Speakers 2011
Jordan Moody: “A Conversation with Time”
In finding artistic outlets for self-expression, Jordan Moody balances art and intellectual pursuits. She received multiple awards in high school including: Sear’s Drama Festival ‘Director of Merit’ and ‘Excellence in Writing’, was voted ‘Most Likely to Win an Oscar’ and was Valedictorian. In 2010, the nineteen year old from Burlington, Ontario began at McGill University, hoping that the diverse and rich community at McGill and in Montreal would challenge her mind and enrich her artistic self. Her deep passion for art, writing and film have been re-affirmed, which, combined with support from loved ones, has led to TEDxMcGill 2011.
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Craig Silverman: “Why Failing Is A Great Way To Build Trust”
Craig Silverman is an award-winning journalist, author, and founding editor of RegretTheError.com, a website that reports on media errors and accuracy. Regret the Error: How Media Mistakes Pollute the Press and Imperil Free Speech, his book, won the Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism. Craig writes weekly columns on the topic for Columbia Journalism Review and the Toronto Star, and serves as editorial director of OpenFile.ca, a community-driven news organization. He is the president of the Professional Writers Association of Canada, and a co-organizer of Hacks/Hackers Montreal, which brings together journalists and technologists to meet and make things.
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Alain Tascan is an entrepreneur in the multimedia and gaming industry. He was co-founder of Ubisoft in Montreal. He also founded EA Montreal, which he managed for the last seven years.
He successfully spearheaded the company-wide effort to create new intellectual properties and positioned the Montreal studio as a central creative force within the company. As one of the first producers and production vice presidents of the company, Mr. Tascan helped to fuel the growth of Ubisoft as an international company and leader in the gaming business.
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Christian Elliott: “A Revolution Is A Mouse Click Away”
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Tabia Lau is a U3 English Drama & Theatre major, playwright and producer. She finds that spoken words and writing must always be relatable, contain truth and create scepticism. She hopes that writing will change the world one person and one thought at the time and that she will touch unsuspected auditors with her words. She will deliver a stellar performance with poignant words which will create a ripple effect beyond the stage space. She is thrilled to be part of TEDxMcGill after being herself a long-time lover of the talks and open discussion which help brighten the world.
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Dr. Brenda Milner, a McGill neurology and neurosurgery professor and researcher, is a pioneer in the domain of neuroscience. She leads research on cognitive neuroscience of memory where sophisticated tools such as MRI and PET are used to assess the regions of the brain responsible for languages. She also studies the role of the right hippocampal region in the memory of spatial location of objects. Her expertise and her work have led her to obtain many prestigious prizes, obtain significant grants and be honoured by more than 20 different universities with an Honorary Degree.
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Marc Rowland(w/ Brent Skagford): “Yes, And: An Improviser’s Guide to Collaborative Creation”
Marc Rowland is a performer, teacher, director and manager at Montreal Improv. An improviser down to his genetic core, he has been involved in the art of spontaneous story-telling for over half his life and that proportion steadily increases with time. He has received training in: improvisation at the International Improv School, at the Loose Moose Theatre, clown at Formation Clown and also with Phillipe Gaulier, and mime at L’Ecole de Mime. With several years of experience as a high school math and science teacher, Marc is prone to slipping references to DNA and fractions into the darnedest places.
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Claude Theoret: “Measuring Zeitgeist and the Digital Future of the Humanities”
Claude Théoret is an astrophysicist with expertise in the management of innovation. A founding member of McGill University’s astronomy department, Claude ranked first in the astronomy and astrophysics postdoctoral fellowship competition in Québec. After teaching physics and statistics at American University in Paris, Claude focused his expertise on Co-Word Analysis, Actor Network Theory with respect to social media. Claude has co-authored two papers in Nature, one in Science and his work on the mapping of the Nanotechnology community has been published twice.
Claude founded Nexalogy in 2006 is responsible for the development of the advanced analysis tools at Nexalogy Environics. More
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Michal Gomel Blank is a graduate of the McGill Middle East Program and has focused on empowerment and social policies that support equal participation of minority groups in a multiethnic state. Michal’s field tutorial with the University of the Streets Cafe, of the Institute in Management and Community Development at Concordia University, gave her great organizing experience and the ability to engage in conversations about issues affecting Montrealers. In Israel, she ran the Katamon Food Cooperative and the Kiryat Menahem Storefront through Community Advocacy for three years. Michal is now back in Montreal and involved with MMEP work. More
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Pinny is globally recognized as an expert in social media, online marketing and merchandising, and is widely sought after as a speaker on ecommerce and online branding.
Under Pinny’s leadership as a founder and the EVP of Business Development, Ice.com revolutionized the way consumers bought jewelry, and the notion of modern e-commerce.
Pinny is a Adjunct Professor McGill University in its first ecommerce and social media course, a board member of shop.org (the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) ecommerce organization), and Founder and President of a non profit organization
He is a father of six and resides in Montreal.
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Alex Pritz: “An Exploration of Cross-cultural Education Through Film and Media”
Alex is a third year McGill student studying in the School of the Environment. Involvement with the student film collective Developing Pictures drew Alex to Haiti and Kenya, where he started his career as an amateur filmmaker. Since then, he has gone on to initiate the Iwastology project through the McGill Dalai Lama Fellowship, a program connecting high school students from Montreal and the Philippines through film and online discussions about environmental issues. Alex sees film and multimedia as a powerful tool for raising awareness and creating change both in the classroom and in the field. More
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Joshua Kyle: “Outdated Technology: Waste or Opportunity”
Joshua Kyle is a fourth year student at McGill University working towards an undergraduate degree in Materials Engineering. Joshua founded, managed, and currently coordinates Reboot McGill, rooted upon a program he started back home in rural Quebec that returns to-be-recycled computers back to the community. Reboot McGill is a non-profit co-operative between students and the McGill administration that works to refurbish and deploy McGill’s used computer equipments to the McGill and surrounding communities for reuse. It aims towards a more sustainable campus while providing a community driven learning environment where students can give back to the local community by volunteering.
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Matthew Brightman, at 17, founded a “clandestine online news blog” responding to censorship of his high school newspaper where he served as Editor-in-Chief. The blog received 5,000 hits in one day and a mention in the Boston Globe. At 18, he co-founded the student media group Developing Pictures after traveling to Haiti to volunteer after the earthquake. In 2011, he co-founded Moral Fibers, an apparel company aiming to attack poverty through sustainable job creation. Moral Fibers now has 5 employees, supporting 15 artists in Haiti. Brightman is a Forces Avenir Laureate and a winner of McGill’s Dobson Cup.
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Craig Buntin has been on the competitive figure skating scene for more than two decades. He has been three-time Canadian Champion, and placing 5th at the World Championships along with his partner Valerie Marcoux.With Meagan Duhamel, he was ranked 2nd in Canada and 6th in the world within 9 months.
Craig recently founded Teabean, a coffee and tea company in Montreal. He was also the first student to be accepted to do an MBA at McGill University without an undergraduate degree.