We believe that sharing ideas can change attitudes, lives, and ultimately our world.
In 2012, TEDxSpokane hosted a live event that featured 15 speakers. Our live audience and those who are viewing the videos online heard from professors, teachers, parents, students, administrators, artists and citizens as they shared their ideas under the banner theme “Creativity, Action and Service.” And, the audience continues to grow as people share links to the videos.
We are excited to continue to provide an opportunity for growth again this year through a license from TED to share and discuss ideas that help them grow and seek to improve our world. We’re reaching out to a select group of organizations that are committed to the power of ideas and asking them to partner to help make TEDxSpokane activities possible. TEDxSpokane is organized by people from Spokane and across the great Pacific Northwest.
Jamie Tender, Head of School at Saint George’s School, has always been a huge-fan of TED talks. In 2011, Jamie and the previous Head of School, Joe Kennedy, began making plans to bring a TEDx to Saint George’s School to share with the Spokane Community and thus his journey to start TEDxSpokane began. Before TEDxSpokane, Jamie licensed TEDxSaintGeorgesSchool as an educational opportunity for the students at Saint George’s. After attending TED Global 2012 in Scotland, Jamie was awarded a TEDx site license under the name of TEDxSpokane. Today, TEDxSpokane is an annual event held in Spokane and is organized by people from Saint George’s School, Spokane and across the great Pacific Northwest on a volunteer basis. For more information on our organizers, view their bios here.
For the first 5 years of the conference, Saint George’s School, a college prep and IB World School in North Spokane served as host and major contributor to the conference. In 2017 Jamie and the TEDxSpokane planning team felt it was necessary to grow the event, and started Northwest X Talks to become our own non-profit fiscal agent for the conferences. Northwest X Talks was incorporated as a non-profit in May of 2017. Our primary mission is to design, produce and support the annual TEDx Spokane conference. Northwest X Talks also may serve as an agent for other talks, speaker-series and other venues for “ideas worth spreading” as the organization sees the need or opportunity.
TEDxSpokane events have included:
2012 – TEDxSaintGeorgesSchool (pre-license): “Action, Ideas and Passion” hosted at Saint George’s School
2013 – TEDxSpokane: “Creativity, Action and Service” hosted at Saint George’s School
2014 – TEDxSpokane: “Connections and Intersections” hosted at Saint George’s School
2015 – TEDxSpokane: “Knowing it Again” hosted at Saint George’s School
2016 – TEDxSpokane: “Passion in Motion” hosted at Saint George’s School
2017 – TEDxSpokane: “Predictors and Prognosticator: The Future of the Future” hosted at The Bing.
2018 – TEDxSpokane: “Beyond Ourselves” hosted at The Bing.
2019 – TEDxSpokane: “Soul and Role” hosted at The Bing.
2020 – TEDxSpokane: "Seeds of Community" virtual
2021 – TEDxSpokane: "X"- TEDxSpokane Celebrates 10 Years. Hosted at The Bing.
2022 – TEDxSpokane: "Life in the Balance" hosted at The Bing.
2023 – TEDxSpokane: "Flourish" hosted at The Bing.