TEDxMelbourne 2015 was all about The Stuff of Dreams, from uncovering vast visions for humanity and the local community, passion for adventure and exploration and the ability to face seemingly insurmountable odds with strength and courage.
Speakers
Speakers may not be confirmed. Check event website for more information.
Andrew Macleod
With an accomplished career spanning humanitarian, government and business, Andrew has been part of multinational teams in situations of conflict or natural disaster in Rwanda, Pakistan and Bosnia. As a business leader, he has led organisations and their engagements with political and community stakeholders in economies including Australia, Mongolia and Peru. The lessons he derives in leadership, negotiation and humanity give him a unique perspective in finding ways to solve large-scale challenges.Bernadette Schwerdt
With an eclectic background spanning business, the arts, education and training, combined with her passion for all things entrepreneurial and innovation, Bernadette has a Bachelor of Business from the University of South Australia where she won the Gold Medal for Marketing Strategy. She has worked as an account director for global ad agency Wunderman Cato Johnson on clients such as Apple, BHP and American Express, and is the founder and writing coach at the Australian School of Copywriting.Clair Marie
‘BASEgirl’ aka Clair Marie was born and raised in a small mountain town with a population of 52 outside South Lake Tahoe in California. Already rock climbing at age three and skiing at four, by age 16 Clair had successfully grasped her dream to become both the youngest female BASE jumper and youngest active jumper in history.George Bej
Disruptor, design-thinker and business dream-maker George Bej is an award-winning Australian executive with more than 30 years’ commercial experience across a raft of industries. George’s inimitable approach to the business world draws upon Disruption Theory, Design Thinking, Intrapreneurialism and Innovation – exciting new ways of thinking seen in the tech start-ups of Silicon Valley with their scant access to capital or resources and an innate desire to shake things up. He wants ‘big business’ to take note of this ground swell of innovation and understand how and why start-ups are winning work away from large global brands.Hish Fernando
In addition to being a board member of Picture the Coast, Hish is a director in an ICT consulting firm, owns a natural skin care company and sits on Deakin University’s industry advisory board in the Business and Law faculty. He has a passion for information management strategy, organisational change and business architecture.Jacinta Carboon
An entrepreneurial thinker, innovator and passionate advocate for women’s empowerment, Jacinta has scanned the globe for insights into the female mind, seeking to uncover the unique and intangible attributes of women as customers, employees and contributors to productivity.Jerry Grayson
Jerry Grayson describes himself as an ordinary man who chose an extraordinary career. He was just 17 years old when he joined the Royal Navy, the youngest helicopter pilot ever to be commissioned. By the age of 25 he was the most decorated peacetime naval pilot in history and was awarded the Air Force Cross by the Queen for outstanding gallantry in search and rescue.Joel de Ross
Using his many years of experience and the numerous challenges encountered along the journey, Joel de Ross has taken a very unusual approach to electronic music. With a long history in the entertainment industry as a music producer, DJ, event organiser and record label owner, Joel has developed intimate knowledge of the challenges facing the industry – challenges that he became committed to solving through new technologies. This vision for change led him to discover Virtual Reality and other emerging technology options.Lea Waters
Part inspiring and talented educator, part disruptor and champion for change and part advocate for the power of positivity, Professor Lea Waters is fervently passionate about all things psychology. Drawing upon her role as Director of the Positive Psychology Centre at The University of Melbourne, Lea has been imparting insights into the benefits of positive psychology to schools, corporates, not for profits and individuals for the past 19 years.Lisa McInnes-Smith
Lisa McInnes-Smith has built her life and her livelihood out of sharing words of inspiration and of honesty. She is now in the top five percent of speakers in the world and the first of only three Australians to be inducted into the USA Speakers Hall of Fame (CPAE). She has even shared the stage with two American Presidents, one Vice President and a swag of celebrity entertainers.Maithri Goonetilleke
At once inspiring, giving and multi-talented, Dr Maithri Goonetilleke is an Australian-based medical doctor, NGO worker, singer and author. As Founder of the NGO Possible Dreams International (PDI), he has spent a large part of the past ten years working in rural parts of Southern Africa delivering medical services and poverty alleviation programs to Swaziland’s remote HIV/AIDS affected areas. In addition to his work in Southern Africa, Maithri has also run single doctor medical clinics with the Daasanach people of Northern Kenya and the Orma tribe of Eastern Kenya.Marcus Veerman
Self-described maker, hacker and designer Marcus Veerman is CEO and Founder of Playgroundideas.org, an organisation that supports communities around the world to build playgrounds from local tools, materials, and skills. With a background in primary education, outdoor leadership, and design-build learning, he founded Playground Ideas after spearheading the construction of 40 bespoke playgrounds along the Thai/Burma border.Marcus responded to a wave of interest in international playground building by creating an open source platform to share best practices.Michael O'Neill
We picture the engineering world full of scientific trailblazers who turn blue sky design dreams into concrete reality. But what if they married their deep understanding of science and engineering principles together with the vision of a greener, healthier world? Cue Michael O’Neill, an environmental and sustainability consultant who dreams about profoundly changing the way our cities look, feel and function.Robert Davis
Melbourne-based artist Robert Lee Davis creates sensitive and deeply personal cinematic collaged paintings using old postcards, discarded letters and reclaimable print materials, suspending history in a dreamlike state. Each piece is an immersive recreation of global landscapes and structures that deconstruct memory and experiences to craft imagined worlds that are at once familiar and yet foreign.Roger La Salle
The creator of the Matrix Thinking technique, Roger La Salle’s diverse business focus spans innovation, opportunity creation, strategy and entrepreneurship. He is the author of four books and Director and former CEO of the Innovation Centre of Victoria (INNOVIC) as well as a number of companies both in Australia and overseas.Ron Lee
Ron Lee, aka ‘The Corporate Ninja’, assists people all over the world to accomplish their dreams through an inspiring combination of Eastern and Western philosophies, metaphysics, martial arts and the performing arts – with a healthy dose of comedy thrown in.A student of NIDA, where Cate Blanchett, Sam Worthington and Mel Gibson also trained, Ron still occasionally acts professionally. He has also performed stand-up comedy and improv theatre, skills that he incorporates in his conference and convention work. In fact, he has trained many corporates to success in stand-up comedy.Sarah JanePell
Artist, commercial diver and researcher, Dr Sarah Jane Pell dreams of being amongst the first generation of artists to work in outer space. Sarah Jane is uniquely engaged in art and science research intersecting the performing arts, human movement and underwater diving. Her work parallels human spaceflight and exploration and she positions herself as the experiment itself, seeking to embody and critique the culture of exploration and redefine our visions of future worlds.Sasha Courville
Dr Sasha Courville is Head of Corporate Responsibility Strategy at the National Australia Bank. She has been leading NAB’s Natural Value Strategy – an enterprise wide initiative focused on managing natural capital risks and identifying business opportunities arising from an increased focus on issues such as water, energy and soil health.Thomas King
Food technologist
After last year being named VIC Young Australian of the Year and VCE Leader of the Year, Thomas is now 19 and continuing his work to create a better society for animals, people and the planet. He believes that ‘no matter who you are or what your age, everybody has the ability to create a profound impact.’Organizing team
