Falveyisfirst chosenspeaker forTEDxtalk
IRISH high-altitude mountaineer, author and motivational speaker Pat Falvey has achieved many ‘firsts’ and now he can tick another off his list as he is the first confirmed speaker for Wexford’s inaugural TEDx talk.
The Cork-born man has been chosen to give a speech under the theme ‘ Tomorrow Imagined’ at the first TEDx talk to be held in the Southeast. He will join four other speakers on September 23 in Wexford Arts Centre, where he will make a motivational speech in front of an audience.
As the first climber from the Republic of Ireland to reach the summit of Mount Everest and the first in the world to complete the Seven Summits twice, he has plenty of inspirational experience to draw upon. He was also expedition leader of the team that saw Dr Clare O’Leary become the first Irish woman to reach the summit of Everest and has written several books about his life.
TED is a non-profit initiative that is devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, inspirational talks. The TEDx events are independently run talks based on the same concept which help to share ideas across the globe.
TEDx talks have already been organised in Dublin, Cork, Galway and other counties but it was not until this year that the idea to bring it to Wexford came about. After years of following the TED talks online, local entrepreneur and head of Wexford Hour and the Wexford Women in Business Network Denise Whitmore got the ball rolling on bringing it to the Southeast.
‘Bringing it here puts Wexford on the map in relation to cultural diversity,’ explained Killinick-born Denise, who runs her own company the Social Media Department. ‘It’s a big deal for Wexford as we are the first to hold one in the Southeast.’
‘We are aiming for a wide variety of topics for the event. If nothing else, it will broaden the horizons of anyone who comes along to it.’
Four more speakers will be chosen to talk part and the clock is ticking as the closing date is August 15. Budding participants are asked to send in a one minute video outlining their idea, which can be about anything, as long as it falls under the theme ‘ Tomorrow Imagined’.
The chosen participants will receive public speaking coaching before they are tasked with making their eight to 20 minute speech in front of their Wexford audience.
A full-line up will be announced in the coming weeks. In the meantime, people are being encouraged to send in their videos to speakers@ tedxwexford.ie.