If you’re interested in volunteering for TEDxPhoenix and would like to join us, please fill out the volunteer form located on the TEDxPhoenix Volunteer Page (if you haven’t done so already).

On the volunteer form, please indicate if you will be “attending”, or “not-attending” if you can’t make the town hall but would still like to be considered for any remaining volunteer positions.

Volunteer Town Hall Details:

Date: Wednesday, June 9th 2010
Time: 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Place: ASU Memorial Union, Tempe AZ
Room: Memorial Union Room #226 (Graham) – Second Floor

Parking Details:

Metered parking is available at ASU. The meters are in effect until 7:00 PM, and are free to use after 7:00 PM so bring some quarters for the half hour or so of paid parking that you will incur.

One section of metered parking is available on Gammage Pkwy and South Forrest Avenue near the Gammage Auditorium — finding your way to the Memorial Union is shown in the map below:

The other section of metered parking can be found on the east side of the bookstore — finding your way from these metered parking spots is shown below:

Visiting ASU via Light Rail:

There are several light rail stops along ASU, with the two closest to the Memorial Union being the University Drive & Rural Road stop, and the Veterans Way & College Ave stop. Please keep in mind that both stops are more than half a mile from the Memorial Union, so please plan accordingly.

We’ll be sharing several announcements during the town hall, so please try to make it if you can.

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

You may be wondering what the heck the above image has to do with volunteers or TEDxPhoenix. Well, it’s actually a teaser of the new branding and theme for this year’s TEDxPhoenix event that is being created by none other than Safwat Saleem, TEDxPhoenix’s new Art Director.

Safwat was also a volunteer for our 2009 event, and it’s about time that we give all our 2009 volunteers a much deserved and well overdue Thank You for all the work and time they put into making the 2009 event a success. Volunteers are the lifeblood of TEDxPhoenix, and we would be in a world of hurt without their help.

So without further ado, we would like to thank the 2009 TEDxPhoenix Volunteers for all their support and hard work!

1. Sally Baker – Publicity Crew
2. Anne Watson Barber – Volunteer
3. Tomas Carrillo – Curator
4. Perri Collins – Volunteer
5. Robert Curry – Volunteer
6. Wardah Jamil – Producer / Director
7. Glenn Jimerson – Publicity Crew
8. Jana L. Knapp – Project Manager
9. Todd Landfried – Volunteer
10. Sharon Aponte Misdea – Volunteer
11. Tyler Rives – Publicity Crew
12. Susan Rubin – Venue Liason
13. Safwat Saleem – Volunteer
14. Prasad Shetty – Volunteer

We would also like to thank our advisors — also lovingly known as our village elders as they were the ones we pinged whenever we needed some solid advice and wisdom.

• Rene Gutel
• Brian Shaler
• Hans
• Pam Slim

It was incredible to see what the volunteers were able to accomplish in a few short months, and we hope that you will take a moment to give them all a ‘virtual’ pat on the back and a fist bump for all their efforts.

By the way, we’re also putting a call out for volunteers for our 2010 event in November — if you’re interested in volunteering, then please let us know via our TEDxPhoenix Volunteer Form as soon as possible. The sooner you let us know, the better, as we will be announcing our upcoming Volunteer Town Hall in the next few days so stay tuned!

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

 
We spent our Saturday with an awesome group of designers, coders, and copywriters this weekend and wanted to share some of the ideas behind the get together.

The TEDxPhoenix website is undergoing a redesign as a part of Dojo Collective’s Rapid Rebrand project.

To Profit the Non-Profits

Rapid Rebrand is part of Dojo Collective’s efforts to assist businesses and organizations with building or improving their web and print presence through assistance with branding, logo, website design and development, and development of print materials.

The project is generally limited to support of non-profit businesses in the Phoenix area that do not have a budget for professional design work. Dojo works with a team of volunteers with varying professional skills in order to complete these projects.

Each month, a non-profit is selected to participate in the initiative based on recommendation and need. Work is performed during an intensive one-day session to enhance the collaborative efforts and provide an opportunity for the volunteers to engage with other professionals in a friendly atmosphere.

 
We’ve uploaded some pics from the event to our TEDxPhoenix Flickr page and invite you to drop on by and check out the fun had by all those who dedicated their time and energy to the redesign. We would especially like to thank:

• @bullybully32
• @markdudlik
• @crickettcooks
• @clowerpower
• @srostohar
• @nicktryan
• @courdek

The redesign will be complete in approximately a week’s time and we’ll be sure to let everyone know when the new site theme is ready!

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

Hey TED fans living in the Phoenix-metro area, we’re working on a big project and would love to hear about your personal TED stories. More specifically, we want to know how TED has inspired you and/or changed your life.

It doesn’t have to be a long or detailed story, and just a few words will suffice if you’re pressed for time.

If you have a TED story to share, please get it to us by…

1. Emailing it to us at info@tedxphoenix.com
2. Submitting it to us via the TEDxPhoenix Contact Form
3. Leave it in a comment below (that is if you don’t mind to sharing it publicly)
4. Leave a comment on our Facebook page

We’ll be sharing more details on the project in the weeks to come, and appreciate all your help. Also, we would appreciate your help in spreading the word on this request, so feel free to retweet via Twitter and give us a thumbs up on Facebook.

