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NASA and the National Institute of Aerospace are excited to be hosting TEDx NASA – a unique day of ingenuity, beauty, passion, innovation, laughter, creativity, sharing and, most importantly, ideas capable of changing the world – ideas worth spreading.

TEDx NASA – Space to Create will be held on November 20, 2009, at the Ferguson Center in Newport News, Virginia.

Please visit tedx-nasa.org for complete details and ticketing information. Tickets will be available to the public on November 14, more information to follow.
“Space to Create” is the perfect platform to explore new ideas, creativity and innovation.  Following the TED (ted.com) model of “riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world,” TEDx NASA speakers will give ‘the talk of a lifetime’ in 18 minutes or less. This fast paced event will have woven into it shorter talks and entertainment featuring truly unique thinkers, musicians, artists, inventors, research students, and creative-types. A speakers list will be available soon; but, as with all TED events, there will be unannounced special guests.
Event:               TEDx NASA
Web site:          tedx-nasa.org
Theme:             Space to Create – ideas worth spreading
Attendance:     1,700 guests
Date:                November 20, 2009
Location:         Ferguson Center at Christopher Newport University
Time:                Day-long event

This Isn’t Your Typical Conference
This is much more than just putting a group of famous, and not so famous, name speakers on a stage to entertain an audience. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events modeled after TED conferences. They are about bringing together a unique group of people, presenters and attendees alike, to join in on extraordinary conversations. At a TEDx event, videos and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. In fact, one of the main reasons to come is to unite with other attendees. It is about passion, laughter, beauty, brilliance, ingenuity, innovation, contribution, and, most importantly, ideas capable of changing the world – ideas worth spreading.

Our Speakers
Our presenters look after some of the Nation’s most valuable assets, teach at some of the best universities, entertain at some of the world’s biggest venues, design some of our most useful products, author inspiring books, research to find solutions to some of our biggest challenges, invent world-changing devices and machines, and create ground-breaking media. They range from rocket scientists to guitar virtuosos. They are a combination of familiar trusted voices and convention-breaking mavericks, icons and geniuses. They will be persuasive, creative, courageous, fascinating, inspiring, ingenious, funny, and informative. We have also sought out some of our local emerging artists, scientists and thinkers, to introduce them to our new TEDx NASA community. For the most part, speakers will stay for the entire event and mingle with the audience.

Our Audience
The TEDx NASA attendees will be just as extraordinary as the speaker line-up; they will include internet pioneers, local technology leaders, movie producers, architects, creative directors, CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors, engineers, investors, celebrities, scientists and leading opinion formers of every kind. Indeed, we expect all 1,700 spaces at the Ferguson Center to be occupied.

Program Structure
This year’s theme for our TEDx NASA event is “Space to Create.” For NASA, the word space has one meaning, for others, space can be a studio or a library, or a city park. Each session will contain a great variety of topics.

In the tradition of TED Talks, some basic speaker guidelines will be followed There will be no keynotes – all speakers are equal. There are no panel discussions, no Q&As, and no podiums. Keeping within the allotted timeframe, speakers will clearly communicate the core message agreed upon with the conference organizers.

Generous breaks will be scheduled between sessions to give the audience time to think about what they’ve seen, and to share their thoughts with other attendees and speakers.

So far the ‘Making NASA cool’ initiative has hosted a whiteboard session, posted a blog on OpenLaRC seeking recommendations,  and created wiki for ideas on how to communicate the cool things that NASA does on a daily basis to the public. Some of the recommendations are included in the attached presentation, though it is only a start. Comments are welcomed and the feedback will help to craft an action plan of how to move forward.