Theme: Dare To Know

TEDxSanFrancisco is a full day of live TED talks and performances in the heart of San Francisco with inspirational speakers in the field of tech, science, philosophy, design and entertainment. Since 2016, it is a yearly event with the recurrent theme DareToKnow.
October 9th will be a day when we push the frontiers of our knowledge and guide you through an evolving mesh of ideas and practices, a rich mix of citizens, scientists and culture and where you will make lifelong connections with fellow idea explorers.

Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness Avenue
San Francisco, California, 94102
United States

Alexander Reben

Roboticist/ Artist

Currently at the Stochastic Labs in Berkeley, Alex is an MIT-trained roboticist and artist who explores humanity through the lens of art and technology. Using “art as experiment” his work allows for the viewer to experience the future within metaphorical contexts. “With a new generation of technology comes a new generation of scientists, scholars, engineers and artists exploring the relationship between people and machines.

Allen Saakyan

Agent Provocateur

Allen is a thought-provoking interviewer and producer of multidisciplinary shows featuring some of the greatest scientists, entrepreneurs, and educators of our time. His latest one Simulation, is hosted both on YouTube and at live events with the mission to rebirth the public intellectual & inspire people to build the future.

ASHIE BHANDIWAD, Ph.D.

Scientists. Founder, CEO, StemChef

Previously at the bioenenergy development of Energy Bioscience Institute at UC Berkeley. Developing the philosophy to teach kids science through cooking via a monthly experience boxed and delivered to their doors.

BRAD BAO

Tech Entrepreneur

Co-Founder, Lime. Tech Entrepreneur and investor at scale on three continents revolutionizing urban mobility.

DIEGO GUITERREZ ZALDIVAR

CEO and Co-Founder of RSK Labs

CEO and Co-Founder of RSK Labs. Entrepreneur, pioneer of web development in Latin America and leader in fostering bitcoin technology in Latin America.

Douglas Thomas

Designer

Designer, Historian and Author. Researcher in typography and modern graphic design.

Genevieve ...

A tour de force vocalist with a style all her own, Genevieve invites you to take a journey through the deepest caverns of the human heart with music from her debut EP Show Your Colors-a triumphant collection of songs that focus on the power of celebrating one's true self.

Genevieve Genevieve

Artists

A tour de force vocalist with a style all her own, Genevieve invites you to take a journey through the deepest caverns of the human heart with music from her debut EP Show Your Colors-a triumphant collection of songs that focus on the power of celebrating one's true self.

Henry Becker

Henry Becker is a graphic designer, typographer, and teacher. His perspective on design was influenced by his five years serving as a sniper team leader in the United States Army. He holds a BA in Art and Design from East Stroudsburg University and a MFA in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he studied under Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Cole Phillips and Tal Leming. He currently teaches graphic design at the University of Utah where he is an assistant professor. He is interested in type design, history, and how coding can impact design. His work has won multiple awards, including Print magazine’s Type & Lettering annual. He was a semi-finalist in the 2015 Adobe Awards, and his work was part of the How Posters Work exhibition at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York City. He is currently writing The Sniper's Guide to Graphic Design with co-author Andrew Paul Keiper which will explore the key traits a designer needs and how to solve design problems as a professional.

Jess Wen

Jess Wen is a multidisciplinary design strategist who merges creativity with positive social impact. She honors her creative craftsmanship, cultural sensitivity, and strategic research skills by collaborating with organizations she esteems highly and delivering meaningful results. Her portfolio covers local and international clientele including UNICEF, FWD.us, National Wildlife Federation, The Climate Registry, Overseas Press Club of America, and various startups from both seed to growth stage. Currently a design strategist at West— a venture studio that specializes in the end-to-end process of designing, building, and launching purpose-driven brands. West invests in bold ideas and transforms visionary companies into category leaders. Jess holds a BFA in graphic design from Maryland Institute College of Art, and an MBA with a focus on design strategy and human centered design from California College of the Arts.

Laura Shin

Crypto/Blockchain Journalist

Podcast producer and host of the Unchained and Unconfirmed Podcast about big ideas from the world of blockchain and cyrptocurrency.

Lauren Esposito P.h.D.

