Prosperity. Happiness Works.

When an organisation has a tagline “ideas worth spreading”, it’s only a matter of time before they end up in Ireland.
TED, a small non-profit which started out more than 25 years ago as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design and holds events internationally, has been the inspiration for a similar event in Dublin this week.
TEDxLiffey, which takes place on Thursday evening, April 15th in Dublin city centre, is an example of independently organised TED-licensed event.

Alan Coleman, managing director of OnlineAdvertising.ie was watching TED videos on his laptop one morning when he saw something called TEDx and clicked on it.
TEDx is about hosting a TED-like event in your own area, rather than trying to attend one of the global events. He likens it to an open source version of TED and there are other TEDx events around the country, he acknowledges. Coleman applied and was awarded a license to run the event.
The TEDxLiffey has a theme, around which the speakers have been chosen. However, he says, it is up to the audience to figure it out.
Speakers include: Builder Mick Wallace, Damien Mulley – “The Accidental Businessman”; The Happy Pear – twin entrepreneurs behind a health food movement; ARK Change Your World; Dylan Haskins – Filmmaker, Social Entrepreneur & Founder of Exchange Dublin Collective Arts Centre; and Dartmouth Square & Edenbee Projects.
So who is it for? “You don’t have to be a start up,” he explains. “But have a look at TED.com, if that kind of thing floats your boat you’ll really enjoy this night. You get to interact. The idea is not just to go and listen. There’ll be a before, a half time break and after and because it’s a small venue, it’ll be intimate and we’ll be encouraging people to chat and mingle.”
Part of the plan, he adds, is that by putting so many creative heads in the one room, “something incredible might emerge because there’s so many bright minds in there… We’re really interested to see if there’s an explosion.”
As the license only allows up to 100 people to attend, it’s no surprise that this event has already sold out. Go to http://tedxliffey.eventbrite.com to join the wait list and keep an eye on TED.com to see if any videos of the inspirational TEDxLiffey speakers are shown there. As part of the license, Coleman had to arrange for a camera crew to record the speakers as videos are sent to TED, so it’s quite possible that some of the Thursday’s speakers will reach an international audience. If not, hopefully there’s a next time.
“If all goes well I’m hoping TED will give me a license to run another one in three months’ time,” concludes Coleman.