TEDxDetroit To Move To Cobo Center, Calls For Speakers For October Event

DETROIT (WWJ) -- TEDxDetroit announced that Cobo Center will serve as the official venue for the 2013 conference, to be held on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

Earlier TEDx events have been held in smaller venues, such as the Gem Theatre.

TEDxDetroit will feature local community and business leaders, entrepreneurs, educators, musicians and artists. In addition, the conference has officially opened the call for speaker submissions, and is seeking presenters who can address how to create, grow and share a thriving business culture in Michigan and beyond.

"TEDxDetroit is a celebration of what's next," said Charlie Wollborg, curator of TEDxDetroit, who also carries the title Chief Troublemaker of the Curve Idea Accelerator. "We bring dreamers and doers together from across the state to collaborate, share fresh ideas and find inspiration. We're excited to be hosting TEDxDetroit on the Detroit Riverfront this year. The transformation of Cobo is the perfect backdrop for our stories of innovators who are rewriting the rules, reshaping industries, and making it happen in Detroit."

Added Thom Connors, general manager of Cobo Center: "The response to the new Grand Ballroom has been incredible and TEDxDetroit will become one of the highlights of a very busy fall calendar at Cobo Center. This is exactly the kind of event we had in mind when the commitment was made to transform Cobo into a venue for the future."

The TEDxDetroit stage has featured the brightest minds from Detroit's past, present and future sharing their wit and wisdom, passion and innovative ideas.

Notable speakers in previous years have ranged from, entrepreneurs like Rick Devos, Dawn White and Julie Aigner-Clark; educators, such as Kami Pothukuchi, Jeff DeGraff and Bobby Smith; artists and designers like Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Anuja Rajendra and Jocelyn Rainey and kid activists and entrepreneurs, magicians, poets and marching bands.

If interested in applying to be a speaker, please visit www.tedxdetroit.com and fill out the speaker submission form. The deadline for submissions is Friday, Aug. 30. Following the submission process, the TEDxDetroit board of directors will select more than a dozen of the best and brightest minds to share their passion, wisdom and innovations.

To learn more about the conference, please visit www.tedxdetroit.com.

TEDx events are modeled on the original TED conference, created in California in 1984 to bring together people from the fields of technology, education and design. At TEDxDetroit, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including Detroit's, are self-organized.

Follow TEDxDetroit on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDxDetroit or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/TEDxDetroit.

The annual TED Conference, now held in Long Beach, Calif., invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. There's also a TEDGlobal held each year in Oxford, England.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide. TED has also established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/TED.