Press Info

TEDxSantaCruz has a limited number of press passes available for events. Interested accredited journalists, photojournalists, photographers, and videographers should request a press pass. TEDxSantaCruz organizers and speakers are available for interviews. If you want more information about TEDx and our events or speakers, please don't hesitate to ask. Contact us in advance for scheduling of interviews or attendance at events.
For further information about TEDxSantaCruz events, to request a press pass, or to schedule interviews with organizers or speakers, please send an email to tedxscruz@gmail.com with ‘PRESS’ in the subject line. 
Please note that TEDx event organizers are not able to speak for the TED Conference. Any journalist seeking comment from TED should contact Melody Serafino at tedxpr@ted.com.
While we appreciate any coverage, we kindly ask that all journalists and/or bloggers be respectful of the difference between the TED and TEDx brands. The ‘x’ in ‘TEDx’ stands for “independently organized events.” Any headline or text which implies “TED” is coming to Santa Cruz is misleading. For more information on TEDx, visit http://www.ted.com/tedx.
Aug 27th, 2012

September 15 Conference is on Pace to Sell out, Featuring World-Class Presentations at Cabrillo College’s Crocker Theater

More than 25 speakers will take the stage on September 15, 2012 as part of TEDxSantaCruz, offering ideas and insight in talks addressing the theme: “Open.” Organizers have curated a day of talks featuring locally and nationally renowned speakers including John Perry Barlow, Donnie Fowler, Danny Keith, Martha Mendoza, Nina Simon and Whitney Smith. Their experiences, projects, work or creativity speak to innovation, transparency, radical availability, and open-source initiatives organizers say reflect the realities of our time and the challenges inherent in a future with over 7 billion people on the planet.

Speakers will take the audience on a journey that explores Open World: Global, Local, Personal.

  • Open and: Why and how to literally maintain essential open space for humans and animals
  • Leadership: How do leaders maintain and grow their innate capacity for vulnerability as a means to ompassion and empathy
  • Digital openness: The dark and light of software that hides internet activity where anonymity can speed a revolution or cloak illegal activity
  • Poetry of openness: How to nurture poetic sensibility in a digital world, thus enabling our legacy as a species of story tellers
  • Open data: Mining and aggregating the huge amounts of available open data to our community’s benefit
  • Open hearts: Harnessing the innate wisdom, honesty and openness children are born with to help solve society’s problems.

The second annual TEDxSantaCruz is quickly selling out for its daylong event, which features two sessions, a picnic lunch, and a reception after the event where audience members can meet and mingle with speakers and other attendees.

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.” The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. TEDxSantaCruz is expected to sell out, with many of the presentations likely to be rebroadcast as part of the growing online library of TEDTalks.

The September 15 event, will take place at the Crocker Theater at Cabrillo College from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. TEDxSantaCruz has been fully planned and coordinated independently by a wide roster of volunteers, from curators to event managers to music producers. TEDxSantaCruz reviewed over 100 interested speakers nominated by others or themselves and selected just over 25 that brought the “Open” theme to life. Speakers are rigorously curated in an effort to help create compelling presentations, and to give what organizers say are akin to “the talk of your life.”

TEDxSantaCruz is completely supported through sponsors and volunteer contributions from organizations such as New Leaf Community Markets, Firelight Foundation, IP Society, Ghost Hand Productions, AppBaker, Santa Cruz Sentinel, KUSP, Digital Signage Factory, Cruzio Internet, The Grove Consultants International, Museum of Art & History, Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce, Santa Cruz Public Libraries, The Ugly Mug, Chime Interactive, Communications4Good, LoveTank Productions, Scott Design Inc., and the Santa Cruz Film Festival.

Tickets are $75 for the conference and picnic lunch, $25 for the reception/after-party, $15 for an event t-shirt, or $100 for a package that includes everything. Those interested in attending can buy tickets online at http://scff.ticketleap.com/TEDxSantaCruz -2012/.