Young people take the charge on a new TEDxYouth@Glasgow event

An exciting new TEDx event is to be introduced for the Year of Young People 2018.

As part of the Scottish Government’s programme of themed years, 2018 will be the Year of Young People, celebrating the very best of Scotland and its youth.

In July 2015, the Scottish Government commissioned Children in Scotland, the Scottish Youth Parliament and Young Scot to work with young people to co-design recommendations for the 2018 Year of Young People. From these recommendations VisitScotland was then tasked with developing the Year of Young People 2018 events’ programme.

Following the success of the TEDxGlasgow events over the past six years, whose talks have amassed in excess of 9 million views worldwide and secured the organisation the position of the most established TEDx organisation in Europe, the team wished to commit to developing something custom in response to the 2018 Year of Young People initiative. In 2017, 300 students were invited to attend an afternoon session with complimentary passes and access to interview speakers. In 2018, things will be ramped up significantly.

The new standalone TEDxYouth@Glasgow event has been launched to showcase the amazing talents of young people in Scotland, whilst providing them with a unique platform upon which they can share and access diverse and revolutionary ideas. As well as presenting delegates with networking and learning opportunities, this new major event will be co-designed and delivered by a team of young people including students from Glasgow’s Clyde College.

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland's Director of Events, said; “Scotland is getting set to celebrate the Year of Young People in 2018 where the spotlight will shine on young people’s talents and contributions, giving them the opportunity to show the world what they are made of.

“We are delighted to be supporting the brand new TEDxYouth@Glasgow event in 2018 as part of Scotland’s forthcoming themed year. The TEDx brand has become a leading platform for sharing ideas, creativity and innovation, and the launch of a new youth event, driven by young people themselves, will not only spark conversation and debate but hopefully inspire our thinkers of tomorrow.”

TEDxYouth is an offshoot of the TEDx programme, where young people organise an event that has exciting, innovative and inspiring content aimed at a younger audience. To coincide with the Year of Young People in 2018, TEDxGlasgow will be running TEDxYouth@Glasgow.

The new event aims to deliver key skills development and real world experience, with the recruitment of the Youth Team to design, organise and manage their own event. They will be supported by the main TEDxGlasgow event team through mentorship and leadership. This will provide the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills, such as event management, project management, communication, marketing, teamwork, website management and logistics.

John Rafferty, assistant principal faculty of health and wellbeing at Glasgow Clyde College, said: “This is a phenomenal project for the city of Glasgow, its young people and for our students to be involved in. We are proud of the talent and skills that our young people have and bring with them every day to Glasgow Clyde College. Being involved in TEDxYouth@Glasgow provides an opportunity to work on a live project, develop organisational, communications and event and project management skills.

“It’s an exciting time for the young people of Glasgow to attend an event that’s created for them, by their peers.”

The introduction of a new tailored event means that the programme of speakers will be designed to directly appeal to 12-26 year olds. The 2018 Youth Event will have its own programme with speakers and entertainment curated and selected by the Youth Team.

Glasgow is recognised as the most diverse city in Scotland and the aim is that the team running the event, the speakers and the audience voices come from a range of backgrounds to best reflect this.

Due to premiere at the SEC Armadillo on the 31 May 2018 (the day before TEDxGlasgow), TEDxYouth@Glasgow will welcome over 2000 young delegates (aged 12-26 years), with a further 7,000 being able to access the livestream of the event. This major event will be delivered in partnership with Scottish Government, VisitScotland, Glasgow Clyde Education Foundation and Glasgow Clyde College.

All of the talks will then be made available via YouTube and on the TEDxGlasgow.com website after the event to support global access.

Gurjit Singh Lalli, founder and curator of TEDxGlasgow, said; “We've benefited from a hugely receptive and collaborative audience (and one of the largest conference audiences in Scotland) in Glasgow for our events over the past five years but we've always been very much more focused on a more adult audience. The 2018 Year of the Young People offers us an incredibly exciting chance to create a project that offers students a rich and ‘real life’ learning experience, as well as delivery a major event to a younger audience. We can't wait to get started and invite all of Scotland’s youth to attend in 2018.”

