The inaugral TEDxChCh on October 22 was a resounding success and a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the movers and shakers in Christchurch and hear some amazing ideas and inspiring stories. And we finally got to see all our design work come together – not to put too fine a point on it, it looked great!

Name tag and personalised programmes

Inside the programme: the speaker schedule

Speaker posters line the foyer of Christchurch Art Gallery

Amongst the top class line up of speakers were Grant Ryan, inventor of the Yike Bike (pictured in mid-presentation below), New Zealand International rowing representative Rob Hamill, Sebastian Sylwan, Chief Technical Officer at Weta Digital, and James Caygill, former political adviser to Prime Minister Helen Clark. Check out the TEDxChCh speakers page for the full list – there were some awesome talks and they’ve all been published online so you can enjoy them too!

Grant Ryan talking about the Yike Bike; stage design by Theme Pro

The live talks were interspersed with video presentations from the original TED, including this fantastic story delivered by Dave Eggers, recipient of the 2008 TED Prize, about the founding of 826 Valencia, a writing and tutoring lab for young people in Mission Bay, San Francisco, that resides behind the city’s only independent pirate supply store (for eye patches, parrot seed and all your piratical needs).

Back here in Christchurch though, Professor Paul Shaw’s entertaining talk on the mystery of the shrinking alligator penises was a highlight.

We’re looking forward to being a part of TEDxChCh 2011 – well done Kaila on a fabulous event!