New Delhi : The second edition of the conference is scheduled to be held on November 24, 2012 at Zorba in New Delhi. This conference is an effort to celebrate society. The second TEDx will have an interactive workshop session by various speakers for a maximum time limit of 18 minutes at the Amphitheatre at Zorba.

The Pioneers would speak on “What our society needs today, is balance and thus we are inviting speakers to tell us their stories of standing up, and standing out, by striking a balance.”

TED Active is a curated community of 700 curious and energetic leaders who share an immersive week of TEDTalks and experiences designed to inspire conversation, exchange and immediate action around ideas worth spreading.

Some of the confirmed speakers are:

1.            Dr Ashok Seth Padma Shri and currently Chairman – Cardiac Sciences at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute is one of the most recognized and respected Indian cardiologists across the globe. Over the past 20 years he has pioneered numerous angioplasty techniques for India and Asia Pacific region. His expertise, skills and his pioneering efforts in teaching and training in angioplasty have won him respect and accolades all across the world.

2.            Mr Bedabrata Pain is the inventor of the CMOS Image Sensor and also a film director, producer and screenwriter. Since 1993, he has been associated with NASA and concurrent with his NASA work, he taught courses on CMOS imaging at UCLA, and won several awards, including the Lew-Allen Award for Inventors.

3.            Mr Mandip Singh Soin is an adventure enthusiast and has devoted his life to developing India as an eco-tourism destination. He was recently awarded the Arjuna Award for Adventure -the Tenzing Norgay Lifetime Achievement National Award by the President of India.

4.            Mr Navyug Mohnot, CEO, QAI Global, is regarded as the face of the Quality movement in the IT industry. He quit his PhD in USA, where he went on a Fellowship after a BTech from IIT Delhi, to return to evangelize concepts which have enabled the Indian IT industry to be world class and upwards of a $50 billion industry. He was named byDataquest magazine as one of the 50 Leaders who have helped sculpt the IT industry and is recipient of the IIT Alumni Award for National development. A film buff, (he runs a Film Club), he is a design enthusiast and a keen amateur photographer.

5.            Dr Geeta Shroff is a stem cell researcher who has treated nearly 10,000 patients with her cutting edge work. She is the first individual in the world to develop an infinite number of pure human embryonic stem cells lines from using just one donated embryo. This is the first time she will be talking of her research in public.

6.            Mr Puneet Nanda is a designer by profession and was the chief designer and heir to the Satya Paul label. He quit all of it and is now waging a battle against Malaria. His aim and ambition in life is to eradicate Malaria and has been involved in the development of a path breaking (and organic) solution to it.

7.            Mr Tarun Khiwal is an engineer by qualification; Tarun fell in love with the art and colour from a very young age. He used a camera that was gifted to him and went on to make a career out of it. He has created a niche for himself; as he went on to win the Hasselblad Masters Award, the only Indian to be awarded this honour and numerous other accolades.

8.            Shri Nithya Shanti completed an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur and then worked in the corporate sector. Despite having a promising career, he was drawn to pursue his spiritual quest further. In 2002, he was ordained as a Buddhist Monk. He is now a spiritual teacher, seminar leader, writer and educator, committed to sharing practical wisdom teachings for happiness and enlightenment with people in a joyful and transformational way.

9.            Mr Satinder Juneja is the head of marketing at NIIT Technologies during the day and a photographer by evening and night. A creative thinker, Satinder has led teams that have built many brands in the country

10.          Mr Sujay Sanan is a young graphic designer par excellence and a rock climbing fanatic. Some of his designs are iconic and has travelled the world in pursuit for his passion. His designs meld the outdoors with graphics, to create a serene and aesthetic balance.

11.          Mr Rahul Verghese is a former senior business executive who now runs for a living. Rahul espouses the cause of fitness and running and has motivated thousands of Indians to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes running as a part of their daily schedule. His organization Running & Living is dedicated to spreading the word.

12.          Raghav Mandava is the founder of Cheese Monkey Mafia (CMM), the Delhi-based company that organises comedy events. Raghav dropped journalism to become a bartender and comedian, though he describes himself as a monarch on his Facebook profile.

The performers at the conference shall be:

1.            Susmit Sen is the founding member of Indian Ocean. Susmit has virtually invented a new style of playing the guitar, an uncannily Indian sound where purity of scale reigns, strong melodic lines woven around the drone of open strings. His guitar style forms the basis of Indian Ocean’s sound. Susmit’s personal vision is aimed towards finding a new vocabulary for his music. Susmit will lead his new band Susmit Sen Chronicles on stage at TEDx Knowledge City 2012

2.            Secret Weapon is a band led by the internationally acclaimed classical flautist Pt. Ajay Prasanna with Vidhi Sharma, who is the vocalist in the band. Pt. Ajay has collaborated with classical musicians such as Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Ustad Sultan Khan, etc. He has been a part of several international projects like Sting, Karsh Kale, etc.

3.            Vidhi Sharma started singing at the tender age of three and has received training in Hindustani classical music from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. Apart from solo performances, she has collaborated with renowned artists like Anup Jalota, Salim¬-Sulaiman, Kavita Seth, Kailash Kher, as well as various internationally acclaimed Indian classical fusion bands like Midival Punditz, Karsh Kale, Mrigya, Soul Samvad, Jannat, etc.

4.            Shubhendra Rao & Saskia Rao de Haas are a husband and wife duo that performs a jugal bandi of the sitar and cello. Shubhendra Rao is a disciple of the sitarist Pt. Ravi Shankar. He performed at the Dover Lane music festival in 2009. He has toured the United States of America, Canada, Europe, and many Asian nations.  Saskia Rao-de Haas is a virtuoso cellist and composer from the Netherlands and has enriched North Indian classical music with her Indian cello, and created a distinctive playing style on this unique instrument. As a composer, she is eminent at bridging the Western and Indian classical music traditions.

Date: 24th November 2012

Time: 2:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.

Venue: Zorba, 166 MG Road, Near Sultanpur Metro Station