TEDxPretoria returns in November for a day of eye-opening, thought-provoking short talks. Speakers share their unique perspectives and disruptive ideas with the audience in powerful talks aimed at rebooting thoughts and actions to meet the needs of the future.

This year's theme is "Don't Blink".

What is TEDx?

TEDx is an offshoot of the hugely popular Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Talks, an international movement to engender a deeper understanding of our world. It’s about sparking conversations that change attitudes, lives, and our world. The talks, which are freely available online, are widely recognised as one of the world's most inspiring sources of fresh thinking on a wide range of cultural and scientific subjects.

The 7th edition of TEDxPretoria takes place on Tuesday, 19 November 2019 at Brooklyn Theatre

Like all TEDx talks, the TEDxPretoria event is open-source and not for material or political gain. It is organised under a free license by an independent team of professionals, graduates and students who share a burning desire to challenge accepted wisdom and spark deep conversations and connections in their communities.

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission: Ideas worth spreading. The programme is designed to give communities, organisations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. At a TEDx event, TED Talks videos and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.

These community events are branded TEDx, where x=independently organised TED event. TED provides general guidance for the TEDx programme, but individual TEDx events are self-organised, and, like TED, run on a nonprofit basis.*

TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to spreading ideas. What began as a one-off conference about technology, entertainment and design has become a viral video phenomenon and a worldwide community of passionate people. The annual TED Conference invites the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com.

Past speakers include Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK prime minister Gordon Brown.

The annual TED Conference takes place in Long Beach, California, with simulcast in Palm Springs. TEDGlobal is held each year in Oxford, UK. TED’s media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily, and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.

TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world, and the TEDFellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at facebook.com/TED