Contact:
Ryan Triffitt
Marketing Director, TEDxDirigo
207-837-5045
ryan@tedxdirigo.com

Adam Burk
Executive Director, TEDxDirigo
207-370-7243
adam@tedxdirigo.com

Portland, ME — TEDxDirigo is preparing a full slate of events for 2012. Following on the success of TEDxDirigo: Latitudes, which was held September 10, 2011 at the Portland Stage Company, TEDxDirigo is thrilled to continue the momentum into the new year.

TEDxDirigo’s events bring together Maine’s brightest innovators and change-makers. The goal is for TEDxDirigo to be a catalyst for positive change in the state and world, where new ideas are funded and supported for the greater good of all.

Here’s a tentative schedule for 2012. More details will be available at www.tedxdirigo.com.

Thursday, January 26: Giving the Talk of Your Life Workshop at PelotonLabs, Portland SOLD OUT

Wednesday, February 29: TED 2012, Live Stream and TEDxDirigo Tryouts at Frontier, Brunswick. FREE. Up to 20 people who pre-register will have the opportunity to give a 1-2 minute talk of their life to a live audience. The audience will vote for “the people’s choice” who TEDxDirigo will work with and feature at a future main-stage TEDxDirigo event.

Thursday, March 29: Giving the Talk of Your Life Workshop, Location TBD

Saturday, May 19: TEDxDirigo: Engage at Hannaford Hall, USM, Portland. A full-day event, guest curated by Institute for Civic Leadership executive director, Jan Kearce. Event details and applications to attend will be available in February at www.TEDxDirigo.com.

Wednesday, June 27: TED Global, Live Stream, Location TBD

Fall 2012: TEDxDirigo: Villages, The signature, annual, full-day event featuring “Maine ideas worth spreading.” Event details and applications to attend will be available in the spring at www.tedxdirigo.com.

About TEDx:
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.)

About TED:
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. 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. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and 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 Edinburgh, Scotland. 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 organize local, independent TED-like 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. For information about TED’s upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registration.

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

Peaceful Mind, Compassionate Heart by Khen Rhinpoche Lobzang Tsetan
Khen Rinpoche Tsetan has spent over 30 years teaching to Western audiences in the USA and gets to the heart of the Buddha’s teaching using wisdom, humor and compassion for our 21st Century lifestyles and challenges we encounter searching for inner peace. No need to be a Buddhist to benefit from the insights and lessons found within these pages!
- suggested by Lisa Blake, 2010 speaker

The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success by Nicholas Lore
There are a lot of books like this, but this one actually did help me change my career and my life. I followed the book’s instructions with diligence and faith, which put me on a path that led directly to the best job I’ve ever had — and it’s written by a Mainer, to boot!
- suggested by Jennifer Boggs, TEDxDirigo

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Though I first read this book as a child, it’s anything but childish. A reminder that life is best lived with curiosity and playfulness.
- suggested by Jennifer Boggs, TEDxDirigo

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
One of the most beautiful portrayals of what a sense of place can yield. Leopold’s reflections are prose inspired by the invisible connections of life–ecology. The call for the adoption of “the land ethic” is ever more pertinent today than ever.
- suggested by Adam Burk, TEDxDirigo

Worldchanging, Edited by Alex Steffan
The problems of today can be vastly overwhelming-hunger, climate change, devastating storms, failing economies…what the heck are we going to do? Here is a comprehensive index of solutions currently being deployed on various scales across the world and can be adapted in your community. Read it, get inspired, get to work.
- suggested by Adam Burk, TEDxDirigo

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
A manifesto for making communication more effective. For there to be hope for grassroots movements, these lessons need to be learned and shared.
- suggested by John Paul Caponigro, 2010 speaker

Slideology … and Resonance by Nancy Duarte
Both volumes are essential manuals for making audio/visual presentations more effective. She helped Al Gore with An Inconvenient Truth. She can help you.
- suggested by John Paul Caponigro, 2010 speaker

MAINE Deepwater Offshore Wind Report by University of Maine and James W.
Sewall Company
This report presents a comprehensive overview of all the environmental,
geographic, economic and permitting issues associated with the development
of deepwater offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. The study represents four
years of data collection on everything from where right whales migrate, to what piers can handle heavy construction equipment.
- suggested by Dr. Habib Dagher, 2011 presenter

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Why: If we can love, we can create. If we can create, we live. If we live, we have meaning.
- suggested by Kerem Durdag, 2011 presenter

A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander
- suggested by Michael “Gil” Gilroy, TEDxDirigo

The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
- suggested by Michael “Gil” Gilroy, TEDxDirigo

