FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2 October 2018

CONTACT: KAILA COLBIN
kaila@tedxchch.com
027 466 2530

Sharing Extraordinary Stories at TEDxChristchurch 2018: The Campfire

International educational disruptor Hamish Brewer and ActionStation Director Laura O'Connell Rapira head the list of the talented speakers taking the TEDxChristchurch stage this Saturday.

Key Points
• TEDxChristchurch 2018: The Campfire event is sold out
• People can watch via live stream or attend a public viewing party
• Next year’s event at the Christchurch Town Hall set to celebrate TEDxChristchurch’s 10-year anniversary

Christchurch, New Zealand—There’s a good chance you've heard of Hamish Brewer, the relentless, tattooed, skateboarding, Kiwi principal in Northern Virginia. With an approach that doesn't match the traditional vision of a school principal—incorporating innovative concepts like black light parties, deskless and audio-enhanced classrooms, and skateboard giveaways to empower his students—Hamish has become widely known as an educational disrupter who transcends the status quo and typical educational norms. This Saturday, Hamish is returning to Aotearoa to share his story with attendees of TEDxChristchurch 2018: The Campfire.

Among others, he’ll be sharing the stage with Laura O’Connell Rapira, another no-nonsense rebel with a cause. Like Hamish, Laura has used her work to empower youth to take charge of their shared future—this time in the local political arena—through co-founding Rock Enrol, acting as Director of Campaigns at ActionStation, and helping to create an online community of more than 180,000 like-minded members who participate in campaigns designed to drive a fairer, more just and sustainable Aotearoa.

Hamish and Laura are just two of the extraordinary speakers set to take the stage at TEDxChristchurch 2018: The Campfire, happening at The Piano this Saturday. Other carefully curated voices include teenage inventor Zach Preston, world champion freediver William Trubridge, Professor and Researcher Maggie-Lee Huckabee, father and son scientists Professors Anthony and Phil Butler, NZ Needle Exchange Programme Executive Director Kathryn Leafe, Professor of Political Science Alex Tan, and New Zealand Slam Poetry Champion Daisy Lavea-Timo.

Christchurch-based alt/pop and indie musical duo The Response round out entertainment on the day, and the whole show will be opened by the 50-voice strong Christchurch Pops Choir.

Similar to the TEDxChristchurch 2017: Unplug. Reconnect. event, this year’s experience is strikingly intimate, with only 320 attendees; the show is fully sold out. But the extraordinary line-up is accessible via live stream or at one of the many viewing parties happening around Christchurch and the South Island and listed on TEDxChristchurch.com.

The event’s partners, including Christchurch City Council, Computer Concepts Limited, Davis Ogilvie, creative partner Strategy Creative, and catering partner Richard Till, have all been active champions of the TEDxChristchurch platform for years, providing the foundation for ample flickers of awe, inspiration, and connection around The Campfire.

And despite being laser focused on Saturday’s event, the team is also ramping up for next year—at the newly restored Christchurch Town Hall—as TEDxChristchurch celebrates its tenth year of sharing ideas worth spreading.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/tedxchristchurch
Twitter: www.twitter.com/tedxchch
Instagram: www.instagram.com/tedxchristchurch

Hamish Brewer
Hamish is a Virginia-based educator and father of four who is known as an educational disrupter transcending the status quo and typical educational norms. He’s garnered much recognition for having a positive impact on education in the United States, and with a huge number of awards, an appearance in documentary Humanity Stoked, and more than 28 million views of his story all under his belt.

Laura O'Connell Rapira
Laura O'Connell Rapira (Te Ātiawa, Ngāpuhi, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Whakaue) is the Director of ActionStation, an independent, crowdfunded community campaigning organisation representing over 180,000 New Zealanders acting together to create what we cannot achieve on our own: a society, economy and democracy that serves everyday people and Papatūānuku (Earth Mother). She is also the Co-Founder of RockEnrol, a volunteer-powered organisation dedicated to activating the political power of young people.

Zach Preston
Zach is an engineering student at the University of Canterbury and a keen teenage innovator who founded Sentinel Water: an eco-tech startup that aims to reimagine how tanked water supplies are managed sustainably and effectively.

William Trubridge
William Trubridge is one of the world's premier free divers. In 2010 he became the first human to descend to 100m (330 feet) during Project Hector, an event aimed at bringing awareness to the plight of New Zealand's critically endangered Hector's and Maui's Dolphins species. William also holds the world record in Free Immersion, with 124m (406 feet), set at Vertical Blue in May 2016.

Maggie-Lee Huckabee
Professor Maggie-Lee Huckabee practiced as a clinician for 13 years before the frustration of never knowing ‘the answers’ led her to an academic career. She is now Professor in the Department of Communication Disorders at the University of Canterbury and Director of the UC Rose Centre for Stroke Recovery and Research in Christchurch.

Phil Butler
Professor Phil Butler is CEO and founder of MARS Bioimaging Ltd, a company formed to commercialise spectral imaging technology. He is an internationally respected and well-published mathematical physicist—with over 116 publications during his 40 years as a researcher—and currently holds the highest h-index ranking at the University of Canterbury.

Anthony Butler
Professor Anthony Butler is a radiologist with an interest in developing new imaging technologies. He is a clinical radiologist at the Canterbury District Health Board, Head of the Department of Radiology and Director of the Centre for Bioengineering at the University of Otago, member of a number of projects at CERN, a researcher in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Canterbury, and one of the founders of MARS Bioimaging Ltd.

Kathryn Leafe
Kathryn Leafe is the Executive Director at the NZ Needle Exchange Programme. She has over 20 years’ experience working in drug and alcohol services at a national level in the UK and NZ, as well as at an international level with organizations like UNODC - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Currently, she sits on the Board of Directors of the International Drug Policy Consortium and is a member of the Mental Health and Addiction SLA for the South Island DHB Alliance.

Alex Tan
Professor Alex Tan is Head of Department and Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury. He is also an Honorary Professor of the NZ Defence Force Command and Staff College, an Associate Director of the The New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre, a Senior Fellow of the University of Nottingham China Policy Institute in the UK, a Fellow of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies in the US, and University Chair Professor of Political Science (adjunct) at National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

Daisy Lavea-Timo
Daisy Lavea-Timo is a poet, rugby league prop and producer. Crowned as the current New Zealand Slam Poetry Champion, Daisy explores what it means to be a straddler of worlds: a kiwi-born, fluent-Samoan speaking and traditional tattoo-wielding Matai/Chief.

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