Dr. Ernesto Sirolli, Entrepreneur and International Development Maverick, to Speak at the Upcoming TEDxSacramento Conference

By Lauren Herman

We are excited to announce that Dr. Ernesto Sirolli will speak at the largest TEDxSacramento conference, “THIS Changes EVERYTHING,” on Friday, June 12, 2015. Don’t wait until the last minute – register now!

Dr. Ernest Sirolli, Founder, Sirolli Institute

Dr. Ernesto Sirolli, researcher, author and founder of Sirolli Institute, has worked for decades in the fields of community and economic development. What makes his work TED worthy? It's his admission and unique approach to failure; yes, the “f” word.

Dr. Sirolli’s lived experiences with the “f” word began while working for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) throughout Africa as a young adult. He witnessed the potential of local knowledge that was (and still is) rarely acknowledged by foreign aid workers and volunteers who continually implemented (and still do implement) failed projects.

Rather than walking away in frustration, Dr. Sirolli tackled the sobering truth of aid failure by creating an alternative approach, known as “Enterprise Facilitation,” that harnesses the passion and innovation of community leaders to make the change they want to see in their communities. Over 250 communities worldwide have adopted this “person-centered” approach through the Sirolli Institute that advocates the art of listening to create the foundation for localized sustainable economic development.

Dr. Ernesto Sirolli speaking during his previous TED talk in September 2012.

Dr. Sirolli inspires the ability to recognize and accept failure as a stepping-stone to reimagine and recreate current systems that are failing us. When was the last time you turned failure – the “f” word - into action?

Want to know more! Watch Ernesto Sirolli on the TED stage, and get ready to hear him and other great thinkers and doers at TEDxSacramento’s “THIS Changes EVERYTHING” on June 12, 2015 at the Sacramento Community Center Theater.

Bicycle Safety Visionary and Revolights Inc. Co-Founder Kent Frankovich to Speak at TEDxCity2.0

We're excited to welcome Kent Frankovich to Sacramento and to the TEDxSacramento stage for TEDxCity2.0. Kent is a bicycle safety revolutionary and co-founder of Revolights, Inc. "Improving safety is critical to increasing bicycle ridership. But the current industry standard style of safety lighting is a bit misguided. We need a smarter approach," says Kent.

Bicycle Safety Required

Kent Frankovich, Co-founder of Revolights, Inc.

 As an avid cyclist, Kent Frankovich wants more people to take to two wheels, but understands that lack of visibility is a safety concern for many would-be riders. His desire to increase nighttime bicycle rider safety and visibility, coupled with his electromechanical engineering background, inspired him to co-found Revolights, Inc.

Originally invented as a way to improve on the industry standard for a headlight, the visibility benefits of the patented Revolights bike lighting system quickly catapulted it to national attention through CNN, Mashable, the BBC, WIRED, the New York Times and numerous other media outlets.

“Improving safety is critical to increasing bicycle ridership. But the current industry standard style of safety lighting is a bit misguided. We need a smarter approach.”

— Kent Frankovich

While at NASA-JPL, Frankovich provided electromechanical design support to Mars rover Curiosity’s mission. He also worked to improve GI Tract Diagnostics as a researcher at the Stanford BioRobotics Laboratory. Kent now hopes to use his unique perspective to shed new light on the issue of bicycle safety, ensuring a better future for urbanites in the City2.0.

Kent enjoys traveling and practicing Spanish and Mandarin. He currently lives in San Francisco, and celebrated his 30th birthday with a 400 mile ride down the California coast.

About TEDxCity2.0

TEDxSacramento presents TEDxCity2.0, an independently organized TED event for urban innovators, organizers, stewards and builders - with live speakers, streamed speakers from TEDCity2.0 in New York City, live performances, and the ability to coalesce around specific calls to action for our city. We invite you to join us.

Numerous cities around the globe, including Sacramento, have been selected to be a part of TED's City 2.0 Day, a global event during which cities from around the world will be sharing ideas around the theme of the future of our cities. On September 20, we will be bringing in great thinkers and doers who are making great things happen in cities around the globe to share their ideas and stories. Such topics as Art, Education, Food, Housing, Play, Public Spaces, Urban Design, Health, Safety, Technology and Transportation will be discussed as well as a series of calls to action for our city by local change-makers who are trying to make a difference.

