TEDxVancouver 2011 Announces First Speaker: Local Business Magnum and Media Mogul, Shahrzad Rafati

Application Deadline fast approaching for one of Vancouver's most anticipated events

VANCOUVER, Sept. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - TEDxVancouver is pleased to announce the first of several exciting speakers in the 2011 lineup. The concept for this year's event is "The Frontier" - a topic selected as a reflection of the new wonders undreamt of in our time. This year's TEDxVancouver event is designed to be a love letter to knowledge and innovation. Like TED's own mission, "The Frontier" represents boundless possibility and ideas worth spreading. The living boundary with the unknown.

On November 12, 2011, TEDxVancouver celebrates its third annual event with an outstanding line-up of thought provoking talks. Presenters at TEDxVancouver are hand picked for their inspired thinking and world acclaimed accomplishments, and in the TED and TEDx tradition, each is challenged to give "the talk of their life" in 18 minutes or less.

The first speaker for TEDxVancouver 2011 - Shahrzad Rafati - is the only Canadian to join household names such as Oprah Winfrey and Conan O'Brien, as well as key industry players like Sebastian Thrun of Google and Andy Mooney from Disney on Fast Company magazine's 2011 list of the Top 100 Most Creative People in Business.

Shahrzad Rafati is the 31-year old Founder and CEO of BroadbandTV Corp (BBTV). Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Rafati founded BBTV five years ago and has served as its CEO since inception. During this time, Rafati vaulted BBTV into a leadership position in the video curation/monetization space with cutting edge business models that solve major problems for the online video marketplace.

BBTV's over-arching objective is to put video publishers back in control of their content and be more successful online.  BBTV does this by 1- Developing systems and technologies to detect and monetize user uploaded copies of exploited video content on popular video portals such as YouTube and sharing the revenue back with the rightful owners of the content.  BBTV provides this service to companies such as the NBA and Warner Bros. and 2- Deploying curated content under its VISO branded channels. All together, Rafati's company has curated more than 260,000 videos, driven 1.6 billion impressions and amassed more than 1M members. Over Almost 300 content owners have noticed and entrusted their intellectual property to BBTV to monetize and manage.

Recently, Rafati was selected by Canadian Business Magazine as one of 20 women destined to shake up corporate Canada, gracing the cover of the magazine.

Other speakers will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information about TEDxVancouver please visit tedxvancouver.com.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED
TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world's leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Long Beach, California (along with a parallel conference, TEDActive, in Palm Springs), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

TED's media initiatives include TED.com, where new TEDTalks are posted daily; the new TED Conversations, enabling broad conversations among TED fans; and the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as the ability for any TEDTalk to be translated by volunteers worldwide.

TED has established the annual TED Prize, where exceptional individuals with a wish to change the world are given the opportunity to put their wishes into action; TEDx, which offers individuals or groups a way to host local, self-organized events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, helping world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

For information about TED's upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registration

Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED 

SOURCE TEDxVancouver