In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

In Between Bar
Wivenhoe Park
Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ
United Kingdom

Daisy Morris

Daisy Morris is a marketing strategist and Founder of The Selfhood. She created The Selfhood to help creatives and business owners bring their vision to life online while finding their own unique spark and has collaborated with businesses such as Adobe, Microsoft, and Meta. She is also the Author of ‘Community Is Your Currency’ and a guest lecturer at multiple Universities in the U.K. In this talk, Daisy opens up about her own experience of overcoming her fears of public speaking and struggling with glossophobia in her own career. She shares the three-part framework she developed to grow and her own confidence through a similar process to micro-dosing, which enabled her to share her ideas with thousands of people globally. This talk is for those who want practical advice to take the plunge to start a business, move to a new city or make new friends and close the gap between their fear of speaking up and putting themselves out there.

Danielle Howell

Danielle Howell is a Coach, Writer and Speaker who is so proud to be taking to the TEDx stage later this month, in no other than her local University of Essex. Talking frankly about life changing events that led to her career becoming her everything, but at the expense of her health & wellbeing. She introduces the concept of Hormonal Cycle Alignment and aims to shift mindsets from the typically negative perception of periods and being hormonal, to how people with periods can leverage the superpower of their hormonal cycle to accelerate their careers or increase success in their own businesses, build deeper relationships, become better parents, experience more fulfilled lives, and even overcome burnout.

Dorsa Heidari

Dorsa Heidari is a 23-year-old Iranian student from the University of Essex, currently completing her MA in Politics. Her talk centers around Bridging cultures and overcoming the fear of traveling, more specifically comprehending and embracing the cultures they meet. Growing up in Kuwait, she went to a British curriculum school where she grew up around thousands of people from all around the world. This is where her main idea came from, she has been trying to close the gap between cultures and helping people to accept others for their differences and similarities. Her love for public speaking started at a very young age at Model UN, where she helped people understand the circumstances in other countries and ameliorate their preconceptions.

Mike Adams

Mike Adams is the Founder and CEO of Purple, a disability rights organisation based in the UK that is leading the drive to ‘change the conversation’ about disability from one about vulnerable people, charity and welfare to one focussed on value, contribution, community and opportunity. Purple is acknowledged as the leading disability organisation providing solutions for built, online and people-led environments. Mike is the creator of Purple Tuesday to reinforce the opportunity provided by disabled consumers. With a global reach of 23 million on its celebration day last November. Mike has been recognised for the last three years in the Powerlist Top 100 most influential disabled people in the UK. He is currently also an Executive Director at CareTech Holdings Ltd one of the largest providers of care in the UK. In 2012 Mike was awarded an OBE for his services to disabled people.

Paul Forrest

Advising businesses large and small, Paul has worked with some of the most recognised brands in the world, helping them achieve success and incredible growth. Outside of this, Paul is an accomplished ultrarunner and track and field coach, mentoring and inspiring young athletes to reach their full potential, and has recently established Europe’s fastest-growing Track and Field Athletics Club. Beyond such pursuits, Paul is a course tutor at LSE and an eternal optimist with a passion for purpose. He has been recognised for his work as both a producer and cinematographer on award-winning feature films and has won awards for his contributions to the business world, sports, and the arts, making him a true all-rounder. Essentially, in his own words, he is a professional misfit on a mission to inspire and make a significant impact on those whose lives he touches.

Purvi Kay

Purvi Kay is a career mentor and coach on a mission to help others find their true potential and land their dream jobs. As a Chartered Aerospace Engineer and with over 10 years of experience in the Cyber Security Industry Purvi is passionate about building a diverse talent pipeline in the Cyber and Tech space. She is also an advocate for Neurodiversity and uses her public speaking opportunities to raise awareness of Neuroinclusion in the workplace. Purvi’s Tedx talk, ‘How Neurodiversity can Strengthen Cyber Security’ brings the Neurodivergent community into the limelight and aims to pivot mindsets to embrace Neurodiversity as an untapped talent. From her own experience as a Senior leader in Cyber Security and through the lived experience of ‘Jack’ a Cyber Security Analyst, she highlights the many unknown neurodiverse skills and behaviours that are crucial to bridge the Cyber security skills gap. Her talk discusses the key steps organisations need to take to enable a much-needed paradigm shift in recruiting, nurturing, and retaining a neurodiverse workforce and developing a truly neuroinclusive organisation. At the end of the talk, everyone will be thinking differently about different thinkers!

Sebastian Serban

Be it in business, sports, politics, or art, leaders have one thing in common: they rarely leave of their own accord. Having been part of a broad range of organisations, from entrepreneurship to political communities, and having risen to the top of many of these structures, Sebastian learned all about it. It was these experiences which taught him that the most important moment in a leader’s tenure is the moment they decide to step out of the way. Sebastian is a data analyst, former consultant, and former ministerial advisor. While studying at Oxford and the London School of Economics, he served as the representative of Romanian students in the country, with his term centering around the UK’s exit from the EU and its consequences for the community he represented. If today one is more likely than ever to chase and idealise being seen, admired, and followed, then striving to be a leader in your group is your best bet. Yet while leadership satisfies some of our most fundamental inner needs, building one’s life plan around being at the top robs you of everything else out there. Sebastian will draw on his experience of leadership throughout his educational and career paths in government and the private sector to show that a leader’s most important task is to prepare others to take their place.

Serena Martino

Serena is a Psychology student at the University of Essex. She believes that it is our duty as a species to improve ourselves in all aspects of life, especially in becoming more mentally resilient. Her way of contributing to this improvement is by sharing her knowledge with others so that people will be more aware of themselves. This is why she has already delivered one TEDx talk on the psychology behind risk-taking. This time Serena is going to shed light on the striking phenomenon of “Productivity Porn”. Within this topic she will share psychological dynamics, her personal experience with heightened productivity, and the reality behind following online trends that sell unachievable goals for most people.