Remo is a creative director and strategist with a demonstrated track record as an entrepreneur and brand builder. He founded the iconic REMO General Store in 1988; and cofounded the General Thinking network in New York in 2001. He was the Director of Branding & Strategy at frogdesign in Silicon Valley from 1997, and later the Brand Strategist at pioneering online developer Organic in New York. He also enjoys an ongoing 20 year association with TED, and is currently the Licensee for TEDxSydney, an annual flagship TEDx event which, after only a few years, has become the leading platform and pipeline for the propagation of Australian ideas, innovation and creativity to the rest of the world. Twitter @remorandom

Janne is an ideas curator and executive producer of TEDxSydney 2013. She produces By Design, the national design show on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and produced the award-winning ABCTV series In the Mind of The Architect. She is a founding EP of the ideas programme Late Night Live on ABCRN and writes for The Australian's Wish Magazine on collaborations between architects and clients. For the Australian Financial Review Magazine she wrote Front of Mind, each month interviewing influential thinkers from around the world. Janne lives between Bondi Beach, Sydney, and Dungog, NSW, and with her family co-founded Jennifer's Word, a literacy project working in regional Australia. She is also the founder of the Creative Music Fund, which commissions contemporary music. Twitter @janneryan

David sees communication at the centre of every human activity. "Until someone tells someone else, nothing's learned and nothing will happen." A graduate of NIDA and Macquarie University, he's spent his career spreading ideas: as a writer, storyteller, educator and director. TED-aware since the 1990s, he was among the first TED Associates and directed TEDxSydney 2010, 2011 and 2012. He's now in the thick of preparation for the biggest TEDxSydney yet, at the Sydney Opera House in May.

Fleur Brown is CEO of marketing and public relations agency, Launch Group. Prior to establishing Launch Group in 2004, Fleur was public affairs director for the City of Sydney Council, heading up the City's marketing, publicity and tourism in the lead up to the 2000 Olympics. She then moved to Channel Seven, managing the network's national corporate affairs. Launch Group’s clients are focused within the converging fields of technology, media and entertainment. A trained journalist and media coach, Fleur lectures in New Media at APM College in Sydney, Australia.

Edwina Throsby is a documentary and television maker. She has made several documentaries about the arts in Australia, including the multi-awarded Dance Like Your Old Man, with Gideon Obarzanek. She has worked as a producer on television programmes including Q&A, Media Watch, Four Corners and Roy & HG’s The Dream at the Sydney, Salt Lake City and Athens Olympic Games. Most recently, she established and ran Big Ideas, a multi-platform programme on the ABC, dedicated to broadcasting public talks and lectures.

Amy has worked in various strategy and business development roles for media and technology companies, large and small, in Australia and the US. She is currently working as an independent consultant. Amy has also spent time in the community sector, in both a professional and volunteer capacity, including a few years as general manager of the Inspire Foundation. She is a perpetual student with masters degrees in International and US Studies. The list of her favourite TED Talks is long (and eclectic) but includes talks by Steven Johnson, Rebecca Saxe and Eric Sanderson. Amy has been on the organising team for the TEDxSydney event since 2010. Twitter @denmeade

Returning for her second year with the TEDxSydney team, Felicity is a partnerships and communications specialist with a diverse career spanning Australia and UK. Felicity has consulted across; government agencies (Destination NSW + Visit London: Lord Mayor’s Office), major festivals (Vivid Sydney, Creative Sydney, V Festival UK, Big Day Out, Crave International Food Festival), major events (Australian Open, NRL Premiership Grand Finals, World Rally, Davis Cup + Sky’s 2009 Ashes sponsorship UK), artists (Angus Stone, Rose Tattoo, Pnau) and leading brands (Sainsbury’s, Ben & Jerry’s, Converse, Bacardi, ksubi, The Loop, Jack Daniels … to name a few). Thrilled to be working with a talented and expanding TEDxSydney partnerships team in 2013, Felicity is passionate about doing better deals and big ideas.

Kate is a arts lover with a background in business development, pr and marketing. She has degrees in art history and business, and a career that has roamed the commercial and not-for-profit arts landscape. She began working for Sotheby's in London in 2001, spent time working for them in Hong Kong and Sydney before joining Artbank in 2008 as head of client services and marketing. After a year on the inaugural board of Art Month Sydney she joined Sydney Festival as business development manager loving every minute. She has just joined Bundanon Trust as their marketing and communications manager and is attempting to soak up the quiet life with her three small children on the South Coast of NSW. TEDx has proved a shot of adrenaline and a boost to her life purpose for the past few years; so she is looking forward to helping out with partnerships on this years event.