Fruitless Fall by Rowan Jacobsen
Rowan did a wonderful job of introducing Colony Collapse Disorder (“that problem with the bees that everybody’s heard about”), and relating it to the much larger agricultural and environmental crises heralded by the bees’ health issues. A real eye-opener and attitude changer – one that goes a long way toward making the connection between bees, our callous treatment of our only planet, and food.
- suggested by Christy Hemenway, 2011 speaker

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Pollan makes very real the connection between our broken food system and our current state of health and “food-angst.” Very revealing and a must-read for anyone the least bit curious about where food actually comes from, how it gets on your plate, and how much the government has to do with it!
- suggested by Christy Hemenway, 2011 speaker

Improvising Real Life: Personal Story in Playback Theatre by Jo Salas
A great “nuts and bolts” book for anyone interested in doing playback.
- suggested by David LaGraffe, 2011 presenter

Acts of Service: Spontaneity, Commitment, Tradition in the Nonscripted Theatre by Jonathan Fox
This is a “digging deeper” book for developing a full philosophical appreciation of the nature of playback theatre.
- suggested by David LaGraffe, 2011 presenter

The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
This book is amazingly inspirational. It exemplifies the unity of the human society through the discussion of mythology. As a filmmaker, I find that this book contains all the essential ingredients to create a successful narrative story.
- suggested by Dean Merrill, TEDxDirigo

Depth Psychology And A New Ethic by Erich Neumann
Neumann provides a profound discussion of the current state of the human condition. He offers a holistic solution for the next evolution of our society. This is not light reading, but it is profoundly inspirational and enlightening.
- suggested by Dean Merrill, TEDxDirigo

Start with Why by Simon Sinek
A book that reminds us as leaders to begin with belief, purpose and passion and inspire those around us to take action. To bring this purpose into our communication, our decisions, our strategy.
- suggested by Janice O’Rourke, TEDxDirigo

Small is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher
This book has inspired me to look differently at the world and how I can influence it. So much so, that I have dedicated my life to trying to build the beautiful society that Schumacher discusses. Practically, it has also helped me to start this process, in particular the section where he describes the steps he would take if given control of a large community in the Global South. This is a must-read for any aspiring world-changer.
- suggested by Alex Petroff, TEDxDirigo

Simulacra and Simulation (The Body, In Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism) by Jean Baudrillard
This book explores the difference between what is real and what is made to appear real. It might as well be the literary soundtrack to The Matrix. Once you see the simulacrum, you realize that it is all around you. A frightening read.
- suggested by John Rooks, 2011 speaker

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce by Slavoy Zizek
Zizek dissects traditional Capitalism and Cause Capitalism with a razor sharp scalpel. He demonstrates how the rules of Capitalism permit consumers to continue the same behaviors (over consumption) that created environmental degradation, while thinking that they are part of the solution.
- suggested by John Rooks, 2011 speaker

Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal
Mcgonigal explores how the mechanics found in online gaming — engagement, meaning, optimism, and collaboration — can unleash the great potential of our society to solve its most intractable problems.
- suggested by Eli Stefanski, 2011 speaker

Sorcerers and Their Apprentices by Frank Moss
Moss showcases the anti-disciplinary thinking and creativity that is producing transformative solutions to today’s “wicked problems.”
- suggested by Eli Stefanski, 2011 speaker

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things by William McDonough and Michael Braungart
This book offers a visionary, exciting, positive, and practical approach to solving environmental challenges by focusing on new technologies and ideas for producing what we need and want in ways that are restorative and healthy. Going beyond just doing “better,” this book offers an approach that is 100% good.
- suggested by Zoe Weil, 2010 speaker

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
Here is a soul-searching, jam-packed, beautifully written, painstakingly researched and captivating read about one of the most important daily choices each of us makes regarding food. Neither a diet book nor a polemic, Foer’s book unfolds richly and meaningfully and leaves readers with important decisions to make for their own sake and the sake of animals and the environment.
- suggested by Zoe Weil, 2010 speaker

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
It is a book that is read by many of us as teenagers. I think it should be read again as a adult (or me, more than once). It is a book about race in America. But it is also a book about ordinary people who are faced with difficult decisions. And finally, for me, it is a book about courage.
- suggested by Steve Wessler, 2011 speaker

Books by TEDxDirigo Speakers

Fambul Tok by Libby Hoffman
More Than Promote – A monkeywrencher’s guide to authentic marketing by John Rooks

Most Good, Least Harm by Zoe Weil
The Respectful School by Steve Wessler

SESSION 1 9:00 – 10:30am
Habib Dagher
Steve Wessler
Elizabeth Stefanski
Olas

SESSION 2 11:05am – 12:15pm
Emilia Dahlin
John Rooks
Jeff Thaler
Christy Hemenway

LUNCH 12:20-1:40pm

SESSION 3 1:45 – 3:15pm
Figures of Speech Theatre
Kerem Durdag
Alan Lishness
Jodie Hittle
Libby Hoffman

SESSION 4 3:45 – 5:15pm
Ryan Baird
Rafael Grossmann Zamora
Elizabeth McLellan
Roger Doiron
Portland Playback Theatre

RECEPTION 5:15-6:15pm

If you’ve received an invitation and haven’t yet purchased your ticket, please do. You won’t want to miss a minute of this celebration of Maine ideas worth spreading.

