This spring, after three brilliant years of putting on an event that we love, we’ve decided that we’re going to take a year off. This is partly due to a need to recharge our creative batteries, but also because we just haven’t had the time to devote to an event that takes up hundreds of hours of our time as volunteer organisers.

We fully intend to be back in 2014, bigger, brighter, better, and again with the support of Cardiff University and Wales Millennium Centre.

In the meantime, you can remind yourself of last year’s events with your tweets and your feedback. And of course, there’s some great photos and a video below.

See you next year!

Claire and Neil

There was also some useful constructive criticism, with quite a few of you saying you felt the lunch break was too long. We agree, and will work out a way to make it shorter in the future. One person did complain about the free goody bags not being good enough and that they couldn’t understand why they were being given free world-class tea. You can’t please everybody!

All the speakers were mentioned as favourites, but here’s a few choice quotes:

“Ben Hyde – incredible talk on fun, everything you want from a speaker who had real passion to share an idea.”

“Justin Lewis – An amazing speaker with some truly interesting points which I can take away and read up on further.“

“My other favourite speaker was Johnathan Sheperd. What he has achieved with such little cost in Cardiff is inspirational. It gives hope to us all that simple ideas can make massive differences, if we only have the get up and go to do something about them. “

“John Haskell – Atlantic Dash. Real human experience and inspiring that an “ordinary” individual can achieve amazing results.“

“I was incredibly inspired and moved by John Haskell’s story and really made me think of what we are truly capable of when we put our minds to it and make a difference in this world!! I thought he was a natural speaker and had me captivated throughout his talk!! Ben Hyde really made me think differently after his talk and the easy moto he lives by YES LETS is amazing, very fun attitude and again truly inspirational and encouraged me to have more fun at work and in my life it radiates out.“

“The Rev Lionel Fanthorpe was amazing – having heard him on the radio in my youth I knew he was quite the storyteller, but he was really spellbinding in person – and without notes!“

We’ll be taking all your thoughts, suggestions and criticisms on board with a view to making sure our next event is better. We’ll leave you with a selection of the kindest thoughts from those who attended. Thanks to all who made time to fill in the forms.

“All of the speakers were from such varied backgrounds, it really felt like you were being educated as well as entertained. It was really an enriching experience.“

“Friendly, like minded people. It’s one of the only events in Cardiff in this kind of area that is open access to all. The setting was fantastic, and it allows all disciplines in science, technology and inspiration to come together in one place.“

“The structure of it and it was very well organised. The choice of speakers aimed at everybody. I can’t wait for the next one!!“

“It was organised very well and seemed no effort at all. The speakers seemed genuinely pleased to be there and there was a good atmosphere throughout the day. It was good to meet the speakers over lunch and see the kids’ pictures on the balcony. And be able to talk some more about the dogs’ skulls. “

“The venue. The togetherness. The desire from all for it to be a success.“

“Talks and the venue were first class“

“Everything. The venue, the speakers, the hosts = brilliant & inspiring day.“

“It really gave an opportunity to think about lots of different things. Very inspiring!“

“Very excited about the next one. I am hooked, thoroughly enjoyed and met some amazing people!! Incredibly inspiring!!“

Andy Middleton

Dr Jacqui Mulville

DnA live performance

Prof Jonathan Shepherd

Rev Lionel Fanthorpe

John Haskell / Atlantic Dash

Euphony performance

Prof Justin Lewis

Ben Hyde

Prof BS Sathyaprakash

Here are Jason Aspinall‘s photos:

And here are Claire Kern‘s photos:

First and foremost, we want to thank our speakers. Each and every one of them was brilliant, and we hope they inspired you with their big ideas.

Andy Middleton, Dr Jacqui Mulville, Prof Jonathan Shepherd, Lionel Fanthorpe, John Haskell, Justin Lewis, Ben Hyde and Prof B.S. Sathyaprakash. As well as our speakers, we had two brilliant performances from DnA and Euphony who shared their wonderful talents with us.

The event simply couldn’t have happened without the support and backing of a number of forward thinking organisations. Cardiff University were our primary sponsor, and with their help we were able to bring you TEDxCardiff bigger and better than ever. Thank you in particular to Jill and Emma for their good humour and insight. We also couldn’t run the event with our home since day one, and key supporter, Wales Millennium Centre. In particular Rob Ashelford, the Weston Studio tech team, and the front of house staff. Relaxed professionalism of the highest order.

The talks were filmed by Crimzn, with the the help of Richard Martin from the Uni’s filming unit, the live stream was provided by Ruth and Geraint from Sequence, and the programmes were designed by HuwDavid.

And all the lunchtime refreshments were paid for by the good people at Myspace. Thanks guys!

The behind the scenes filming was done by the talented Matt Callanan, with the help of Ifan Tomos, and Claire Kern and Jason Aspinall took loads of gorgeous photos (which will appear here soon!).

We couldn’t have run the day without Dr Kelly Page, one of last year’s speakers who looked after the speakers on the day while we were running around. And she was also the one who encouraged to Cardiff Uni to think about sponsoring us. So, we can never truly repay her! Tim Whalley was an invaluable help, helping run the team of fantastic runners (Sarah, Nandra & Amelia) as well as helping out our two dedicated interns, Amber and Jamie, without whom we wouldn’t have known about Prof Justin Lewis as a potential speaker, and had a shortlist of amazing archive TED talks to choose from.

Elena Cresci did a superb job, with hardly any notice or instruction from us, of taking over the TEDxCardiff Twitter feed and making it fun, engaging and informative. And contributed to the #TEDxCardiff hashtag and conversation being a constant flurry of excitement (read a selection of the best here). And finally a special mention for Derek Russell for doing our beautiful intro animations that were played at the beginning of each session (one & two).

There’s a long list of other people who all helped out in many other ways, but they are simply too many to list here. But you know that you have our eternal gratitude.

And to you, the people who attend TEDxCardiff, and keep us enthused and energised with your encouragement when we feel like we’ve bitten off a little more than we can chew!

Thank you.

Neil and Claire

[View the story "TEDxCardiff 2012" on Storify]

Say hello, and we might just say hello back on the livestream!

We’re really looking forward to John’s talk, and we hope it inspires you to dig deep. Especially seeing as he rowed across the Atlantic to raise cash for them!

For those of you lucky enough to receive a free ticket we would like to suggest a donation of £5 per head, but every penny counts!

Amber Wheatley

Originating from the beautiful island of Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands, at the tender age of 16 I made the bold decision to move to the UK to complete my A-levels and pursue higher education. Coming to the UK opened up many opportunities and challenges for me, which I tackled wholeheartedly, and even helped me to find my passion for dance.  I am now a 2nd year biomedical science student at Cardiff University and have the hopes of going on to study medicine. In my spare time I dance with Cardiff University Broadway Dance Society and at the occasional church service.

Jamie Evans

I’m studying Journalism, Film & Media at Cardiff University, Cardiff is also the city where I was born and raised; I harbour ambitions of making it big as a hip-hop DJ, a Serie A journalist or as a creative director of an advertising firm. I run a music blog vynly.com along with my friend Benjamin, who now operates from Philadelphia; we’ve expanded the blog and we now design and sell sweatshirts. I’m also one of the current sports editors of the student newspaper, ‘gair rhydd;’ and indulge in my passion for music by DJing on the student station, Xpress Radio, as well as co-hosting a Saturday morning slot on Glamorgan Radio. My passions are social media, football, blogging, music, apple juice and vintage clothing.