A lifelong devotee of music, comic books, literature and film, Jordan runs the touring and management agency Top Shelf, which presents unique artists and events locally and internationally. Top Shelf has grown to its zenith, representing a diverse array of artists from across the globe and nurtures an artistic environment where new ideas, collaborations and creative projects are put to work. Top Shelf currently represents a diverse roster of local and international music with a focus on innovation and virtuosity. Top Shelf is an artistically orientated company working as an alternative to the mainstream. Jordan is also co-curator of GRAPHIC at Sydney Opera House and has been heavily involved in its initial conception, execution and program.

Julian is a co-founder of The Chaser, a satirical media empire which rivals Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in all fields except power, influence, popularity and profitability. He now works as part of the Chaser creative team and, for his sins, is its managing director, as well as working independently in the media. Staying true to the Chaser corporate motto, "Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence", Julian has worked with the Chaser team on all its media projects, including the internationally popular Olympics parody site silly2000.com, a decade's worth of Chaser Annuals, and various radio and stage shows. Due mainly to others' unavailability, Julian was invited to give the 2009 Andrew Olle Media Lecture. The lecture was described as "excellent" by his mother. Julian hopes one day to leave the media to pursue his dream of becoming a lawyer again. Julian has been a key member of the organising team since TEDxSydney 2010.

Marque is a media and content consultant who joined us in 2012 as Director of Video Content after spending the last five years as Executive Producer at Telstra. There he designed the UX of the T-Box, managed the content on the IPTV channels as well as Special Projects including Telstra's involvement in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra and the Everest Expedition. He founded the Foxtel channel Aurora in 2003 before which he directed or produced hundreds of hours of television and the feature film, All The Way. Marque holds degrees in Science and Law with post graduate diplomas in Film & Television and advertising. He loves logical argument, his family and rice crispy treats. Oh, and schnitzel. Who doesn't like schnitzel?

Jill is only happy when she’s cooking up new ideas. Some of those ideas have included the inaugural Sydney Good Food Month (now the CRAVE Sydney International Food Festival), the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival MasterClass, and the Sydney Grower’s Market at Pyrmont. She’s the author of sixteen cook books, including New Food, Old Food and Simple Food, and was for six years the cookery editor of The Times in London. Now she’s back in Sydney, hungry for change. Jill reviews food trends, restaurants and cafes for the Sydney Morning Herald and sees food as a powerful force that can bring people together and remind us that everything in life is connected. Twitter @jilldupleix

Geoffrey is a recently returned Australian who moved to the US in 1994 to work as Design Director for a Barry Diller funded start-up. That start-up, PersonaLogic, was bought by AOL in 1998. During that period Geoffrey worked with some really smart people who helped him understand the true meaning of the word creative. He also learnt the meaning of the terms, robust and scalable. The best possible project for Geoffrey is one where he gets to visualize, improvise, realise and surprise. Geoffrey works with a small team of hand-picked experts to create extraordinary solutions. Geoffrey designed the original REMO General Store in 1988, and in 2000 co-founded the General Thinking network with Remo Giuffré.

Sheila is a producer for ABC Radio and editor of ABC Pool, the ABC's social media site that's open to everyone to share their creative work and ideas. Prior to joining the ABC she lived in Chiang Mai, working as the managing editor for an agency specialising in global health communications. During her time in Thailand, she was also director and licensee for TEDxDoiSuthep, the city's first ever TEDx event. She has had an eclectic education from the University of Sydney including a Master of Public Health and has spent the past decade working in editing, communications and web development roles in Sydney and London. This is Sheila's second year as a curator for TEDxSydney. Twitter: @birdpham

New to the TEDxSydney organising team, Kim's day job finds her unlocking the power of consumers as head of marketing at CHOICE. A marketing, events and commercial specialist, Kim’s other passions include tea-drinking, great food and a regular dose of adventure through travel and the occasional extreme sport. Previously immersed in other sporting and NFP organisations such as the SCG Trust, Sony Foundation and Sydney FC, her background includes a wealth of experience on big name events including several SCG cricket tests, Wharf4Ward, the Sydney Olympics, Sydney International Tennis, and numerous football events across all the codes. Driven to challenge the ordinary, Kim finds contributing to such an iconic brand gives her a daily dose of inspiration, and can’t wait for the TEDxSydney magic to happen at the Sydney Opera House in May.