He is particularly interested in working with others to design and implement new methods and practices that engage Maine students in critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and communications. His thinking is informed by current educational practice in Finland, a country that bears startling similarities to Maine. Teachers there are well prepared to teach, held in high professional esteem and granted autonomy in their classrooms. Finnish students typically outperform their peers from thirty-three other countries in reading, mathematics and science.

Alan grew up in Brunswick, and graduated from Gettysburg College with a double major in English and Religion. Prior to joining GMRI, he held marketing and senior management positions in technology-based start-ups and not-for-profit organizations in Maine. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Association for Research on the Gulf of Maine, Greater Portland Landmarks, Ram Island Dance Company and The Maine Festival, and the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Maine Space Grant Consortium and the Waterfront Alliance. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Law and Innovation and the Cape Elizabeth Energy Committee. Outside of work, he enjoys family travel, endurance sports car racing and making things from obsolete industrial artifacts.

August 3, 2011 (Portland, ME) – Today, TEDxDirigo announces a full program of speakers and performers for its second annual independently organized event on Saturday, September 10th at Portland Stage Company. Latitudes will feature Mainers sharing live “TEDx Talks” about social, economic and environmental ideas that are making an impact here and abroad.

“The name Latitudes evokes Maine’s respected tradition of trade and discovery, but in this case, in the marketplace of ideas,” said Adam Burk, TEDxDirigo’s Executive Director. “It can also mean ‘freedom from limitation,’ and we hope the conference will give the speakers and guests wide berth to exchange ideas.”

Local presenters of “Maine ideas worth spreading” include:

• Libby Hoffman of Falmouth founded the private foundation Catalyst for Peace. Since 2007, the foundation has run Fambul Tok (“family talk” in Krio), an international program which brings victims and perpetrators from Sierra Leone’s civil war together in village-level, tradition-based ceremonies of truth-telling, apology and forgiveness. Fambul Tok helps heal the wounds of war and build the foundations for sustainable peace and development. http://www.fambultok.org
• Roger Doiron is the founder and director of Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI), a Maine-based nonprofit network of more than 20,000 people from 100 countries who are taking a hands-on approach to re-localizing the global food supply. His grand prize-winning proposal and petition campaign to replant a kitchen garden at the White House attracted over 100,000 signatures and broad international media coverage. http://www.kitchengardeners.org
• Emilia Dahlin is a Portland-based singer-songwriter who, at the peak of a booming music career, went on a yearlong global journey of service and learning. She and an intergenerational group visited places around the world that are experimenting with ecologically compatible technologies and societal models that combine modern innovation with the wisdom of old-world communities. Dahlin traveled to the favelas of Sao Paolo where she began a collaborative music project that inspired her to use music within her own community to foster cross-cultural exchange though a common medium. http://www.emiliadahlin.com
• Steve Wessler of Litchfield is the Executive Director for the Center for Preventing Hate, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing and responding to bias, harassment and violence. The Center provides education and advocacy in schools, colleges, government agencies, nonprofit organizations and communities. http://www.preventinghate.org

See the full roster of speakers: http://tedxdirigo.com/category/speakers/2011/.

Latitudes will take place on Saturday, September 10th, from 9:00a.m. to 5:00p.m. There will be two morning sessions and two afternoon sessions, with breaks in between for further open discussion among attendees. Following the event, guests and speakers will be encouraged to unwind at the SPACE Block Party, a celebration of the arts that will stretch along Congress Street, from Casco Street to Forest Avenue. Participants will experience interactive art installations, musical performances, theater, and activities for kids.

Applications to attend Latitudes are still being accepted. Selections are made based on a broad set of criteria. The TEDxDirigo team will curate a diverse audience representing a wide range of professions and backgrounds, to ensure a rich and stimulating exchange of ideas. It is free to apply, and the fee to attend, if selected, is $100. To apply, go to http://tedxdirigo.com/apply-to-attend/.

About TEDx: 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.)