Jon Vincent, Principal at Glasgow Clyde College, said: “I’m positive the College and TEDxYouth@Glasgow team will deliver an exceptional programme of inspirational speakers, activities and workshops for young people throughout Glasgow to attend. It’s a fantastic opportunity and I look forward to watching the project develop and take shape.”

For more information please visit:

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

For more information please contact Cat Leaver, Head of Marketing & Communications at TEDxGlasgow on or by calling 07805182158.

Gurjit Singh Lalli or Cat Leaver are available for comment upon request.

Follow TEDxYouth@Glasgow at on and keep up to date with all the latest at

Find out more about TEDxGlasgow at:

About TEDx

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organised 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-organised events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organised TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organised (subject to certain rules and regulations).

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organisation devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading, usually in the form of short, powerful talks (18 minutes or fewer) delivered by today's leading thinkers and doers. Many of these talks are given at TED's annual conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, and made available, free, on TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sal Khan and Daniel Kahneman.

TED's open and free initiatives for spreading ideas include TED.com, where new TED Talk videos are posted daily; the Open Translation Project, which provides subtitles and interactive transcripts as well as translations from thousands of volunteers worldwide; the educational initiative TED-Ed; the annual million-dollar TED Prize, which funds exceptional individuals with a "wish," or idea, to create change in the world; TEDx, which provides licenses to thousands of individuals and groups who host local, self-organized TED-style events around the world; and the TED Fellows program, which selects innovators from around the globe to amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities.

Follow TED on Twitter at on Facebook at or Instagram at

Year of Young People

●The 2018 Year of Young People 2018 will be the next of the Scottish Government’s series of themed years, following the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology 2017.

●The Year of Young People (YoYP 2018) will inspire Scotland through its young people aged 8 to 26, celebrating their achievements, valuing their contributions to communities and creating new opportunities for them to shine locally, nationally and globally

● Central to YoYP 2018 will be a celebratory events programme that puts young people at the heart of its development and delivery, creating new and valuable experiences for young Scots and the wider public, with links to the inaugural 2018 European Championships.

●This event is supported by the Year of Young People 2018 Event Fund, managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate. EventScotland is working with the events and festivals sector to develop an exciting portfolio of Year of Young People 2018 public-facing events which provide opportunities for young people to express themselves through a wide range of activity.

●Over 200 young people throughout Scotland are currently being recruited to become YoYP 2018 Ambassadors. Ambassadors will ensure that people and organisations in their communities know about what’s happening and will lead on projects and activities to create events and opportunities to celebrate young people.

●The Year of Young People will have six themes which were developed in co-production with young people themselves: Participation, Education, Health and Wellbeing, Equality and Discrimination, Enterprise and regeneration, and Culture

●Further information on what’s happening and how people can get involved can be found on the new website or @YOYP2018 on Twitter.

EventScotland

EventScotland is working to make Scotland the perfect stage for events. By developing an exciting portfolio of sporting and cultural events EventScotland is helping to raise Scotland’s international profile and boost the economy by attracting more visitors. For further information about EventScotland, its funding programmes and latest event news visit Follow EventScotland on Twitter @EventScotNews.

EventScotland is a team within VisitScotland’s Events Directorate, the national tourism organisation which markets Scotland as a tourism destination across the world, gives support to the tourism industry and brings sustainable tourism growth to Scotland. For more information about VisitScotland see or for consumer information on Scotland as a visitor destination see

Glasgow Clyde College

●Glasgow Clyde College is a further education college in the south and west of Glasgow offering a wide range of full and part-time courses to over 16,000 students annually.

●Glasgow Clyde College is renowned for its industry and university connections and partnerships that ensure courses are designed to offer students exceptional learning opportunities and the best possible outcome.

●The College was awarded Fairtrade Status in February 2017 for its commitment to Fairtrade policies and practice.

●For media enquiries relating to the College, please contact / 0131 225 9596

Glasgow Clyde Education Foundation

●Glasgow Clyde Education Foundation is an independent charity established in January 2014, which received its initial income through a Donation Agreement with Glasgow Clyde College. It aims to fund projects that will make a significant impact on the educational outcomes of students and the wider community which the College serves. Funding is focused on enabling success that would otherwise not be possible through improving access to learning, supporting excellence in educational practice and investing in College infrastructure.

●Further information on the Foundation can be found at: or contact Pauline Radcliffe at .