Expect to be challenged. Expect to be inspired. Expect to change the world.

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Nextdoor's Sarah Leary To Speak About "The Original Social Network"

TEDxSacramento is pleased to announce that Sarah Leary, Co-Founder and Vice President of Marketing at Nextdoor, will speak at TEDxCity2.0. Sarah will speak on the topic, "The Neighborhood: The Original Social Network."

Sarah began her career at Microsoft as product manager on the teams that launched the first three versions of Microsoft Office. In 1997, Leary left Microsoft to attend Harvard Business School, graduating with a BA and an MBA. She went on to work as an associate at Greylock Partners, later serving as Vice President of Product and Marketing at Epinions which subsequently relaunched as Shopping.com and was eventually acquired by eBay.

“There’s a longing to reconnect with the people who live around us to build stronger and safer neighborhoods - after all, the neighborhood was the original social network.”

— Sarah Leary

The Neighborhood: The Original Social Network

 As a seasoned product and marketing professional, Sarah observed firsthand the way technology connects people far and wide, creating networks of individuals across the globe, while leaving us with a sense of disconnect toward those who live right outside our front doors. Concerned about this decline in community, Sarah -- then an Entrepreneur in Residence at Benchmark -- felt a longing to reconnect people who live near one another with the explicit purpose of building stronger and safer neighborhoods. Her passion for community led her to co-found the company that became Nextdoor, the free and private social network for neighborhoods.

As a child, Sarah spent summers in a tight-knit Cape Cod community where kids could stop at any house in the neighborhood for lunch and ride their bicycles in the street until midnight. Sarah has always carried with her that sense of community she experienced during those childhood summers. She aims to make possible that same idyllic safety and community in neighborhoods around the globe. Sarah adds, "There's a longing to reconnect with the people who live around us to build stronger and safer neighborhoods - after all, the neighborhood was the original social network."

About TEDxCity2.0

Numerous cities around the globe, including Sacramento (click to attend), have been selected to be a part of TED's City 2.0 Day, a global event during which cities from around the world will be sharing ideas around the theme of the future of our cities. On September 20, we will be bringing in great thinkers and doers who are making great things happen in cities around the globe to share their ideas and stories. Such topics as Art, Education, Food, Housing, Play, Public Spaces, Urban Design, Health, Safety, Technology and Transportation will be discussed as well as a series of calls to action for our city by local change-makers who are trying to make a difference.

TEDxSacramento presents TEDxCity2.0, an independently organized TED event for urban innovators, organizers, stewards and builders - with live speakers, streamed speakers from TEDCity2.0 in New York City, live performances, and the ability to coalesce around specific calls to action for our city.

Expect to be challenged. Expect to be inspired.

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Code for America's UX Evangelist Cyd Harrell at TEDxCity2.0

TEDxSacramento is proud to announce that accomplished user experience (UX) researcher Cyd Harrell will speak at TEDxCity2.0 on September 20, 2013 (register today). Cyd will talk about hacking civic engagement through design.

Cyd is a passionate advocate for the citizen experience. She currently serves as Code for America’s UX Evangelist. Cyd is also a brilliant Twitter haiku-ist.

Cyd wants to redesign interaction between government and its citizens to create a virtuous cycle of trust. She envisions a world where civic interactions are just as inviting and rewarding as commercial ones. For Cyd, there was a "conversion moment” -- an excellent interaction with the San Francisco city government when her own very strong civic feelings made her realize how design in government matters and just how few designers are working in the space.

At Code for America, Cyd works with fellows, city officials, and community volunteers to help create inventive and cost-effective civic technology that serves the needs of real people. She uses her unique background in sociolinguistics and poetry to apply metaphorical thinking to human-centered design. 

Why Cyd Codes for America

“I believe that good UX design has the potential to transform our relationship with government.”

— Cyd Harrell

In discussing why she's "coding for America," Cyd explains, "I’m coding for America because I believe that good UX design has the potential to transform our relationship with government – by building better citizen experiences, we can rebuild the understanding that… 'government is what we do together.'" She also hopes to inspire other creatives to do civic work.

During the course of her career, Cyd changed the face of user experience for companies ranging from Sony, Volkswagon, and EA to Rdio, Autodesk, and Charles Schwab.

