Speakers Announced

  • Sarah Rees

    Sarah has campaigned for Australia’s forests for over two decades, collaborating with environmental organisations, businesses, schools, and universities to advance conservation policies that protect Australia’s forests and wildlife. An experienced policy advisor, she played a key role in ending industrial native forest logging in Victoria and in raising forestry standards in Australia and New Zealand. Sarah co-created the best-selling book The Great Forests and is now launching The Great Forest Park Guide, a new resource to help people explore and appreciate the Great Forests. She has also developed a $230M government impact bond to help restore the Great Forests through private investment.

  • Cassie Fisher Patterson

    Cassie is the Founder and Director of Wild Blak Arts, from the Taungurung and Dja Dja Wurrung people from the Kulin Nation. She is an Indigenous artist, master weaver, traditional dancer, bushtukka woman and educator.

    She is known for her sustainable fashion designs highlighting environmental conservation and cultural storytelling, using bush solar-dyeing and native plant fibres to create biodegradable, zero-carbon fashion. Her aim is to give participants the opportunity to learn and understand Aboriginal culture and develop knowledge of both historical and contemporary Aboriginal history.

  • TRAVIS LOVETT

    Travis Lovett is a proud Kerrupmara / Gunditjmara man and Traditional Owner who has spent his life advocating for truth and justice for First Peoples. He is passionate about practicing his Culture, working with Community and preserving Aboriginal languages. Travis has held senior leadership roles in the Victorian Public Service, including as Executive Director and Acting Deputy Secretary, First Peoples State Relations, at the Department of Premier and Cabinet. He played key role in supporting Victoria to progress and implement Treaty and Truth telling. He is currently the Commissioner of Victoria's truth telling process, the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

  • Professor Kate Auty

    Kate Auty currently lives and works in Taungurung and Yorta Yorta country. Kate’s formal appointments have included magistrate (Victoria and WA), commissioner for environment (Victoria and the ACT), senior lawyer RCIADIC (Victoria, Tasmania and WA), and University of Melbourne Vice Chancellor’s and Professorial Fellowships. Kate is a barrister, environmental scientist and published author. Her talk is about her commitment to community advocacy which centres on the Strathbogie and Euroa area with groups such as Strathbogie Voices and EuroaConnect.

Expressions of interest are now open to speak at TEDxBendigo. The theme is “many hands” as it relates to building a more sustainable future together for Bendigo and the world.

COMPLETE THE FORM BELOW

Please read the terms and conditions below. Applications close 31 Dec 2024.

TEDxBendigo will be presented at the Garden for the Future at the Bendigo Sustainability Festival on Sunday 30th March, on the theme of "many hands" as it relates to many hands contributing to a more sustainable future for all of us. Selection of speakers will be based on your idea for a more sustainable world. Your talk is not the theme. Your talk is a unique idea, not shared publicly before, inspired by the theme. TED's tag line is now "ideas that change everything" so how does your idea change everything for our community, for society and for the world. TEDxBendigo is a live event for a small audience but all talks will be published on TED's YouTube channel for more than 30 million subscribers. So your idea and talk should be for a local audience as well as for a global audience. 

Please keep this in mind as you complete the form below

TERMS & CONDITIONS

All speakers agree to the following terms and conditions:

  1. You agree to abide by the rules of speaking at a TEDx event (click to read).

  2. There is no payment for TEDx event organisers or speakers, it is a not-for-profit event, and any income or support from sponsorship or tickets sales go directly towards all expenses for the event ​

  3. The broad theme of our TEDxBendigo event in August is "Many Hands". The theme should inspire your talk but not be the focus of your talk. Your talk is about your unique idea for the world inspired by the theme.

  4. Each TEDx talk must be a minimum of 6 minutes and a maximum of 8 minutes (please time your talk and work within this timeframe).

  5. There is no panel or Q&A after each talk. Once speakers have finished, there will be a 2 minute change-over break and speakers are invited to sit and watch the other talks at the event.

  6. Each TEDx talk should be inspired by the broad theme of "many hands" and be based on a clear, focused idea the local audience will be interested in; as well as a very specific idea, theory or proposition speakers believe will change our world for the better (each talk must include a call to action, something for the audience and viewers to do as a result of hearing and seeing each talk).

  7. All speakers undertake a selection process and are selected based on the potential interest of the talk to a local and global audience and the diversity of the final list of talks (we want a range of diverse topics). 

  8. No sponsor or organiser of the event can also be a speaker; no talks can be ‘bad science’ (must be researched and fact-checked), nor promote a business, product, sponsor or organisation.

  9. No talks can be inflammatory with a political or religious agenda, nor polarizing (“us vs them” language).

  10. We seek to build consensus and provide outside-the-box thinking, not to revisit familiar, unresolvable disputes on these topics.

  11. If selected, you must arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the event commencing to ensure you are present, ready and available to participate 

  12. TEDxBendigo is a licensed TED event and talks will be published on the TEDx YouTube Channel

  13. Speakers will not enter into any discussion regarding edits or publication of the talks to the TEDx platform.

  14. Any dispute regarding the finished, published talk will be determined through discussion and agreement with speakers before a final decision is made by the license holder in agreement with TEDx.