Invercargill's first live international TEDx event drew 60 people to the SIT Centrestage Theatre on Saturday (August 8) to listen to six speakers share their bright ideas with the world TEDx community.

With many TEDx talks cancelled in New Zealand due to COVID-19 restrictions, Invercargill Live TEDx event organiser Leon Hartnett, of Greenlight Innovations, said he was grateful the event could go ahead.

Mr Hartnett said the point of TEDx was to create content and share it with the world.

The average TEDx talk reached an audience of about 50,000, he said.

"To my knowledge, this was the only TEDx event happening in NZ so far this year,” he said.

The Invercargill event was kept relatively small because the organisers weren't sure what would happen in a COVID climate.

"Next year we hope to have a bigger event, " he said. 

A TEDx event is a local gathering where live talks and performances are shared with the community. 

The 'TED' in TEDx talk stands for technology, education and design.

TEDx talks are designed to be short, at around 20 minutes each. Ultimately, they are to be thought-provoking; sharing new, bold ideas which push the boundaries of normal thought and inspire the audience into action. 

Some of the most popular TEDx talks around the world have reached millions of views on YouTube.

The Invercargill TEDx event featured five live talks by New Zealanders and one pre-recorded presentation by a speaker from Pakistan, Qurat Ul Ain.

The TEDx 2020 Uncharted conference was livestreamed during the second half of the day. 

Sixteen people had applied to speak at the Invercargill event but just six speakers were chosen. 

"It's not just about speaking about doing wonderful things," Mr Hartnell said.

"It's about hearing that new idea that can be shared with the world."

Mr Hartnett said Pakistan hasn't hosted any TEDx events this year so Qurat Ul Ain approached him to send her video in.

She spoke about 'Coaching for gender equality.'

Dunedin speaker Janaya Duggan's topic was 'Be the love you are: how to fight the fear that keeps you silent.'

Invercargill's Giahnnii Paraku, now studying in Christchurch, spoke about 'My experience with raising self-awareness.'

Auckland's Ursula Keay, who is studying journalism in Christchurch, chose a sweet topic: 'Tiramisu your life: how to overcome depression with dessert.'

Auckland mental health charity founder Nic Russell shared 'What grief taught me about resilience.'

Invercargill's Michelle Templeton's presentation was about 'Mastering health by getting our house in order.' 

The talks from the Invercargill Live TEDx event will be uploaded to the TEDx page on Youtube and on the TEDx website and will available to view in the next 3-4 weeks.