Global Community Celebrates Urban Inspiration And Action

When you join us for TEDxCity2.0, you'll be part of the global community that's actively engaged in brightening the future of our cities. This includes TEDCity2.0, TED's City2.0 event in New York, and numerous TEDx organizations around the globe.

On September 20 great thinkers and doers who are making great things happen in cities around the globe will share their ideas and stories with you. Plus, you'll experience a TEDxCity2.0 tradition that is not a part of any of our other events: Action Pitches. An action pitch is a call to action for our city by our city -- by local change-makers who are trying to make a difference. Each action pitch will provide you a specific action that you can take to help support improving our cities. We invite you to join us. 

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Jeffrey Tumlin to Speak on "Sex, Neuroscience and The City"

We are thrilled to announce that Jeffrey Tumlin will be speaking at TEDxCity2.0 on September 20, 2013 (click to register).

“While humans may be the most adaptable species on the planet, only certain habitats make us happiest, healthiest, and most productive. Neuroscience and the medical professions can now help us clearly define those habitats.”

— Jeffrey Tumlin

Sex, Neuroscience and The City

Yet another reason not to miss TEDxSacramento's TEDxCity2.0

: We are excited to announce that Jeffrey Tumlin will be speaking about Sex, Neuroscience, and The City. 

 Jeffrey is an owner and strategy director at Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates, a San Francisco-based transportation planning and engineering firm that focuses on sustainable mobility.

Over the past 20 years, he has led station area, downtown, citywide, and campus plans, and delivered various lectures and classes, in 20 U.S. states and five other countries. His major development projects have succeeded in reducing their traffic and CO2 emissions by as much as 40%, and accommodated many millions of square feet of growth with no net increase in motor vehicle traffic.

These projects have won awards from the General Services Administration, American Planning Association, American Society of Landscape Architects, Congress for the New Urbanism, and Urban Land Institute. He is the author of Sustainable Transportation: Tools for Creating Healthy, Vibrant and Resilient Communities, published by Wiley in 2012.

Sacramento and TED's City2.0 Day

Sacramento has been selected to be a part of TED's City2.0 Day, a global event during which cities from around the world will be sharing ideas around the theme of the future of our cities. Sept 20, we will be bringing in great thinkers and doers who are making great things happen in cities around the globe to share their ideas and stories. Such topics as art, education, food, housing, play, public spaces, urban design, health, safety, technology and transportation will be discussed as well as a series of calls to action for our city by local change-makers who are trying to make a difference.  

REGISTER NOW-->>

TEDxSacramento presents TEDxCity2.0, an independently organized TED event for urban innovators, organizers, stewards and builders - with live speakers, streamed speakers from TEDCity2.0 in New York City, live performances, and the ability to coalesce around specific calls to action for our city.  

Expect to be challenged. Expect to be inspired.

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Internationally Acclaimed Landscape Architect Jerry van Eyck to Speak at TEDxCity2.0

TEDxSacramento is proud to announce that landscape architect Jerry Van Eyck will speak at TEDxCity2.0 on Friday, September 20, 2013. 

Registration for this event is currently open at TEDxSacramento.com. Please join us.

Jerry’s works and collaborative efforts are vast and prestigious, from the World Horticultural Expo 2014 in Qingdao, China, to Governors Island Park and Open Space Design in New York, and Jubilee Gardens in London.

Creative Adaptation in the Urban Landscape

In his TEDxCity2.0 talk about “creative adaptation in the urban landscape,” Jerry will pose and explore intriguing design questions, “What is it that informs creative thinking and the manipulation of our physical outdoor space? Is it nature or culture? Engineering or fantasy? Altruism or commerce?”

"I don't believe in design by formula"

Regarding his philosophy, Jerry says, “I don’t believe in ‘design by formula.’ Every situation requires a unique approach in order to arrive at a realized design that is ‘contextual’ and a design identity that is unique to a place.”

As the founding principal of !melk, a leading design practice, Jerry creates “spaces of wonder that merge realism and fantasy,” spaces that “sustain themselves and engage their communities.” Via !melk, Jerry’s mission is to design “large-scale urban and landscape interventions as well as public spaces and gardens, with deliberate references to local context, history, urban setting and surrounding ecology.”

Jerry is a globally respected lecturer, and serves as a visiting critic at design institutions around the world. He is an adjunct professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and a member of the Board of Governors of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.

 

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