Theme: Half-Empty or Half-Filled ?

It has been believed that the perspective of a person is the key tool to shape the future. Since the culmination of your life, until you stop in your race, a person has to take a lot of decisions about the future to be built. And each of this decision is associated with your perspective to look at the current situation.
With TEDxSITB we are aiming to bring forth the crafted leaders, hustling artists, and visionary philanthropists who live to the fullest with our theme for this year: Half Empty or Half Filled?
This age-old adage reflects the way one should build their perspective. In this expanding world of opportunities, we are being presented with thousands of options to deal with a conflict or a situation, but most of us often end up with a path which is not satisfactory to ourselves or at the worst, leaves us with a thought that we took a wrong decision.
With this year's annual event, we are setting up the stage for those legendary examples who have built their success fort with lots of trial and error, finally making them the perfect example of a true leader and a humble human. It is their vision which is going to guide you in a clear path, save you from falling to the pits, and make you more refined and polished.

Silicon Institute of Technology
Silicon Hills, Patia, In-front of DLF-Cybercity.
Bhubaneswar, Orissa, 751024
India

Alokesh Sinha

Standup Comedian

Mr. Alokesh Sinha is one of the comics who started the comedy scene in Bhubaneswar and upgraded the comedy scene of Bhubaneswar from tier three city to tier two city. In the present day, it has become one of the most preferred places for any comic to try and test their material. He co-founded Comedy Highway, and was in the top 100 of the Great Indian Laughter Challenge and also was one amongst only 13 people who got selected from the whole east and northeastern zone for the mega auditions. He has done more than 75 shows and had performed at Dot Festival, Odisha. He has opened for a lot of comics that include popular faces of Indian Comedy. He has been to various places with his Standup solo Nanha Mard. Recently, he has delivered his standup comedy bit at Habitat, Mumbai, a venue where all the known comics have recorded their sets and launched their career in standup comedy.

Arfi Lamba

Actor, Producer, Humanist

Arfi Lamba is an Indian-born actor, producer, entertainer, philosopher, and humanist who has appeared in films, television shows, theatre productions, and television commercials. His acting debut on screen came in 2008 with the film Slumdog Millionaire. After being told that actors are just made if you have connections and not just from scratch; he firmly kept believing that if you have a dream and work on it as much as you can, opportunities will start flowing in; but dreams of those come true who’ve learned to dream without failure. With this, he has won the Best Actor award for his movie “The Idiot” at the 3rd Lake City International Film Festival along with the “Udyod Rattan Award” titled as the Best Entrepreneur for his production house Bombay Berlin Film Productions.

Rajesh Prabhakar Patil

Director, Special Projects, Government of Odisha

Mr. Rajesh Patil is an Odisha cadre IAS officer with over 12 years of experience in Indian Administrative Service. He has spearheaded many landmark initiatives of which the successful rescue and rehabilitation during the 2008 flooding of Mahanadi River & 2013 Cyclone Phailin, peaceful interventions to resolve tribal, non-tribal conflicts, a revolutionary ‘Ready to Eat’ food program for preschoolers and ‘Mu Bhi Padhibi’ i.e. “I will read too’ for out-of-school children in Odisha. Some of the noteworthy awards he has received are the President’s Award for Outstanding work in the rehabilitation of Persons With Disabilities (2014), the Prime Minister’s Award for excellence in MGNREGA implementation in Mayurbhanj district (2014-15), National Award for excellence in the promotion of solar-based drinking water system (2015-2016), Chief Minister’s Award for Excellence & Innovation in Governance and Public Service Delivery (2015 & 2016).

Vidisha Kandoi

Founder, We The Foodies & Food Expert

Vidisha Kandoi is an MBA graduate in urban management and governance from XUB University. She is an entrepreneur, leader along with a very good cook. After completion of Masters, Miss Kandoi then entered her baby steps into the Food & Beverages Industry and started a café named WTF-We The Foodies in the year 2018. Being a girl to dream big about her passion for food at a very early age, to stepping forward in such an industry where competition and competitors are rapidly increasing, it really is a success of its own kind for her. With her continued efforts, strong will power and dedication her cafe WTF-We The Foodies is now a renowned café in Odisha which is a go-to place for all. Not only that the café has extended its wings to the home catering and specialized lunch box system, but also offers the exclusive Molecular Gastronomy menu for the first time in Odisha.

Vijay Mahajan

CEO (Rajiv Gandhi Foundation)

Mr. Vijay Mahajan is an internationally known Indian rural development professional, social entrepreneur, and a policy analyst. He is the founder of reputed organizations such as the Pradan NGO and the Basix Social Enterprise Group. He has published over 20 papers in prestigious Indian and international journals, contributed chapters in 15 academic books and has authored over 70 papers/articles in the area of rural development, livelihood promotion and employment, microfinance, financial inclusion, social innovations, and entrepreneurship. With this he has also been listed in “60 Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs” at the World Economic Forum, Davos, 2002, "India's 50 Most Powerful People" by BusinessWeek, 2009 and among "the twenty people who will reform India during this decade", by the Indian Express, 2011. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi and was a mid-career Fellow at Princeton University, USA.