28 November 2016. The so-called TEDx event at the University of St.Gallen is about entrepreneurial audacity. 500 people will be able to experience the lectures in the Audimax. The TEDxHSG team will broadcast the conference live in the net. Media representatives and the general public are cordially invited but are kindly asked to register.

The Western Swiss Master’s student Manal Belaouane launched the event in 2015 with a team of some 30 HSG students. Inspired by the good resonance of the first TEDx talk at the University of St.Gallen, the students decided to run the conference again this year. The 2016 TEDxHSG team is coordinated by Eric Oancea, Christopher Baumann and Basil Altenpohl.

TEDxHSG is an independently organised non-profit initiative which brings people to St.Gallen. TED is about spreading good ideas and interlinking people with each other in order to "make the world a little better". No matter whether you are currently interested in how the universe came into being or in how to bake bread skilfully, the TED video series on YouTube has ideas about almost every topic. TED stands for technology, entertainment and design.

13 short lectures in the Audimax

On Saturday, 3 December 2016 from 8.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m., TEDxHSG will welcome 500 people to listen to 13 short lectures in the Audimax of the University of St.Gallen. The topic of the day is "Go Beyond". On stage, 14 people will relate how they transcended their own limits and discovered something new. Art consultant Mary McCarthy will speak about urban art, and TV journalist Laura Penn will set new standards for good presentations. The US-American activist Shaun Attwood will speak about how drug trafficking got him into prison and how literature saved him. Social media star and professional bodybuilder Mischa Janic will show how you can shift borders through training.

The Venezuelan activist Marcello Bertorelli will tell the audience how he led student protests in Caracas. Also on the stage will be Gustav Borgefalk (co-founder of the Sqore company), Phil Anthony (consultant & performance coach), Hila Azadzoy (Kiron Open Higher Education, an organisation for tertiary education for refugees), Fabian Westerheide (CEO of Asgard Venture Capital for Artificial Intelligence), the entrepreneurs and US diplomats Suzi and Eric Levine, Killian Wagner (CEO of the spectacle manufacturer VIU), Federico Augugliaro (ETH Zurich) and Pete Blackshaw (Global Head of Digital & Social Media at Nestlé). The speakers will have between three and 18 minutes to present their ideas in a personal and appealing manner – according to the motto "ideas worth spreading".

The "licence to inspire"

Spin-offs, so-called TEDx events, have taken place ever since 2009. The letter x indicates that the event is organised by an independent person, who requires a licence issued by TED for the purpose. Manal Belaouane received it in August 2015. "Limiting the talks to a small live audience is a fixed rule of TED," says Eric Oancea. Anyone who is interested but unable to attend will be able to follow the TEDxHSG event live in the internet

Bild: Photocase / Gregepperson