Arachnologist

Dr. Lauren Esposito is the Assistant Curator and Schlinger Chair of Arachnology at the California Academy of Sciences. Lauren’s current research investigates the patterns and processes of evolution in spiders, scorpions, and their venoms. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at El Paso and went on to obtain an MS and PhD from the American Museum of Natural History in collaboration with the City University of New York. A passionate educator, Lauren has organized education programs on the importance of conserving biodiversity in local communities throughout the Americas, has worked in digital science curriculum development, and has taught courses on a range of topics for elementary through graduate students. Lauren is the co-founder/director of a science, education, and conservation non-profit called Islands & Seas and the co-creator of 500 Queer Scientists, a visibility campaign for LGBTQ+ people working in STEM careers.

Natalya Bailey P.h.D.

Rocket Scientist

Founder- CEO of Accion Systems / Rocket Scientist, Entrepreneur, Natalya wants to make Space accessible by building a system to propel tiny satellites using electrical energy.

Olga Mack

Lawyer

Lawyer, Adjunct Professor UC Berkeley, School of Law. Strategist at Quantstamp at the intersection of Blockchain and Smart Contracts.

Rachel Thomas P.h.D.

Deep Learning Researcher

Co-Founder fast.ai and Researcher at USF. Mathematician, Deep Learning researcher, bringing and teaching Deep Learning to the mainstream.

Robert Fisher Ph.D.

Neurologist

Professor, Stanford Medical School. Director of the Stanford Epilepsy Center, with decades of awarded research in Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology.

Robert Strong

Robert Strong has been voted San Francisco's “Best Magician” three times. He has performed in over 40 countries, in all 50 states, on every major TV network, and twice at the White House.

Scott Ganz

Conversation Designer

Conversational Designer. Emmy award-winning writer who has spent the last five years designing conversations and has become one of the primitive chatbot authors with conversational content for major brands.

SF Girls Chorus

Now in its 40th season, the five-time GRAMMY Award-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) is one of the nation’s leading youth arts organizations. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe, SFGC regularly presents across the country and around the world as a cultural ambassador for San Francisco, and collaborates with leading arts organizations. Its mission is to create outstanding performances featuring the unique and compelling sound of young women’s voices through an exemplary music education program.

Ted Goldstein Ph.D.

Cancer Researcher

Scientific Program Director at the Institute of Computational Health Sciences, UCSF. Previous Apple Tech Executive who spearheaded the software tools and technologies group, who turned into a cancer researcher.

Thomas Goetz

Entrepreneur, Author and Journalist

Co-Founder of Iodine (GoodRx). Entrepreneur, Author and Journalist, who served as Executive Editor at WIRED, which he lead to a dozen National Magazine Awards from 2001 through 2012, and where he wrote dozens of cover stories on medicine, science and technology.

Valerie Ste Agathe

Artistic Director

Now in its 40th season, the five-time GRAMMY Award-winning San Francisco Girls Chorus (SFGC) is one of the nation’s leading youth arts organizations. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Valérie Sainte-Agathe, SFGC regularly presents across the country and around the world as a cultural ambassador for San Francisco, and collaborates with leading arts organizations. Its mission is to create outstanding performances featuring the unique and compelling sound of young women’s voices through an exemplary music education program.

Yvonne Cagle Ph.D.

Aerospace Physician

Dr. YVONNE CAGLE, retired as a Colonel in the United States Air Force where she served as a Senior Flight Surgeon prior to her selection to the NASA Astronaut Corp and her role as chief scientist for the NASA’s Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research program. Dr. Cagle’s ground-breaking work is preserving historic NASA space legacy data while, simultaneously, galvanizing NASA’s initiatives in global mapping, sustainable energies, green initiatives, and disaster preparedness. Dr. Cagle has held adjunct professorships with Stanford University, UC Davis, and UTMB, Galveston. In collaboration with NASA, she was a Visiting Professor at Fordham University for neurocognitive research to optimize long duration space crew behavioral health and performance. Currently, Dr. Cagle is performing feasibility evaluations for lunar/Mars polar-based analog simulators pre-exploration positioned to validate human physical health and resiliency in remote isolated environments for deep space exploration.