Challenge The Echo Chamber by Adam Greenwood

Challenge The Echo Chamber | Adam Greenwood

Imagine a world where you truly believed that everybody agreed with you about everything. Imagine a world where people with different opinions to you on politics, religion, sport etc simply could not be seen or heard.

With algorithms deciding who we see, meet and hear online, this is becoming a reality. And it won’t be long until this reality moves into the real world…

Award-winning agency founder Adam Greenwood implores us to break out of the echo chamber and engage with ideas that we might not encounter on our carefully curated social media feeds. Doing so may just make the world a more human place!

You can find Adam on Twitter and LinkedIn. Read his original TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells 2019 Speaker profile here.


The Invisible Victims Of Crime by Michelle Raymond

The Invisible Victims Of Crime | Michelle Raymond

When a crime hits the headlines, a light is shone on the perpetrator, their victim, and sometimes even the surrounding community. The motivations of the criminal, the suffering of their accuser, the reactions of neighbours and community leaders: these all receive publicity ensuring the world knows their story. What isn't so readily known is how all that publicity affects the perpetrator's family, and the forgotten victims of crime that it creates.

Michelle Raymond shares her story of the time she spent married to a man accused of some of the most heinous crimes imaginable, and how she became the indirect victim of his crimes through publicity and stigma. For every crime there is a sprawling network of hidden victims who will never have an opportunity to find vindication in court. Michelle's story is a striking reminder not to forget them.

You can find Michelle on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Read her original TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells 2019 Speaker profile here.


Rhythm & Blues by Rob Picazo

Rhythm & Blues | Rob Picazo

Rob Picazo is a Rhythm & Blues singer and guitarist born in Madrid and based in the South East of England. He combines soulful vocals, relatable lyrics and bluesy melodies, all the while influenced by great Soul and Blues performers such as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Dan Penn. Following a two month trip through the South of the US, filming a documentary about roots music, Rob has played in popular venues throughout Sussex, Kent and London, and opened for great artists such as Gwyn Ashton, Brooks Williams, Martin Harley and Dom Pipkin. His first album, Spanish Moss, was released to acclaim on the 29th of September 2017.

You can find Rob on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as well as his website. Read his original TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells 2019 Speaker profile here.


3 Seconds And 2 Ears For 1 Name by Matthew Whitfield

3 Seconds And 2 Ears For 1 Name | Matthew Whitfield

Why are our listening skills so poor? What would we wish for if we could really listen? Why are we all so bad at remembering names? What are the 3 things do you need to know to become a "name ninja", and be that person known for being awesome at remembering everyones name?

Fighter pilot and self-proclaimed Name Ninja, Matthew Whitfield, shares 3 sure-fire tips for remembering names, starting with introducing yourself properly, then listening and using a person's name when you are introduced.

You can find Matthew on Twitter. Read his original TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells 2019 Speaker profile here.


Leishmaniasis: A Love Letter To A Flesh Eating Parasite by Pip Stewart

Leishmaniasis: A Love Letter To A Flesh Eating Parasite | Pip Stewart

Journalist, poet and presenter Pip Stewart found herself in a relationship with a flesh-eating parasite, leishmaniasis, after a world-first, 2.5 month, paddling expedition through dense Amazon jungle. A firm believer that everyone, and everything, can teach you something, Pip advocates the power of listening to achieve genuine, meaningful connection to better understand yourself, others and the natural world around you. In this TEDx talk, she educates us about flesh-eating parasite that plagues many people around the world and encourages us to find compassion for the plights of others.

You can find Pip on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Read her original TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells 2019 Speaker profile here.


Culture Before Curriculum by Andrew Hammond

Culture Before Curriculum | Andrew Hammond

Our children are more than the sum of their school grades. Behind every GCSE or SATs result lies a whole person with incalculable, untapped potential and myriad facets and capacities just waiting to be discovered. The only limits on our potential are the self-prophesying myths peddled in school about our learning abilities, our intelligence and our capacity to make progress. What a child shows she knows in school is not an accurate measure of her lifelong learning ability or her human potential. Schools are for growing minds but nothing stifles growth like ranking or grading.

Head teacher Andrew Hammond believes that it’s not how smart you are that counts, it is how you are smart and makes a case for redesigning our schools so that our children can pursue their natural inclinations and in so doing, find their self-worth.   

You can find Andrew on Twitter and learn more about him on his website. Read his original TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells 2019 Speaker profile here.


