Inaugural TEDxTysons Event Set for June 3: Announces Speakers and Performers

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Inaugural TEDxTysons Event Set for June 3: Announces Speakers and Performers

-- Attendance applications still open --

Organizers of the Tysons inaugural TEDxTysons event have announced the event host, speakers and performers. The theme for 2016 is “Future Tense?” TEDxTysons will feature some of the region’s leading thinkers, innovators, artists, philosophers and entertainers. The event will take place 1:00-6:30 p.m., June 3, 2016 at the TEGNA/Gannett building 7950 Jones Branch Drive in McLean. More information at http://www.tedxtysons.com.

The event will include:

Host: Sarah Fraser, Host of the Hey Frase Podcast, (link to bio)

Speakers: Aaron Black, Director of Informatics, Inova Translational Medicine Institute (link to bio); Alfred Grasso, President and Chief Executive Officer, MITRE (link to bio); Andrew Chapman, Publishing Entrepreneur and Author, Social Motion Publishing (link to bio); Dr. Cal Newport, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University and Author (link to bio); Christopher Painter, Coordinator for Cyber Issues, U.S. Department of State (link to bio); Diana Sierra, Co-Founder and CEO of Be Girl (link to bio); Jason Green, Co-Founder, SkillSmart (link to bio); John Bailey, Second Vice President of the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia (link to bio); LaVerne H. Council, Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer, Office of Information and Technology (link to bio); Michael Edson, Associate Director/Head of Digital at UN Live – Museum for Humanity (link to bio)

Performers: Boris Willis, Associate Professor GMU, Choreographer & Video Artist (link to bio); Pages Matam, Director of Poetry Events, Busboys and Poets (link to bio)

TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events. The inaugural event is limited by the TED organization to 100 attendees. Apply to attend at the website. Also, TEDxTysons will stream the event live and host viewing parties around the region. Partner applications are open. Interested organizations should contact Stacy Bradford at partners@tedxtysons.com.

Partners for TEDxTysons, to date, include:

· Ringleader Partner - Tysons Partnership

· Revolutionary Partner - 522 Productions

· Redirect Partner - Dale Carnegie

· Founding Partner - The Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce

Ashwood Heffern, founder of TEDxTysons, said, “The Tysons region provides a wealth of talented, successful and inspiring people. TEDxTysons will bring to our stage and into the audience forward-thinking men and women to make TEDxTysons a catalyst for further excellence and change in the entire DC Metro area.”

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

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.)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today's leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED's annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.

TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a "wish," or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED or Instagram at https://instagram.com/ted.

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