Alan's been a TED-head since he happened across a bootleg audio tape of some of the talks from the very first TED conference in the US. Now he works with early-stage companies and new product development teams, helping with product development, online communications and marketing. He has hands-on experience founding tech startups, and has held senior management roles at Yahoo!, News Digital Media and Microsoft. Alan is a co-founder of startup-specialist digital agency The New Agency and an investor in Aussie tech startups ChromaSun, Bugherd, OtherLevels and ScriptRock. He invests in new Australian startups through Startmate and Pollenizer Ventures and is the Editor-in-Chief of tech blog FromLittleThings.co. Twitter @bigyahu

Over a period of 20 years, Susannah's career has spanned hospitality, events, PR, marketing, advertising ... and now Yoga. Beginning her professional years at Bennelong Restaurant, The Observatory Hotel and Simon Johnson instilled her with a lifelong appreciation for incredible food and produce. Susannah has worked in Australia and the USA with advertising agencies Saatchi & Saatchi and Crispin Porter + Bogusky, on the strategic and creative development of international brands including PwC, Lend Lease, ING, Audi, Volkswagen and Gap/Old Navy. With a personal interest in and passion for healthy living, she is now also a qualified Natural Chef, Yoga teacher and co-founder of Mind Your Moves - a program designed to empower teens through Yoga and Pilates. Having recently returned from living, working and studying in the USA, 2013 is Susannah’s first year working with the TEDxSydney team.

Peter enjoyed TEDxSydney 2010 from the audience where he suffered a little audience guilt for experiencing so many great voluntary talks and performances. Now is payback. After spending over 15 years in TV, predominantly at SBS working as an editor, producer and director, Peter established The MilkBar a boutique creative agency that markets and brands TV and promotes Sydney's art and cultural industry. Peter is also the founding director and curator of galleryeight, an artist run contemporary art space in Millers Point. He is a graduate of the College of Fine Arts, UNSW and Advertising Award school. His passions are documentary, writing and contemporary art.

Jess Scully is a festival director, editor and writer who has documented emerging creative talents for over 10 years. In 2012, the Sydney Morning Herald named Jess as one of Sydney’s 100 most influential people and FBI Radio awarded her their SMAC of the Year. Jess is the festival director of Vivid Ideas, part of Vivid Sydney, and began her career as editor of publications including SummerWinter, Yen and EMPTY. Jess served as policy advisor to the New South Wales Minister for the Arts and also directed the Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA), a national grant and mentorship program for outstanding artists, musicians, filmmakers, photographers and designers.

Balancing life as a singer-songwriter, webguy and home renovator living in a rural setting, Adam applies his obsessive love for coding to the task of collaborating with Geoffrey on the TEDxSydney web platform. He is pleased to be working on the project and hopes to meet the others in person one day, as he is the lone Victorian resident of the team. Adam believes that every time he has a birthday that is divisible only by itself and 1, he is "in the prime of life". He is looking forward to still saying that at 79.

Belinda has always had a passion for story-telling and meeting people with stories to tell. This spark has informed many life decisions, from spending a year as a French-speaking exchange student when she was a teenager living in Switzerland, to setting up social inclusion projects in India. She is a graduate of NIDA’s technical production degree and has worked in various roles in TV and theatre, from location assistant, to autocue operator, TV news librarian and researcher to producing Sydney co-op theatre and creating sound designs, as well as organising regional touring for Bell Shakespeare and theatrical learning programs for NIDA Open Program. She is very excited to collaborate with the TEDxSydney Team and the fascinating pool of talent, bringing their innovative ideas to Australia and the wider TED audience.

A passionate photographer and bass player, Tim has worked in the graphic design industry from the dark days preceding the desktop revolution. He juggles freelancing assignments with running his own graphic design and image editing business. He's been a fervent TED follower for many years, and has been TEDxSydney's rapidly growing image library manager since 2010.

Michelle is a Global Campaigner with Avaaz, a online community of citizens from all nations working to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want. Initially a researcher in animal behaviour at ANU, she realised that people were pretty interesting too and became fascinated by the way we are inspired by other people's stories. Since then she's found tales of inspiration from her time as a public servant, a bar manager, a sustainability consultant, a divemaster, an environmental educator, and a National Campaign Coordinator with GetUp Australia. She plans to eventually eke out a writing career down the South Coast of NSW with her dogs and a house full of second-hand books, but will never stop exploring the world -- one story at a time.