Fire & Water: The Value of Control Amid Chaos by Chris Williams & Max Thorpe

Fire & Water: The Value of Control Amid Chaos | Chris Williams & Max Thorpe

What are the most important tools in the game of life? Max Thorpe and Chris Williams argue that grit – the ability to persevere through difficulty - and resilience - the ability to rise after you fall – are the critical and defining characteristics of personal growth and human progress. Drawing on their near-death experience when rowing across the Atlantic Ocean – regarded as the most dramatic and perilous sequence of events in ocean rowing history – they offer clarity on how just a few simple steps can help you discover and engage these traits, enabling you to create, innovate, endure, and achieve more than you ever thought was possible.

You can find Max on Instagram, Chris on Instagram, and the two of them together on Instagram. Read their original TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells 2019 Speaker profile here.


This Is Us Inclusive Youth Dance by This Is Us Youth Dance Company

This Is Us Inclusive Youth Dance | This Is Us Youth Dance Company

This Is Us Youth Dance Company are an inclusive company that have been based at Bishops Down Primary for almost three years. Their Inclusive class is open to anybody who loves or wants to dance and be creative and currently include dancers between the ages of 6-14. Their performance at TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells encourages us to let the joy of dance move our limbs and warm our hearts.

You can find This Is Us on their website, Facebook and Instagram. Read their original TEDxRoyalTunbridgeWells 2019 Speaker profile here.


How to be Remembered by Dana Denis-Smith

How To Be Remembered | Dana Denis-Smith

To the question, 'Who are you?', you might be able to answer it in a few words. However, what about your children or perfect strangers in the future? How will they remember you? Help them remember the person you are by building your own biography proactively, now. If you want to be remembered, make sure to leave behind a box of memories to help history make sense of your life.

Founder of the First 100 Years Project, a ground-breaking history project that is putting women back in their place, by charting the journey of the women working in law since 1919. Celebrating these women and the progress of women in law is only possible with facts, such as names, dates, and cases; otherwise, she explains, history is simply analysis and opinion. Dana shows how looking at the past is both enriching and grounding, as well as a great place to learn how to shape the future.

Getting Legless by Lance Corporal Cassidy Little

Getting Legless | Lance Corporal Cassidy Little

Cassidy Little, former Royal Marine Commando, talks about his journey up to the present, in 3 chapters. Ballet, War and recovery. All this to discover his 5 key themes to guide anyone through life.

A veteran and winner of The People's Strictly Come Dancing. Cassidy will be talking about resilience and cheerfulness in the face of undeniable adversity. “Pride. Determination. Aggression. Resilience. Cheerful in the face of adversity.” @Bears_eat_oats

Life Discovery by Dame Kelly Holmes

Life Discovery | Dame Kelly Holmes

Dame Kelly admits to being obsessed and driven by success and is motivated in providing inspiration to others to achieve their own goals in life.

Dame Kelly Holmes won two Gold Medals at Athens Olympics in 2004 for the 800m and 1500m cementing her place in history as the first women ever in Great Britain to win two gold medals at the same games. Having served in the military she was awarded an MBE for her services to the British Army in 1998 and was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 2005 for her services to sport.

In 2008 Kelly founded and is now President of The Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, which helps disadvantaged young people in the UK. Kelly opened a her own coffeehouse in her hometown of Hildenborough in December 2014 which is named Café 1809,(pronounced one eight oh nine) after the Olympic race number worn in Athens.

The Importance of a Hug by Polly Taylor BEM

The Importance Of A Hug | Polly Taylor BEM

Cancer certainly helped me discover how valuable life and time are and also taught me the importance of giving time to others. Giving time with love and hugs is very rewarding and healing to one's own wellbeing.

Founder and force behind the Pickering Cancer Centre. Polly calls herself old-fashioned and believes that time is the most important gift that you can give a person. When that time pairs with a smile and laughter, all the better. When that person has cancer, or is supporting someone who has cancer, time and a smile have the power to change a lifetime of memories. Polly shares her vision and her reasons for creating a place for cancer patients to talk.

Using Family to Facilitate Discovery by Louis King-Cox & Adrian King-Cox

Using Family To Facilitate Discovery | Louis King-Cox & Adrian King-Cox

Father and son Adrian and Louis King-Cox tell a story of discovery and friendship made possible through a strong familial bond. Exploring how this relationship forms and the benefits of such a dynamic.

Father and son, son and father. They are growing up together, expanding their music and artistic tastes and learning about each other along the way.

Father and son, son and father. They are growing up together, expanding their music and artistic tastes and learning about each other along the way.

Queen of Dialysis: What Happened Next by Maddy Warren

Queen Of Dialysis: What Happened Next | Maddy Warren

Maddy Warren has kept herself alive every night on home dialysis since 1997. In her second visit to TEDx RTW she talks more about how relying on life support has made her steadfastly positive and a firm believer that anything is possible; driving her to champion change in the world of dialysis and kidney care.

