Theme: Two Hands

This April, TEDxCasey will inspire you to believe in the impossible and delight you with stories of achievement on a local or global scale.
Bolstered by a theme of community empowerment, emblazoned as ‘Two Hands’, those taking the stage will offer a unique tale of mammoth success (or failure) or a trend-setting idea poised to affect real, positive change. And audience members will be there to witness all of it.

Bunjil Place
2 Patrick NE Dr
Narre Warren, Victoria, 3805
Australia

Amy Chu

Student

Learning from the 50% Amy and her partners Rhiann Thomas, Rakshitha Rao, and Jennifer Ding will be presenting the experiences of second generation Australians and how their extended families shape community views.

Bill Holmes

Engineer & Software Developer

Bill explores how a search for understanding helps to eliminate repeating failure. If failures requiring remedial work are allowed to fester and repeat within an organisation then valuable, finite resources are consumed. A feedback loop is seen in every type of enterprise. If faults are identified early, causes can be identified and eliminated so they do not reoccur. Labor is freed up to find and eliminate more flaws, thereby freeing up more labor. Elimination of repeating problems can only happen if the true causes of failure are treated. Too often we work on the symptoms or fail to understand the true causes and consequently waste our efforts on work that does not eliminate the problem. Bill has been working on an approach that progressively escalates the problem solving process that matches the problem to provide the most efficient and productive result. This virtuous feedback loop is at the heart of most improvement processes.

Danyal Diallo

16 year old Entrepreneur

Breaking the Stereotypes Danyal shares a powerful story of how the perceptions of others can shape our sense of self. He will share his journey of realisation that our own excuses hold us back from reaching our full potential.

Dheeren Velu

Artificial Intelligence Ambassador

Dheeren seeks to create a deep interest in the community about how AI can be leveraged to build positive solutions for the world. He specialises in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cognitive computing fields. Dheeren advises enterprises and organisations on adopting A.I. technologies to implement innovative and game-changing solutions, was a former IBM Watson AI Solutions Leader and a key contributor to some of the earliest large scale AI implementations in Australia. Dheeren was recently announced as the ICT Professional of the Year by ACS, recognising his contribution made to the Australian IT profession. Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems can automatically sense and understand their environment, reason, infer and take action in response. Recognising concerns related to privacy and safety, ethical issues and biases makes it’s essential to raise general public's awareness of AI. AI is a paradigm-changing technology that can solve previously unsolvable problems.

Evita March

Social Psychologist and Troll Inspector

Dr Evita March is a senior lecturer and researcher of psychology. Her research interests include interpersonal relationships, cyberpsychology and personality. Her focus is on personality traits that predict perpetration of online antisocial behaviours. Her work on predicting the personality traits and motivations of internet ‘trolls’ was an Australian first study, and she has received both national and international recognition for her research on Cyber Hate. Evita is also currently involved in projects exploring intimate partner cyber-stalking and the propensity for intimate partner violence. Evita believes that understanding traits that predict engaging in online antisocial behaviours is imperative for development of effective interventions and treatment. Through a series of research studies that explore predictors of antisocial online behaviour – in particular trolling she has developed an intervention and prevention program.

Farzana Qasimi

Student

The dark and light of social media The journey to surrounding ourselves with positivity and love online.

Henry Wu

Social Entrepreneur and Space Explorer

Henry will be taking us on a journey to space. Henry will explore the earthly possibilities of space and the impact on our daily lives. A young social entrepreneur on a mission to educate, engage and inspire the next generation of space pioneers in Australia. With the recent establishment of the Australian Space Agency and the development of the Australian space industry and community, it is important to help Australians be aware of the importance of space. There are stereotypes of space that need to be deconstructed, such as ‘space is only for people who like STEM’ or ‘space is a waste of money’. It is usually seen to be a ‘complex’ scientific discipline that requires a high level of knowledge. A fresh perspective in the midst of the ongoing development of space in Australia makes this topic unique. Space is a multi-disciplinary field, with a rising interest in the areas of space tourism and asteroid mining. We live in exciting times, where space is reachable for anyone.

Jakem Lippis

Student

The transformation of an outdated education system. Jakem and his partner Nicki Benza are talking about what lifeskills are and why they need to be an integral part of education in schools.

Jennifer Ding

Student

Learning from the 50% Jennifer and her partners Amy Chu, Rhiann Thomas and Rakshitha Rao will be presenting the experiences of second generation Australians and how their extended families shape community views.

Ken Cai

Year 12 Student

Ken Cai and his partner Saurabh Jhanjee will be talking about the challenges of Artificial Intelligence and the changing place of work in the lives of the next generation.

Lana Johnson

Facilitator with an Infectious Personality

An engaging facilitator, Lana Johnson, is driven by a fascination with building momentum for change and a desire for greater well-being for future generations. With 20 years experience in training, leadership development facilitation and speaking, she loves connecting with and engaging audiences. Lana has worked with over 35 organisations from micro businesses to large multi-nationals across a wide range of industries, from agriculture to manufacturing to professional services. She has addressed front-line blue collar workers, office staff, supervisors, senior leaders and boards. Lana would love to share her framework that brings together her experience of working with organisations across the disciplines of HR, strategy, change and leadership development.

