"toys are not as innocent as they appear, they are often the precursor to greater things"
TEDxYouth@Montreal is a first-of-its-kind conference organized for the future leaders, currently enrolled in grades 6 to CEGEP! in Montreal, Quebec. In 2011, there were over 100 TEDxYouthDay events held in nearly 50 countries coinciding with Universal Children’s Day. Founder and Designer Ilana Ben-Ari will be giving a presentation entitled “Playing on Purpose”, let’s bring play back into education.
For more information take a look at the TEDxYouthMontreal website.
The Treehouse Talks are a lecture series held at the Toronto Reference Library on the second Friday of every month, from 6:30pm to 8:15pm. The idea is to get three speakers in the same room from completely different fields to get people thinking and talking about the intersection between disciplines.
Twenty One Toys founder, Ilana Ben-Ari, was chosen as one of the 25 young entrepreneurs (and one of two women) to win the Emerging Entrepreneurs Contest to attend C2MTL : “The Commerce and Creativity Conference” in Montreal!! Speakers include Arianna Huffington, Francis Ford Coppola and Michael Eisner! It’s going to be an amazing 3 days and we can’t wait to tell you all about it.
Twenty One Toys Founder Ilana Ben-Ari will be presenting in the March Pecha Kucha event in Toronto, Ontario. She will be discussing her toy CONNEXIONS as a navigational aid for the visually impaired and bring its foundations “Where Am I, Where Am I Going and How Do I Get There” to her wonderfully disastrous experiences navigating through the TTC (Toronto Transit Commision). Come hear her kvetch!! March 27th at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St West).
Details on their Facebook Group Page.
The Beanstalk Project is an unconference that brings together approximately 100 high school students from 25 schools in a region. Over the 3-day event, the students hear inspiring keynotes, participate in interactive workshops and develop and refine their ideas for a community project. “Their mission is to provide educational leadership, empowering students to grow into their full potential and contribute to a better world.” Twenty One Toys will be demonstrating the CONNEXIONS toy at the unconference and will discuss the role of empathy and creative dialogue in leadership and collaboration.
Play Learn Think Tank will be putting on a workshop with the Connexions toy at Engineers without Borders, an incredible organization doing amazing work around the globe. In attendance will be 6 African Leadership Program delegates and up to 6 Engineers Without Borders Toronto student leaders.
A quote from their website “We invest in people—smart systems changers, and we incubate the systemic innovations that they create to accelerate rural African development. It’s not about projects. It’s not about technology. It’s about people working with people to create lasting, scalable change that unlocks human potential.”
Play Learn Think Tank held a workshop at the Federated Press’s 2nd Breaking Down Silos Course. We got the opportunity to speak to VPs, Directors & Managers of HR; Operations; Change Management; Process Improvement; Performance and Quality Improvement; Organizational Development; Strategy and Planning; Internal Consultants about different techniques and methods used in having more fulfilling workplace collaborations. We also got to play a few games with the Connexions toy discussing the importance of empathy and creative dialogue in the workplace.
Bitnorth is an annual informal, eclectic gathering a bit north of Montreal. The format is participatory: if you attend, you have to present. The things we discuss are wide-ranging (think Barcamp-meets-TED.) It’s also fast-paced, since each presentation lasts only 10 minutes.
The Socialight Conference will bring together over 1000 other dynamic leaders, young professionals, and entrepreneurs just like you for an incredible day of inspiration, empowerment and connection.
Play Learn Think Tank will be doing a workshop at the incredible Grove Community School; a public alternative school within the Toronto District School Board offering arts-infused, holistic learning, built on the core values of social justice, environmentalism, and community activism. At the Grove, January is ableism month and we will be conducting a workshop on empathy and visual impairment with a group of students.