Sandra has been involved with TEDxSydney since 2011 working with speakers, performers and the organising team to bring this festival of ideas to life. This year Sandra will be assisting Remo and the team with various event management projects in the lead up to the day including coordinating speaker and performer requirements, and preparing web content. In her working life Sandra is the Business Development Manager for the City of Sydney Venues Team and is responsible for managing the kaleidoscope of event bookings at Sydney Town Hall. This year she has taken time out from her role with the City to look after baby Elizabeth, the youngest member of the TEDxSydney family.

Gretel Killeen is a best-selling author, voice artist, documentary maker and Mo Award recipient and was the former host of the Logie winning Big Brother. In a career that has covered all areas of the arts and media from stand up comedy to journalism, Gretel regularly appears on TV and radio as a social commentator, consults as a verbal communications specialist, is currently writing a new play and has just completed writing and directing her first feature film.

Jackie is a journalist and communications consultant. She has been a spokesperson for the United Nations in Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Ossetia, and was more recently a speechwriter at the Asian Development Bank in the Philippines. She has worked for a range of publications including the Sydney Morning Herald, the ABC, Reuters, the Guardian and Monocle, and writes fiction in her spare time. Jackie was also co-founder of Strewth!, a magazine dedicated to bagging celebrity chefs, wowsers and Baz Luhrmann.

All things theatrical and creative, Jessica is about making big-picture dreams a reality. Currently working at Sydney Festival in corporate partnerships, Jessica enjoys creating events that have the wow factor and provide an impact for both the guest and the sponsoring organisation. Jessica has successfully managed and grown numerous events over the past 8 years, in both the private and public sectors, as an events and sponsorship manager for events such as the Aboriginal Health Awards, NSW Premier's Awards, Tropfest, Fashion Week and the Edinburgh festivals.

Born in Sydney, Kirsty studied English, philosophy and modern history at the University of Sydney before moving to London in 1998 to work at The Observer newspaper. She completed her masters degree in history in London and returned to Sydney via a stint in New York in 2004 to work at The Australians at War Film Archive, interviewing war veterans on film for The Australian War Memorial. This changed her direction and she co-produced, -wrote and -directed a feature-length documentary on Vanity Fair special correspondent Dominick Dunne, which was released in cinemas in 2008. Since then she has returned to writing, her first love, and is currently developing a documentary series while raising a young family. Kirsty discovered TED a few years back and has been addicted to its inspiring talks ever since. She’s thrilled to be part of the TEDxSydney content team for 2013.

Dominique is a writer, editor and storyteller. She founded The Copy Collective (TCC) – a growing global network of creative talent – in 2008. TCC provides compelling content for a range of projects both print and online on behalf of clients in the corporate, business, education, government and not-for-profit sectors. A journalist by training, Dominique is fascinated by the stories that each person has to tell, and her mission is to do justice to those stories whether she’s crafting copy for a promotional brochure or helping a charity raise funds to beat cancer or protect the rights of children. She loves the way TED brings to together passionate people from different backgrounds and all corners of the globe to tell their stories to inspire others and help make the world a more vibrant, interesting, and hopeful place. Twitter @dantarakis

Marina completed an honours degree in Australian History at the University of Sydney before beginning her career as a copywriter at online media and research company, pureprofile. Since she began freelancing, Marina has written a range of food and lifestyle articles for Women’s Weekly, ninemsn.com.au, smh.com.au and mamamia.com.au. She has also created end-to-end websites for a range of SMEs and worked with publishers like Eatability and Essential Groom. Marina is currently trying to get her first novel for young adults published. It doesn't include any vampire love so she's not liking her chances.

Josh Stinton is about ideas. He’s about people. He creates experiences for people to learn from through events, facilitation sessions and design workshops – ultimately bringing people together to share ideas and drive progress. A partner at 6.2 - Josh enjoys regularly hosting and speaking on the intersection between success and failure, and creative thinking. He has produced and co-managed events including FailCon Sydney, If Talks, TEDx Macquarie University and Global Service Jam. A Board Director at Macquarie University, 2012 saw Josh winning Project Future’s top honour, being crowned “Stella Fella” and ambassador for anti-sex trafficking. Josh also works with Save the Children Australia and HOPE Africa. Josh likes his chillies hot. Twitter @joshuastinton

Amber Dermoudy is an entrepreneur and digital marketing specialist with a passion for building and promoting communities of interest. A pseudo-geek at heart, Amber has a special interest in digital media, mobile, startups and new technologies. She is founder and co-editor of Salad Social - an independent online news and opinion blog covering topics such as social media, technology, mobile, marketing, innovation, music and games. She also established and sold Betty Lifestyle Assistants (Betty LA) a community business offering personal assistant, lifestyle management and personal concierge services. Amber is co-founder and head of Digital Launch, a subsidiary of Launch Group. She is currently undertaking her Masters in Marketing.