Mark Carter

Value Guide

Paws and effect: How teddy bears can expand your value perception Value underpins the success of sustainable adoption in all ventures. Whether we are talking about your business, an initiative to impact the community, or your personal life, value is the key to the likelihood of success. So, what is value? Often people ‘perceive’ value based on specific or narrow filters, with which they live and experience their world. A simple way to explain it: try telling a vegetarian that eating meat is the way to go! The concept of educating, building and inspiring appreciation of value with others has its challenges. No one has enough words or wisdom to ‘tell’ anyone what the value of an idea is, or why they should adopt it, as every individual chooses and appreciates value for themselves. The way to engage people is to consciously ‘show’ them. This includes potentially showing them a completely fresh perspective they couldn’t appreciate through their usual filters.

Matthew Kent

Student

Good Man versus Real Man Matthew explains the reasons behind the terrible statistics around male suicide and provides insights on how men can take back control of their own identities.

Michaela Mulenga

Year 9 Student

Overcoming the stigma around mental illness. Michaela’s powerful talk is about ending the stigma around mental health and breaking the stigma around it.

Namira Rahman

Social Media Commentator

Attention schools! Social media can no longer be ignored. Namira will be talking about the intrusion of social media into life and why schools need to change their appraoch. It can no longer be ignored, it’s not going away and schools have a responsibility in helping students to be better equiped for the digital world.

Naomi Drego

Student

Intersectional Feminism and you. Naomi and her partner Priya Walker will be sharing with you what Intersectional Feminism is and why it is relevant to men and women in a way that old school feminism may not have been.

Nicki Benza

Student

The transformation of an outdated education system. Nicki and her partner Jakem Lippis are talking about what lifeskills are and why they need to be an integral part of education in schools.

Philippe Guichard

Industrial and Industrious Designer

Philippe is an Industrial Designer. His mission: to change the world one product at the time. Philippe designs for the Triple Bottom Line: people, planet, and profits. Four years ago, Philippe wanted to follow an International Designer that would talk about thoughtful design, the environment and social impact. He searched TED talks, and other platforms, in vain. He couldn’t see anyone. Then, suddenly, the weather changed and it changed the light in his office and he suddenly saw his face in the monitor. He was horrified -He is a self proclaimed introvert spending the last twenty years behind a computer. But the values Philippe has are beyond himself. So, he started training (toastmaster, Professional Speaker Australia) so that I could speak in front of an audience and more importantly to have an impact. Philippe’s talk will highlight opportunities do to better, be better and change the way we design and consume. To focus on what we can do, what we can change and what we build.

Pranav Mahajan

Entrepreur and University Student

How can data empower wellbeing? Pranav will be sharing his ambitious program to measure the unmeasurable and provide us all with a wellbeing index that blends ancient wisdom and modern science so that we can measure and then improve our holistic wellbein

Priya Walker

Student

Intersectional Feminism and you. Priya and her partner Naomi Drego will be sharing with you what Intersectional Feminism is and why it is relevant to men and women in a way that old school feminism may not have been.

Rakshitha Rao

Student

Learning from the 50% Rakshitha and her partners Amy Chu, Rhiann Thomas and Jennifer Ding will be presenting the experiences of second generation Australians and how their extended families shape community views.

Rhiann Thomas

Student

Learning from the 50% Rhiann and her partners Amy Chu, Rakshitha Rao, and Jennifer Ding will be presenting the experiences of second generation Australians and how their extended families shape community views.

Saurabh Jhanjee

Year 12 Student

Saurabh and his partner Ken Cai will be talking about the challenges of Artificial Intelligence and the changing place of work in the lives of the next generation.

Vicki Macdermid

Management Consultant and Horse Whisperer

Vicki has developed a unique program where she invites participants to engage with horses to understand trust, respect and being fully present. This approach coupled with experiential learning helps the individuals to develop their own ability to connect, ability to explore empathy and their own self-awareness. The horses have played a pivotal role in her personal life and has compelled Vicki to share the lessons learnt. It is our humanness and ability to adapt that will make the difference to Emotional Intelligence (EQ) for individuals, teams and organisations. Horses help us to recognise and build our individual, team and organisational EQ, accelerating the learning process and climbing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Adopting leaderful behaviours requires the ability to recognise what is important to others, the impact we have and how we can invite others to join us to achieve active participation. Engaging with horses demonstrates what real leadership looks (and feels) like.

Xingtong Huang

Student

Is beauty equal to happiness? Xingtong and her partner Yebin Yang will talk about the lie we’ve been sold by the media which tries to make us think that if only we were a bit more beautiful, a bit more fashionable, a bit more … we’d be happy. Instead they will explain how we need to disconnect that idea that beauty equals happiness and look at happiness from a whole new angle.

Yebin Yang

Student

Is beauty equal to happiness? Yebin and her partner Xingtong Huang will talk about the lie we’ve been sold by the media which tries to make us think that if only we were a bit more beautiful, a bit more fashionable, a bit more … we’d be happy. Instead they will explain how we need to disconnect that idea that beauty equals happiness and look at happiness from a whole new angle.