INKtalks

Newsflash: TED2013 Global Auditions

Mar 27th, 2012 1 Comment

So you’ve watched TEDtalks for years, and your first thought has always been: I have the next idea worth spreading.

Well, congrats! Now’s your chance to prove it!

TED is hosting a global search for TED2013 speakers. Yep, you heard me right. At least 50% of the speakers for TED2013 will come from this talent search, which is seeking out potential speakers from Qatar, the U.K., South Africa, Kenya, Tunisia, China, INDIA, South Korea, Australia, Japan, Canada, the U.S., Brazil and the Netherlands. TED is looking for gamechangers and groundshakers. Whether you’re a thinker or a doer, a performer or a teacher, the world is waiting to hear your ideas.

The deets are pretty simple:

  1. Click here to figure out what TED is looking for. The deadline to apply for the Bangalore, India auditions (co-hosted by INK Curator Lakshmi Pratury) is midnight EST on April 8th.
  2. Wow ‘em with your wisdom. We highly recommend you upload a video as part of your application. 

And as an extra bonus to all the INK blog readers, make sure you check out this video by June Cohen, the Executive Producer of TED Media, on what makes a great TEDTalk. And if you want to know how to be a great speaker, watch this video by Bruno Giussani, the host of TEDGlobal, on what works on stage.

Good luck, and we’ll see you on-stage at the Bangalore auditions.

By Nina Gannes, INK Staff

March 27, 2011

TED Curator Chris Anderson’s note on INK

Oct 29th, 2011 Leave a comment

Dear Global TED Community,

By now you may have heard of the annual conference in India that has lots of links to TED.
The INK Conference (which stands for INnovation and Knowledge) is being run by longtime TEDster Lakshmi Pratury, who co-hosted TEDIndia with me in 2009. We’ve signed a content partnership agreement with INK that allowed us to bring the best of their talks to TED.com. Last year’s INK Talks posted on TED.com (including Anil Ananthaswamy, Arvind Gupta, Simon Lewis and Susan Lim) have proved popular online, and we’re excited to continue this collaboration.

TEDIndia in 2009 was a thrilling experience, attracting a sold-out audience of 1,000 attendees from 46 different countries. It was always planned as a one-off to bring TED to South Asia. So we’re delighted that the momentum generated by TEDIndia is continuing with numerous one-day TEDx events around the country — and the longer INK conference hosted in association with TED.
The first INK conference was held in December 2010, and Lakshmi pulled together a fine speaker lineup spanning business, science, technology, nonprofit organizations and the arts.
And she’s done so again with the lineup for the second INK Conference, being held in the colourful Rajasthan city of Jaipur, December 8-11, 2011.

The theme is “Power of the Journey,” and confirmed speakers include the first woman private space traveler, Anousheh Ansari; oceanographer David Gallo; music conductor Itay Talgam; director Julie Taymor; and the chair of UIDAI and co-founder of Infosys, Nandan Nilekani. INK is modeled on TED, and the talks will fit the familiar TED 18-minute format.

As an organization, the INK Conference remains 100% independent of TED. They are fully responsible for the event. But we’re happy to be offering strategic advice and content distribution.
If you want to attend a live TED-like event in India, do consider registering for INK and joining up with movers and shakers from a wide variety of industries, organizations and countries. There’s more information at www.inktalks.com.

Sincerely,
Chris Anderson
TED Curator

INK Curator at TEDx Danubia

May 22nd, 2011 Leave a comment

INK Curator and Host Lakshmi Pratury spoke at TEDx on what the West can learn from the East.

Lakshmi Pratury brought TED to India in 2009, when the first TEDIndia conference was held in Mysore. In December 2010, she curated and hosted the INK Conference, in association with TED, (www.inktalks.com) which carried forward the momentum created by TEDIndia. Lakshmi Pratury brings with her a varied and rich experience that spans for-profit enterprises, venture capital and non-profit organizations.

Featured in the list of ‘100 Most Powerful Women’ by Forbes Asia in 2010 (http://www.forbes.com/global/2010/1108/power-women-10-zeti-akhtar-aziz-peggy-liu-women-watch_2.html), Lakshmi has traversed an incredible distance professionally.

As a social entrepreneur, Lakshmi was a leading force at the American India Foundation (AIF), where she was part of the management team that raised over $30M in five years to channel towards development activities in India. She was the founder of the Digital Equalizer program, which brought technology education to over 100,000 children and 2,000 teachers in India.

Prior to AIF, Lakshmi was a partner at the venture capital firm Global Catalyst Partners. At Global Catalyst Partners, she established relationships between GCP, the development community in India, and key executives in India.
Before this Lakshmi was with Intel Corporation for 12 years and had various roles in marketing, marketing communication, advertising, and evangelizing the developer community.

Lakshmi holds a Bachelors degree in Mathematics from Nizam College, Hyderabad, India. She attended IIT, Mumbai; got an MBA from the Bajaj Institute, India, and a second MBA from Portland State University, with a minor in theater arts.

Lakshmi has published articles in San Jose Mercury, San Francisco Chronicle, Mint (leading business daily in India); interviewed celebrities, contributed to radio shows, including National Public Radio, and acted in local (US) theater.
Lakshmi spoke at high profile conferences like TED conference in the US (http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/lakshmi_pratury_on_letter_writing.html), the DLD Conference in Germany, and at IIM Bangalore.