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

photo credit: Tomas Carrillo / CC BY-SA 2.0

TEDxPhoenix 2009 will be taking place at the Mesa Art Center, and here are two easy ways to get there.

Getting to the Mesa Arts Center by Car

 
The Mesa Arts Center is located at 1 East Main Street in Mesa, which puts you smack dab in the middle of Downtown Mesa.

We have created a handy Google Map (embedded below) that you can use to get driving directions to the Mesa Arts Center, as well as find parking near the MAC.

By the way, the awesome folks at the MAC were gracious enough to provide free parking for TEDxPhoenix attendees, but it never hurts to make sure that the parking lot you’re using is indeed free.

View Mesa Arts Center Parking in a larger map
(Feed subscribers, please visit the site if the map doesn’t appear.)

Getting to the MAC by Foot, Bike, Bus, and METRO Light Rail

 
For those public transport aficionados who would like to be green, there are several ways to get to the Mesa Arts Center and we’ve highlighted two of the more popular ways below.

BY BUS: To get to the MAC by bus, you want to make your way to Bus Route 40 – Main/Apache which runs between the Superstition Springs Park-and-Ride and Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport — the route also has a stop at the Mesa Arts Center along the way.

BY METRO LIGHT RAIL + LINK: Although the METRO Light Rail stops a few blocks short of the Mesa Arts Center, it does drop you off at the Sycamore/Main St Transit Center which is a major hub for numerous bus routes including the aforementioned Bus Route 40 and the Valley Metro LINK. What makes the LINK special is that it has traffic signal priority, meaning that stoplights wait to turn red until it passes. The LINK also runs a streamlined route from the Sycamore Transit Center to the Superstition Springs Park-and-Ride.

**Schedules for the LINK and Bus Route 40 can be found at the links included above.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone this Friday at TEDxPhoenix 2009, and don’t forget to buy your tickets if you haven’t done so already!

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

Tickets are $5.00 each and can be purchased in person, over the phone, or online:

Buy Your Tickets Here!

Please note that the Mesa Arts Center as well as many other online ticket services tacks on a $2.50 convenience fee which we have attempted to offset by providing free parking in the Mesa Arts Center’s paid parking lots. Also know that you can purchase your tickets in person at the MAC for $5.00 sans the convenience fee as well.

Why Charge For Tickets?

The reason we’re charging for tickets is to help offset the event costs incurred by the TEDxPhoenix organizing committee. As we’ve mentioned before, TEDxPhoenix is a not-for-profit event and we’re making a total of $0.00 off this event. We’re also on the lookout for sponsors who want to play a part in the creation of a community focused on leveraging ideas, technologies, design and education to help create a better future and fuel a local and global conversation around awareness and change.

We hope you will help make our first event a success by joining us on Friday, November 6th 2009 from 6pm to 9pm at the Mesa Arts Center, and feel free to leave any questions you may have in the comments below.

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

I want you to know that I hate spam as much as anyone else, and I did not get your information from any local not-for-profit events in the Valley. The email list that was used came from my personal interaction with individuals that I believed would be interested in the TEDxPhoenix concept, but in hindsight I understand how some of you may not have been happy to see the note in your inbox.

Please understand that the email was solely for informational purposes; I did not buy or sell your information, nor did I pass it along to anyone else. Also, you will not be receiving any notifications from me in the future regarding TEDxPhoenix, and we have permanently eliminated the database that contains your email.

In regards to your privacy, we express deep regret for any issues or concerns this may have caused you and please rest assured that we’ve taken the proper measures to ensure that your information is secure and no longer available to our mailing lists.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me personally at tomas@tedxphoenix.com.

Sincerely,
Tomas Carrillo
TEDxPhoenix Organizer

 
In the end, we had a total of 318 votes with the Mesa Arts Center taking 76% of the votes to officially become the venue for TEDxPhoenix’s 2009 Fall event. We’re currently working with the MAC to secure the event date and will announce it on Twitter, Facebook, and the TEDxPhoenix site once it’s finalized.

In addition, we fielded several questions about our venue choices and want to take the time to share our thoughts on why we picked the venues that we did, as well as share our thoughts on some interesting findings we came across along the way. The post will have to wait until tomorrow considering that we’re typing up this article at 2:30AM, so stay tuned.

In the interim we’re working on adding the volunteer, speaker, and sponsor pages to the TEDxPhoenix site. Some proactive TEDxPhoenix fans have already approached us with inquiries about becoming a volunteer, nominating a speaker, and becoming a TEDxPhoenix sponsor so feel free to contact TEDxPhoenix with any questions or thoughts you may have.

Sincerely,
The TEDxPhoenix Crew

Time: 6pm to 9pm

Venue: Mesa Arts Center (Google Map)

Tickets: $5 (Buy Tickets Online)

New to TEDx? Click here to read our guide for first time visitors.