Carmen is a freelance writer and self-confessed pop culture vulture with a penchant for bringing people together. Most at home in the community sector, Carmen recently teamed up with local non-profit organisation Vibewire Youth Inc. to launch and curate the fastBREAK innovation series at The Powerhouse Museum. Through writing, photography and event production, Carmen makes it her business to shine a light on mere mortals with brave ideas and unswerving passions. When she's not busy telling other people's stories, Carmen likes to enrich her own by learning new languages, rethinking assumptions, and exploring unfamiliar places.

Tim Brunero is an ABC radio producer and presenter and has hosted shows on Adelaide's top rating station 5AA, Radio Adelaide and Sydney's 2SER and 2GB. He has also hosted TV shows Dare I Ask? and Small Biz Central. Tim was also an online pioneer – writing a weekly blog for the The Chaser, penning opinion on livenews.com.au and working at news.com.au as Entertainment Editor.

By day (and quite often into the night), Sian helps some of Australia’s biggest companies and brands shine, through her Communications role as an Associate Director at Hill+Knowlton Strategies. Having previously worked in the film and television industry with Screen Australia, Sian's focus nowadays is in the health, nutrition and wider consumer lifestyle sectors. Whatever the industry, she loves to tackle a communications challenge via inventive approaches and a growing obsession with the power of people and the individual. Sian is thrilled to be channeling that expertise to a movement that can captivate and challenge an audience, and communicate an alternate way of thinking. She is particularly excited to be working with such an accomplished and amazing TEDx team, and the bold, blue-chip partners that recognise the unique market that TEDx has been able to capture.

Stuart has produced events and installations within the arts, entertainment and creative industries across the globe since the mid-ninties. Diverse credits include installations and activations at events such as Glastonbury (UK), Big Day Out (Aus & NZ), Splendour In The Grass (Aus), F1Rocks (Singapore) and Executive Producer credits for iconic cultural events such as Mardi Gras Party, Mardi Gras Harbour Party and Pacha Sydney. Stuart is the founder of Sydney based creative production company Alfred, and recently showcased his own personal work at Sculptures By The Sea Bondi 2012. A lover of sharing ideas and food, 2013 will be Stuart’s second year working with the wonderful folks at TEDxSydney.

Jess consults as Goody Two Shoes on community engagement and digital strategy specialising in non-profit, behaviour change and sustainability communication. Most recently Jess co-founded Grow It Local which she is currently working to deliver to the TEDxSydney community and collaborated with Circul8 to the 1 Millions Reasons (to #savethereef) campaign. Jess worked as part of the team to launch the award-winning Garage Sale Trail as a national project, developed WSPA’s social engagement strategy and has consulted to Medecins Sans Frontieres, Mobile Muster, Australian Ethical, ActionAid Australia, Amnesty Australia, The British Council, The Greens Party, Say Yes!, The United Nations Commission for Refugees, Herman Miller, the Sydney Coastal Council, Real Food Projects and The Raising Children Network to plan and grow their community using a range of online and offline tools. Twitter @Jem1ller

Barbara writes about food for The Sydney Morning Herald's Good Food and is regional editor of the Good Food Guide. She is also a columnist and feature writer for Country Style, where she writes about her encounters with curious piglets, beekeepers and pineapple growers. In 2012, Barbara staged the inaugural Food & Words food writers' festival in Sydney; where food writers talk about books that matter and writers espouse on the importance of food in their work. Barbara cannot imagine a life without cooking: it can be a personal salve as well as a means to bring people together.

Tom has a passion for people and for understanding why things are the way the are. With a varied background in science, event management and business, Tom currently works with international consulting firms to deliver unique design thinking based problem solving events. He is also an avid photographer, part time film maker and dedicated husband.

Adriana currently project manages web development at Sydney Opera House and has worked in the performing arts for over ten years, specialising in ticketing and CRM. She plays clarinet, speaks four languages, and frequently considers becoming an investment banker. This is Adriana's first year with TEDxSydney. Twitter @tuesday_

Bio to come