Did that title grab your attention? Do you think that sounds like a good TEDx talk? An idea worth spreading that will have a BIG impact on the world that will help people make a difference in a manageable, inspiring, and engaging way?

We do.

We have entered in GOOD Maker’s TEDxUChicago Speaker Challenge for a chance to speak at the TEDx conference in Chicago in 2013. GOOD Maker is a tool to help make good things happen, and it gives individuals and organizations the ability to tap into the public’s creativity and energy to address an issue that’s important to them.

What is TEDx? The TED conferences are global forums that have hosted some of the world’s top thinkers to disseminate “ideas worth spreading.” The talks are 18 minutes long and cover a wide range of topics from research to the practice of science. Typically, TED talks are engaging, provocative, controversial, and entertaining (hence our title!).

The TED talks are held in California, but other communities and universities have established TEDx programs to host smaller events around the world.

That’s where we come in.

We have entered the contest to present our “Learning our Way Out” project in Ethiopia to a large group of professionals, academics, and students in Chicago. The project focuses on a community-led effort to talk about the relationship between family planning and poverty. Our talk is about the women AND men who wanted to change their communities from the inside out by leading their friends and neighbors in discussions about the poverty they all faced, what was causing it, and how they might address it. These conversations allowed the communities to discuss over-population, family planning, and early marriage’s effects on women’s education openly for the first time.

We believe this story needs to be heard because it is such a great example of how putting a community in the driver’s seat of their own development is more effective than sending in a foreign aid agency to “educate the people”. We think more people should hear about the effectiveness and sustainability of community-led development.

How can you help us?

Vote for us to have a chance to present this powerful conversation to Chicago in 2013. The voting ends June 4th, and you only get one vote, so it is an easy way to get involved in the conversation.

You can vote for our program here:

http://tedxuchicago.maker.good.is/projects/TheSexTalk

And make sure to tell your friends and family to vote as well!

Thank you for your help!