LEWISTON — Coke and Mentos performers EepyBird and a local architect promoting a server farm at Bates Mill No. 5 will be among the speakers featured at the TEDxDirigo:Villages.
The daylong event is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 20, at Bates College. People interested in attending should apply for an invitation on the Internet at http://tedxdirigo.com/request-an-invitation.
Once invited, attendance costs $100, but organizers do offer scholarships.
Speakers featured at the event include local architect Gabrielle Russell, Bates choreographer Rachel Boggia and EepyBird’s founders, Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz. In all, 15 speakers are scheduled to present.
The theme of the day is “Villages” and how modern people live in, shape and are shaped by their communities.TED is a global speaker series and conference program that began in Silicon Valley in 1984, spreading beyond California in the 1990s and 2000s. Today there are TED events — TED stands for “Technology Entertainment Design” — throughout the year and around the globe.
The TED organization also licenses smaller, local “TEDx” groups. TEDxDirigo, the Maine group, has been presenting local conferences for three years.
TED speakers are chosen for their ability to amaze and surprise an audience and are given 18 minutes to make their presentations. Most of the talks are recorded and made available on the Internet. Many are streamed live.
Architect Russell tried out for her spot this summer, when she gave a shortened version of her presentations at the Lewiston Public Library.
She’s championing a plan to use the massive saw-tooth-roofed Bates Mill No. 5 for a two-floor business. Lower floors would house a rows of computers in a massive server farm. Upper floors, lit by the slanted windows on the roof, could house a greenhouse and community farm. The facility could be powered by water from Lewiston’s canals.
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