The return of Maddy Warren, Queen of Dialysis. Maddy our well-loved previous speaker will be coming back to share a bit about what has happened to her since the last time she was on stage with us.

The Other Side of Syria by Lara Khalaf

The Other Side Of Syria | Lara Khalaf

Why is some people's assumption of Syria so ingrained? should we be thinking more about Syrians? in this talk we celebrate the Syrian’s contribution to the world in the face of adversity. This intimate account by Lara Khalaf tells her story of arriving in the UK without speaking the language, through to becoming a Leadership Coach and Customer Experience Expert. 

Lara Khalaf, a Syrian woman and resident of the UK for over 13 years who now finds herself in a fascinating socio-cultural juxtaposition with the refugee men of Syria that are now reaching out to her for help.

The Fall and Rise of a Gambling Addict by Justyn Rees Larcombe

The Fall And Rise Of A Gambling Addict | Justyn Rees Larcombe

This is a shocking story of how a free £5 bet led to a full blown addiction to online gambling. How someone who had it all could loose everything, including his job, his family and his home and then find hope and restoration.

Justyn Rees Larcombe had everything. Highly successful fast-track career. Beautiful wife and three sons. Having lost it all through a relentless addiction to online gambling, he is now campaigning for education and a change in laws, and shares his wisdom for those who may be struggling with secret habits, compulsions and additions of all types.

This Talk Isn’t Very Good. Dancing With My Inner Critic by Steve Chapman

This Talk Isn’t Very Good. Dancing With My Inner Critic | Steve Chapman

Steve Chapman shines a light on his inner critic - that whisper in his ear that constantly tells him he isn’t good enough and that he should never try anything new or risk making a fool of himself.

Steve tells the story of how a personal experience of failure led him to begin an MI5 style investigation into his inner critic and how he has used a variety of experimental and creative means to learn to dance with it, rather than do battle with it. 

Explores the deeper recesses of personality, and talks about his relationship with his own ‘inner critic’ and self-doubt. Using creative practices, gestalt principles and mask work, he shows us that our identity and sense of self isn’t as fixed as we may believe. By learning to dance with his inner critic, rather than fight it, he has been able to notice and understand things he wasn't aware of, and in doing so, liberate more of his own creative ambitions.

Interior Design is About More Than Wallpaper and Bean Bags by Phoebe Oldrey

Interior Design is About More Than Wallpaper and Bean Bags | Phoebe Oldrey

All too often Interior Design is feed to us as a frivolous art of cushions and seasonal trends but could there be a hidden power to make our lives better Physically, Emotionally and Visually? Interior Designer Phoebe Oldrey shares the power of Interior spaces to shape our emotions and her passion for designing for the people who use those spaces.

Phoebe Oldrey an interior designer who wants to remind us to think less about the beanbags and the pretty things, and discover more about the layout of spaces and the impact that has on productivity and wellbeing.

Angel of the Dump - a Story of Courageous Love by Jane Walker MBE

Angel of the Dump - a Story of Courageous Love | Jane Walker MBE

Jane Walker MBE describes her incredible journey from a homeless teenager to a successful social entrepreneur. Jane founded PCF (p-c-f.org), providing life changing services for child workers and innovative livelihood projects that upskill the community and recycle waste into handmade products. 

In 2002, Jane Walker started two charities, one in the UK to raise funds for a charity she started in the Philippines. Jane has developed highly successful poverty reduction programs for disenfranchised communities in some of the worst slums in Manila. Following her fantastic work, she was awarded an MBE in 2009 and won the Woman of the Year UK award in 2010. When the charity established local financial support, Jane handed over the day to day management of the Philippine charity in 2015 to the local board of trustees and CEO. Jane and her team turned their attention to the UK, where Jane is the CEO for the Purple Community Fund, a charity that provides social enterprise projects for socially vulnerable people living in the UK and internationally. She continues to support and work with PCF Philippines and has expanded the international arm of the charity to work in Pakistan and Tanzania.

What Happens When You Take Someone at Face Value? by Henry Rose Lee

What Happens When You Take Someone at Face Value? | Henry Rose Lee

Henry Rose Lee is an expert in being Faceblind. This has meant that her inability to recognise faces has given her powerful techniques to compensate, that non-faceblind people can develop too.

To really get to the heart of someone’s communication, even when they’re trying to hide the truth, Henry Rose Lee shares what you can do.

A true headliner in her life of everyday discovery. Ten years ago, Henry learned she was “face blind”, and cannot recognise people she knows by their facial features...not even her husband. It has taught her a lot about how to see people in other ways, and getting to the heart of what really matters for them.