ELEVATOR PITCH
TEDxBristol is one of the largest TEDx events in Europe, delivering talks to sell-out audiences, working with creative partners across the UK and reaching a global audience online. We’re a largely voluntary and not-for-profit organisation dedicated to creating thought-provoking, world-class TEDx talks and delivering inspirational, inclusive and friendly TEDx events in Bristol. Licensed by TED.com, TEDxBristol seeks out Bristol and the South West’s brilliant ideas and innovative disruptors and champions them on the world stage.
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OUR STORY
Over the past year, Creative Director, Mel Rodrigues and the team have transformed TEDxBristol from a bunch of volunteers putting on a biennial conference, to a fully-functioning production team, bringing in funding, creating jobs, and pioneering many exciting cross-city collaborations that have put TEDxBristol on the world map.
TEDxBristol is still a non-profit, but by adopting the ‘startup’ mentality, it has grown its vision to work with the most exciting and innovative people on the tech and creative scene, as well as providing opportunities for hundreds of school pupils and community groups to engage in ideas exchange and hands-on creativity.
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We think Bristol is the best place in the world for a TEDx event, because of the sheer volume and breadth of exciting things happening and inspirational people living here. We are constantly surprised by the stories we come across. Bristol is full of ‘quiet heroes’ – people doing amazing things for their community or the wider world but not really shouting about it. The sheer ingenuity and problem-solving coming out of the tech cluster alone is staggering. We recently recorded a podcast examining why Bristol and Bath are such thriving environments for tech start-ups.
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Bristol is also a very special place for collaboration. From Newicon designing our new website CMS from scratch to Hodos Consultancy providing hundreds of hours of free coaching for our speakers, or Runway East supporting us with free work/meeting space, Bristol businesses have stepped up to the plate and added a huge amount of innovation and creativity to what we do. Collaboration is at the heart of everything TEDxBristol does. Its growth is entirely down to connecting with like-minded and ambitious innovators to amplify what we are all doing as a community.”
– Mel Rodrigues, Creative Director of TEDxBristol
In 2017 TEDxBristol launched its ‘Fresh Talent’ scheme – the goal being to work with emerging stars both off and on stage to nurture their storytelling and production skills and enrich the city’s creative talent pipeline.
A core part of the team’s work is now dedicated to up-skilling the next generation of creative and digital talent via training and mentoring with professionals from across the patch. Of note, TEDxBristol is Bath Spa University’s biggest industry partner in the media sector.
To date, TEDxBristol has worked with over 50 Bristol/South West-based companies and organisations who have given over half a million pounds value in kind, sponsorship, or voluntary hours to the project.
