Theme: Unplug. Reconnect.

And now for something completely different.

TEDxChristchurch is the longest-running TEDx event in New Zealand -- and we're super proud of what we've accomplished.

We've had a talk on TED.com. Artefacts from our 2011 event are now part of the official collection of Te Papa and we've had two speakers selected for the main stage at TED.

The event itself has grown to ten times the original size. We've added tech demos and bookstores and the village and yes, the endless free barista coffee (thanks, Hummingbird!).

The obvious thing to do is to keep growing. To move to the Arena. To make it a two or three day event. To continue on the trajectory we've been on for seven years.

But our job is not to do the obvious. Our job is to make you think.

On the afternoon of Saturday, 28 October, we hosted a carefully curated selection of extraordinary people at the Christ's College Old Boys' Theatre.

No tech demos. No village. Just the audience, the speakers, the spotlight, and the famous Red Dot.

Old Boys' Theatre, Christ's College
33 Rolleston Ave
Christchurch, Canterbury, 8013
New Zealand

David Galler

Intensive Care Specialist

David Galler is the clinical lead at Ko Awatea and remains in practice as an Intensive Care Specialist at Middlemore Hospital where he has worked for 26 years. He is a visiting specialist to the National Health Service of Samoa and has held a variety of leadership roles within the DHB and in broader society. He once was the President of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists and the Principal Medical Advisor to the Director General and Ministers of Health. His first book, Things That Matter – Stories of Life and Death has been a NZ best seller.

Denise Chapman Weston

Playologist

Denise Chapman Weston is a “Playologist”: an expert in the science of play and engagement. Her unique design capabilities are fed by a deep understanding of human behavior, and how it truly interplays with technology in live, social entertainment experiences. Her achievements include hundreds of award-winning waterplay and theme attractions for world-renowned brands such as Six Flags, Universal Studios, Disney, and SeaWorld, as well as children’s museums amusement parks around the world. As a trained psychologist with more than 20 years of clinical practice and research in play theory, her attraction designs come to life with a rare kind of authenticity.

Emily Browning

Musician

Emily C. Browning, raised on small town humour and big town music, has tapped into a vocal-heavy sound that's inherently irregular and satisfying. She enjoys the way words like jazz and soul appear on paper but isn't afraid to say "pop" out loud away from home. Regardless, her music is intended as an electric experience that you won't know you wanted until you hear it.

Jacinta Ruru

Law Professor

Jacinta Ruru (Raukawa, Ngāti Ranginui) is an award winning Professor of Law at the University of Otago, Co-Director of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga New Zealand’s Centre of Māori Research Excellence, fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, and recipient of the New Zealand’s Prime Minister’s Supreme Award for Excellence in Tertiary Teaching. Her more than 100 publications assert Indigenous’ peoples rights and responsibilities to own and care for lands and waters and develop multidisciplinary understandings of landscapes. She holds a PhD from the University of Victoria, Canada, and has research collaborations around the world.

Joanna Norris

Former Editor of The Press

Joanna Norris is chief executive of ChristchurchNZ, and until last month, she was South Island editor-in-chief for Fairfax Media and editor of The Press where she led a team of 180 journalists. Joanna has worked as a journalist on daily newspapers in New Zealand, Britain and the Middle East. She has won several journalism and leadership awards, including media awards for reporting and feature writing. She was also chair of the New Zealand Media Freedom Committee and was last year awarded the Fairfax Media Women of Influence Award as Change and Innovation Champion.

Jordan Watson

How to Dad

Jordan Watson A.K.A - How to DAD, created his first comical parenting video in 2015 and hasn't stopped since. In under two years he has amassed over 180 million video views and has an army of 1.4 million followers across Facebook and Youtube. Over the past year he has published two "instructional" books and in May of this year released a NZonAir web-series all about throwing Gumboots. How to DAD has his sights set on taking over the world, in a cute, comical way of course.

Kiel Johnson

Artist

Kiel Johnson is a Los Angeles based artist who brings the inanimate to life, giving us a world not unlike ours but entirely his. With an emphasis on drawings and sculpture his works always say, handmade, hard work and having fun. Through epic workshops, artist talks & collaborative video projects, Kiel uses simple materials and hand made ingenuity to bring the infectious disease of creativity to anyone willing to engage. Johnson has received numerous awards and his work has been exhibited widely throughout galleries and museums around the world.

Lilia Tarawa

Freedom Seeker

Lilia Tarawa is a New Zealand writer, speaker, holistic health consultant and business coach. She is a member of the Māori Ngāi Tahu tribe. Lilia was born into New Zealand's infamous religious cult, Gloriavale, and fled with her eleven family members at eighteen years of age. Her extraordinary life experience compelled her to pursue a career promoting human rights, welfare and empowerment.

Nicola Woodward

Chief Executive, Aviva

Nicola Woodward joined specialist family violence agency Aviva as CEO in 2011 to lead the agency’s transformation from Christchurch Women’s Refuge. Nicola is passionate about bringing purposeful social sector innovation to reform New Zealand’s response to family violence. Following the Canterbury earthquakes Nicola co-founded The Loft at Eastgate Shopping Centre in Christchurch. In England Nicola worked from London’s frontline with people experiencing homelessness and social exclusion, to the Department of Health as a strategist and Commissioner. Nicola’s first trade was nursing; she’s now a fisher and a jet boater.

Robert Green

Anti-nuclear campaigner

Commander Robert Green served for twenty years in the British Royal Navy. As a bombardier-navigator, he flew in Buccaneer nuclear strike aircraft and anti-submarine helicopters equipped with nuclear depth-bombs. His final appointment was as Staff Officer (Intelligence) to the Commander-in-Chief Fleet during the 1982 Falklands War. He chaired the UK affiliate of the World Court Project, which led to the International Court of Justice judgment in 1996 that the threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be illegal. Co-Director of the Disarmament & Security Centre in Christchurch since 1998, he is the author of Security Without Nuclear Deterrence.

Rod Badcock

Hybrid electric jet plane guy

Dr Rod Badcock is the Deputy Director, and a Principal Engineer, at the Robinson Research Institute and has focussed on the development and implementation of pilot machines and processes. He draws on his multi-disciplinary experiences in science, engineering and industrial manufacturing to bring together international teams that deliver substantive outcomes aimed at drastically changing energy usage and production. More recently Rod has been one of the NASA / IEEE Electric Aircraft roadmap team members looking to solve the challenges of emission and fuel use in commercial aviation.