About TED: TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. 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. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and 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 Edinburgh, Scotland. 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 organize local, independent TED-like 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. For information about TED’s upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registration

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

###

Press Contact
Jennifer Boggs
207-482-3767 / jen@tedxdirigo.com

That’s the impetus behind Libby’s work at Catalyst for Peace, the Portland, Maine-based private foundation she founded and has led since 2003. Catalyst’s full focus now is on Fambul Tok (which means “family talk” in Krio), the program Libby helped start in 2007 with renowned Sierra Leonean human rights activist John Caulker. Fambul Tok brings victims and perpetrators from Sierra Leone’s brutal 11-year civil war together for the first time in village-level, tradition-based ceremonies of truth-telling, apology and forgiveness. In the process, Fambul Tok reknits the war-torn community fabric, helping heal the wounds of war and build the foundations for sustainable peace and development. Now an international organization, Fambul Tok International has its corporate headquarters in Portland, where Libby serves as president, and it’s global program headquarters in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

Libby produced the award-winning documentary film, Fambul Tok, and is the lead author of the companion book of the same name (published by Umbrage Editions), both released in 2011. Her work now focuses on finding ways to help the world engage with the lessons of justice, forgiveness, and community restoration embodied by Fambul Tok.

A former Political Science professor at Principia College, Libby has been active in peacebuilding for 25 years in a variety of capacities—professor, trainer, facilitator, program director, consultant, and funder. She has a BA in Political Science from Williams College and an M.A.L.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She lives in Falmouth with her husband Seth Johnson, daughter Anna (11), and two sons, Caleb (21) and Gabe (19), who combine to guarantee that when she is not travelling, you can most likely find her at a soccer field or a hockey rink.

Scope of work:

• Brainstorm several options for set design in line with our event and TED style
• Assemble a set crew as needed
• Build the winning design off-site to be reassembled on stage the day prior to the event (Sept. 9, 2011)
• Organize the breakdown and recycling of the set the day after the event (Sept. 11, 2011)

The Ideal candidate will have:

• Passion about “Maine Ideas Worth Spreading” and TED Talks
• Professional experience in stage design and project management
• A solid understanding of contemporary design trends
• A resourceful mindset in order to minimize costs
• Strong work ethic and respect for deadlines
• A team player who can also work on their own
• A professional, friendly attitude

Expectations

• Work closely with the TEDxDirigo team
• Compliment the 2011 event theme and its associated visual system into set design.
• Meet with the TEDxDirigo team as needed leading up to the 9/10/11 event.

Benefits

• Work on a unique and high profile project
• Complimentary VIP admission to the event

Please submit a cover letter expressing why you would like to work on TEDxDirigo, a resume, and a link to your portfolio or examples of your work. Please submit these to adam@tedxdirigo.com by 12 midnight, Saturday, June 25, 2011. Follow-ups will occur promptly and be complete by Friday, July 8.

Scope of Work

• Brainstorm several options for the centerpiece TEDxDirigo 2011 graphic which will be the foundation of multiple branding pieces across several media
• Adapt the winning graphic consistently across said media: printed collateral, web graphics, environmental graphics and video/interstitial animations
• Art direct materials for our event including large scale posters, program books, name tags, and posters.
• Review final pieces after production and prior to release of piece to print vendors as needed.

The Ideal Candidate will have:

• Passion for “Maine Ideas Worth Spreading” and TED Talks
• 4+ years of relevant experience
• A strong portfolio that will WOW the viewer
• Fluent knowledge of all professional software (CS3 up)
• Strong work ethic and respect for deadlines
• A team player who can also work on their own
• A professional, friendly attitude

Expectations

• Work closely with Executive Director and Marketing Director
• Err on the side of over communication
• Meet with the TEDxDirigo team as needed leading up to the 9/10/11 event.
• Study up on TED branding rules

Benefits

• Work on a unique and high profile project
• Complimentary VIP admission to the event

Please submit a cover letter expressing why you would like to work on TEDxDirigo, a resume, and a link to your portfolio or examples of your work. Please submit these to adam@tedxdirigo.com by 12midnight, Saturday, June 25, 2011. Follow-ups will occur promptly and be complete by Friday, July 8.

The author of eight books of poetry, Jodie Hittle writes: "Innocence ends with language; the ability to tell a story; the power to construct a lie. And with it begins the painstaking and regrettable task of having to remember fact from fiction: a losing endeavor in which one must guard for the rest of his days against that inevitable moment of inattention when at last he stands exposed, saddled with the heavy deficit of deceit, naked and ashamed in the light of the truth." It’s the light of the truth found in the ordinary and the extraordinary that drives this award-winning poet to blacken pages with stories and observations about the human experience. He sums up his own life in a simple sonnet:

Just a whit within a moment I came
Of a union of two the same conceived:
Deaf and blind and without need of a name
In a world spawned from a climax achieved.
Each of us comes into being this way:
Limpid and lithe yet with tacit power;
Exacted a form as if carved from clay;
Enlivened as seed into a flower.

Having been vested this marvel of life—
Incomprehensible as it may be
To a soul too soon acquainted with strife—
I appreciate more now that I see:
My life began with neither debt nor cost;
Will end a whit within a moment lost.

An insurance professional for the past 21 years, Jodie moved to the US from England in 1979 at the age of nine, and has been writing poetry ever since. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Saco. His ninth collection of poetry will be published this fall.