab, and composed and licensed music for TV, film, theatre, apps, video games and dance companies.

Roz & Ashton Eaton

Ashton Eaton is known as the “World’s Greatest Athlete.” In the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Eaton won the gold medal in the decathlon, soon after setting the world record at the Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon. Today Eaton competes for the Oregon Track Club Elite team in Eugene, where he trains to defend his titles at the 2015 Worlds in Beijing, China, the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Eugene, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Eaton plans to return to London for the 2017 World Championships. Eaton was raised in Bend, Oregon, by his mother Roslyn (“Roz”). Roz Eaton is an important figure in her son’s success as well as multiple philanthropic events throughout Central Oregon.

The Night Light Show

Bend’s only local variety show, the Night Light Show is hosted by Shanan Kelley, with comedienne Chelsea Woodmansee, Jesse Locke of AMZ Productions, artist Kaycee Anseth, activist Casey Corcoran, and Micah and Esme LaVoy of Tin Pan Theater, the Night Light Show’s home stage. Anseth and Corcoran also make up The Gold Rust, the show’s house band. The Night Light Show features film, comedy, music and community spotlighting. Beginning in November of 2013, the Night Light Show has performed for over 25 sold-out audiences. They seek to inspire creativity and connection and want to leave audiences with this charge: “Do something, do anything!”

Wyatt Carrell & Hayden French

Students at Bend High School, Carrell and French specialize in sleight of hand, cardistry and illusion. Wyatt, a self-taught web developer, blogger and magician, has been performing illusions since the age of four, including such classics as The Famous Houdini and Coke Trick. Hayden, or as his friends call him, “French,” has been perfecting sleight of hand with the deftness and speed of a seasoned magician. He recently achieved his personal goal of solving the Rubik’s Cube in less than a minute.

Chris Agnos

If humanity is to not just survive but thrive, we must change the narrative of modern civilization. So says Agnos, self-proclaimed change agent and co-director at Sustainable Human. Agnos believes it’s high time we re-imagined the story of the world we wish to live in. By inspiring social and cultural change through attitudes of sustainability, empathy and love of life, Agnos’ strategy is based on volunteering, gifting and the desire to create an abundant world. Currently the Sustainable Human Facebook page has more than 1.3 million subscribers.

Dale Partridge

Described as “a mind that feels the trends before market,” Bend-based Partridge teaches leaders and organizations how to position their brand, love their people and develop profitable corporate social responsibility programs. He is the author of the upcoming book “People over Profit.” In less than two years, Partridge’s venture, Sevenly, has given more than $3 million—in donations of $7 each—to charities across the globe. Partridge has been featured on Fox News, NBC, INC. Magazine, Mashable, MSN Money, Forbes, Los Angeles Times and on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine.

Emilie Wapnick

Author, entrepreneur and artist, Wapnick was blessed with so many interests that she was unable to pick just one. She studied music, visual arts, film production and law, and graduated from the Law Faculty at McGill University. After years of feeling anxious about her zigzagging career path and hyphenated credentials, she finally decided to embrace her plural nature and start a movement for others who lean toward being “multipotentialites.” Since launching her website, Puttylike, in 2010, Wapnick has inspired thousands of multipotentialites to stop trying to fit themselves into boxes, and embrace their plurality. She has been featured in Lifehacker, The Financial Times, and The Huffington Post. Currently, she is working on her forthcoming book, “Multipotentialite.”

Jason McLennan

Considered one of the most influential individuals in the green building movement today. McLennan is the recipient of the prestigious Buckminster Fuller Prize, as well as CEO of the International Living Future Institute, a leading NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) that focuses on the transformation to a world that is socially just, culturally rich and ecologically restorative. He is also CEO of Cascadia Green Building Counsel. McLennan is the founder and creator of the Living Building Challenge, widely considered the world’s most progressive and stringent green building program. His vision and published works have made a pivotal impact on the shape and direction of green building in the United States and Canada.

