TEDx, Asheville

November 2013
TED (Technology, Entertainment & Design) began as a small annual conference in California sponsored by people who believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately the world. Since 1984 the TED Conference has developed into a clearinghouse spreading “ideas worth spreading” from the world’s most inspired thinkers. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. The Asheville event is called TEDxAsheville, where “x” = an independently organized TED event.

There are two events in Western North Carolina: TEDxKatuah and TEDx Asheville.

TEDxAsheville announces its first three speakers selected to present at TEDxAsheville 2012:

• GRAMMY nominee Casey Driessen, an Asheville-based fiddle virtuoso, takes the audience to the edge of musical possibility, mixing traditional sounds with modern technology to create a new sound all his own.

• Interfaith minister and healer Anne Heck brings the audience to the edge of one woman's body and soul with her personal story of healing, redemption and transformation—after surviving a brutal assault that made national headlines.

• TIME Magazine science editor and author of the book that became the movie Apollo 13, Jeffrey Kluger, returns to our stage to take us to the edge of human aspiration—and to the new edge of our species' future—as he addresses space travel as the next step in human destiny.

Tickets for TEDxAsheville will be available for purchase starting August 8 for a price of $37 at TEDxAsheville.com. Attendees are encouraged to purchase tickets early. Seats are limited, the event will sell out, and ticket prices will increase to $47 on October 5.

TEDxAsheville 2012 will be held November 4 at the Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place. Organized around the theme of “The EDGE,” the conference will feature some of the region’s premier thinkers, innovators and entertainers from diverse fields.