In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

MCA Australia
140 George Street
Sydney, New South Wales, 2000
Australia

Alex Hogue

Alex Hogue is really into computer security, magic tricks, and high-effort goofs. Unlike the child-genius faux-stereotype, Alex first got into computers at 18, when he studied computer science and pure mathematics at the University of Sydney. Now he’s fully uploaded himself into the cloud. He works on breaking into protected systems to test their security, and to defend these systems from hackers trying to do the same thing. Somehow he ended up an organiser of purplecon, a gentle, pastel information security conference. He’s known for his writing (https://mango.pdf.zone) on unsolicited security research about Facebook and Tinder (finding that it was possible to make graphs of when your Facebook friends are awake), and also for Operation Luigi, in which he hacked his friend (with permission!). When he was 14, he found and borrowed a book about magic tricks from his local, tiny, probably-haunted library. Through a series of coincidences he ended up studying magic to this day, and got excited about tricking people to the point of obsession, but in like, an accessible way.

Chyloe Kurdas

A former elite Australian rules footballer, television and radio sports commentator, Chyloe Kurdas has spent a decade building the catalyst for Australia’s first-ever national women’s professional competition, AFLW, as AFL Victoria’s Female Football Development Manager. In doing so, Chyloe combined her studies and work in health promotion, psychology and education to build award-winning high-performance sporting programs for adolescent girls that focus on the whole athlete. Chyloe has shifted the focus of her passions for cultivating cultural change and gender equity through sport to golf. Chyloe, as the newly appointed National Female Participation Manager for Golf Australia, is charged with leading the implementation of Vision 2025, Golf Australia’s long-term strategy to enhance the engagement of women and girls in golf. A 2018 TEDxSydney speaker, Chyloe is also an Associate of the Melbourne Business School, presenting to Department of Defence leadership programs on cultural change and gender equity. Chyloe credits being one of the first women to play football on the MCG as one of best days of her life.

Dana Bradford

Dr Dana Kai Bradford has a BSc (neuroscience and psychology) with Honours (neuroscience) from the University of Queensland and a PhD (neuroscience) awarded by the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI). She is a senior research scientist with the Australian eHealth Research Centre in CSIRO, and an adjunct senior research fellow with QBI. She predominantly leads projects aimed at developing digital services for equitable health care in culturally and neurologically diverse populations as well as general populations, particularly in the domains of chronic health, mental health, genomics and aged care. Dana has been involved in award winning projects including ‘CALD Assist’, an app designed to translate key hospital phrases to facilitate communication between non-English speaking patients and their clinicians and nurses; and Australia’s first ‘Smarter Safer Home’ to extend independent living for the elderly.

Jack Shephard

UK-born Jack Shepherd makes use of guitar, vocals, beatboxing, looping, sampling, effects and a hefty set of fingernails to mix rock, pop and folk through to hip-hop and bass music. His organic use of looping technology to create nuanced performances for different audiences has made him a favourite on streets and stages from Australia, the U.K., Canada and the U.S. to Switzerland, France, China and the Emirates. Energetic sound, unique atmosphere, and rich, driving layers, all performed live – expect a hell of a show. His debut EP, “Sound Travels”, successfully crowdfunded to the tune of $10,000 in March of 2018, is slated for release just in time for Christmas.

Jack Shepherd

UK-born Jack Shepherd makes use of guitar, vocals, beatboxing, looping, sampling, effects and a hefty set of fingernails to mix rock, pop and folk through to hip-hop and bass music. His organic use of looping technology to create nuanced performances for different audiences has made him a favourite on streets and stages from Australia, the U.K., Canada and the U.S. to Switzerland, France, China and the Emirates. Energetic sound, unique atmosphere, and rich, driving layers, all performed live – expect a hell of a show. His debut EP, “Sound Travels”, successfully crowdfunded to the tune of $10,000 in March of 2018, is slated for release just in time for Christmas.

Mike Seymour

Mike Seymour is a researcher in the Motus Lab at The University of Sydney. His research is exploring using interactive photoreal faces in new forms of Human Computer Interfaces (HCI ). In other words, he is looking at deploying realistic digital companions and embodied conversational agents. Mike aims to help take technology from the cutting edge film industry and apply it in these new exciting areas. Mike has previously worked in film and TV R&D and in production, winning an AFI and being nominated for an Emmy Award. He has worked as a compositor, vfx supervisor and second unit director on various TV shows. He is perhaps best known for his work as a writer, consultant and educator with the websites fxguide and fxphd which explore technology in the film industry. These web site now have huge followings, as they provide an important link between the film and vfx community and the researchers and innovators who constantly push the limits of technology.