On Friday of next week – there is a very special event taking place in Huddersfield – as part of TEDx Women week.  Yes, it is the Ainley Top TEDx Women event – and yes there are still tickets left here

And who is organising this amazing event?  Well, that would be me!  And what a rollercoaster ride that has been. A lot of work, a lot of hoops to jump through, but like anything in life that is hard work – totally worth it!

What is a TED Talk?

But first, in case you don’t know much about TEDx – (and I didn’t know too much about it before I began this journey) – here’s an overview of what it is all about.  TED was conceived in 1984 by Emmy-winning broadcast and graphic designer Harry Marks, and architect and graphic designer Richard Saul Wurman, who observed a convergence of the fields of technology, entertainment, and design (that is, “TED”).

Ted didn’t really take off till 1990 but has grown steadily since then, and now there are more than 2600 TED talks online.

What is a TEDx talk then?

A TEDx is a locally organised and smaller version of the TED talk.  It has to be a maximum of 18 minutes and is all about the idea – Ideas Worth Sharing.  It isn’t about the speaker, their business or their products and service.  It is all about the idea.

And next week is Bold+Brilliant TEDWomen2019  week – and so when the idea came up in discussion, I thought I would look into whether it would be possible to host one in Yorkshire. 

Well 6 months of hard work and hoop jumping later and I can’t believe the event is next Friday. 

As event host I won’t be giving a TEDx talk but I have a plethora of amazing women coming along to speak and also to support the cause. 

Why are TEDx talks important?

Unlike TED talks – which are often given by ‘famous’ people or acknowledged leaders in their fields – and sometimes also the best of the TEDx speakers – TEDx talks are all about giving speakers a platform who might not otherwise get one. 

As you know, I am passionate about encouraging more female speakers – they are still way outnumbered by their male counterparts at most events.

Well, this one is all about the women. 

I am about balance though and the female energy in the world would not work as well without the male energy – it’s all about balance.  And on that basis, we do have a couple of male speakers at the event. 

Mostly though the day is to celebrate women and is all about the power of women and girls to be creators and change-makers.  19 women talking about subjects as diverse as resilience, innovation, adversity, divorce and infertility!

I am looking forward to hosting the day, to hearing all the fabulous ideas in the talks and to giving some amazing women the opportunity to get their message out there. 

I am also really looking forward to Saturday!!  

We may have a couple of tickets left and at £77.50  – which works out around £3.86 per speaker – you’d be hard pushed to find a better value event.  If you want to come along on December 13th to TEDxAinleyTopWomen 2019, at Northfield Hall Huddersfield – click the link and check it out!

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