Jon Bullock

Bullock has dedicated his career to educating, empowering and developing leadership in young people. He dreams of leading an educational revolution, in which youth are empowered to embrace their strengths and share their passions with the world. He is involved with such volunteer youth organizations as Kids Helping Kids, a division of Children’s Miracle Network in Eugene, Oregon. He has also been a motivational speaker for the Oregon Association of Student Councils. Currently, Bullock is the Executive Director for the Redmond Proficiency Academy in Redmond, Oregon. He holds a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Oregon.

Kiarra Saito-Beckman

A 4.0 student at Summit High School, Kiarra began studying violin at age three-and-a-half, cello at six, and piano at seven. She has performed classical violin in cities across the country, including Atlanta, Chicago, Charleston, Coeur D’Alene, Las Vegas and Washington, DC, where she performed on the National Public Radio program, From the Top. Her awards include the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, the Sunriver Music Festival Young Artist Scholarship, and full scholarship to Meadowmount School of Music in Westport, NY. She is also a three-time national fiddle champion and has played many musical styles including rock, contemporary Celtic, Irish, swing, jazz and bluegrass.

Kris Prochaska

Once a psychotherapist, now a coach and consultant, Kris uses her intuitive insight, diagnostic skills and business savvy to help her clients discover their Natural Genius Factor™ and use it to excel in business and create harmonious family relationships. She’s helped hundreds of women and men learn to calm their little voices in their heads and follow their intuition to create powerful results personally and professionally. She is the author of “Life Well Spoken: Free Your Inner Voice & Prosper,” and the creator of “Align Your Design at Home & Work.”

Naomi A. Rose

As a scientist for Humane Society International and a marine mammal scientist for the Animal Welfare Institute, Rose has spent her entire career studying whales and dolphins (cetaceans) in captivity and how society’s relationship with these animals needs to change. Rose travels the world, most recently to Russia and Singapore, to give presentations about the concerns related to keeping cetaceans in captivity and using them in performances. She brings scientific grounding to an often divisive and emotional topic. Her work has been profiled in the book “Death at SeaWorld” by David Kirby; she also consulted on the 2013 documentary film “Blackfish” by Gabriela Cowperthwaite.

Nicole LeFavour

An American politician, educator and activist, LeFavour served as an Idaho State Senator from 2008 to 2012. In 2006, LeFavour criticized the passage of Idaho Amendment 2, which made it unconstitutional to recognize or perform same-sex marriages or civil unions. In 2007, she was named one of Idaho Business Review’s Women of the Year. LeFavour was involved in Idaho’s Add The Words campaign in 2014, which sought to add language including “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the state’s human rights act. LeFavour was featured in the documentary, “Add the Words,” which premiered at the BendFilm Festival in October 2014.

Paul Zientarski

With more than 40 years in the field of education, Zientarski has created a highly successful program called the Learning Readiness Physical Education (LRPE) program at Naperville Central High School. The program has produced such dramatic improvements in test scores, behavior and childhood obesity that it has inspired adoption in school districts from across the country and around the world, including Denmark, China, South Korea and Canada. His program has been highlighted on major TV networks and featured in documentary films. Zientarski shares his educational philosophy and programs with audiences nationwide, including the President’s Council on Health, Fitness and Nutrition in Washington, D.C.

Shannon Keith

Keith confronted her life’s purpose while traveling through the red light districts of India. While she listened to countless stories of women trapped in India’s sex trade, an idea formed. A social entrepreneur who believes that a solid “double bottom line” business practice can change the world, Keith was compelled to action. International Princess™ Project (IPP) was born. Women who enter one of IPP’s 4 sewing centers learn transferrable skills, produce a give-back loungewear product called PUNJAMMIES™ and earn an above-fair-trade wage, while receiving the medical and emotional support to recover from the traumas of the sex trade world. Some even realize career aspirations they never dreamed possible.

Tchicaya Missamou

Raised in the Republic of Congo during their civil war, Missamou was recruited by rebel forces in 1992 and taught to fight at age thirteen. In 1997, he fled his homeland, eventually arriving in America and joining the U.S. Marine Corps. In 2003, he was instrumental in finding and releasing captured Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq. Missamou founded Warrior Fitness in Valencia, California, inspired by his military experience and his belief that freedom is not something to take for granted—it’s something to live. His memoir, “In the Shadow of Freedom,” is the uplifting story of his quest to achieve his own American Dream.