Sponsorship issues force cancellation of TEDxYouth event

May 11, 2018

Sponsorship issues force cancellation of TEDxYouth event

TEDX Youth have been an international success, but there Auckland show has been cancelled. Photo: Supplied

A youth aimed public speaking event was cancelled due to sponsorship issues.

TEDxYouth Auckland, the youth aimed division of the independently organised TED talks, was cancelled two weeks before it was scheduled to be held on May 4 at the Aotea Centre.

It had previously been postponed from October 20 last year so organisers could concentrate on the flagship TEDxAuckland event.

Gabbie Tutheridge, a student at AUT University was disappointed about the event being cancelled.

“It was that heartbreaking moment when you have to cross it out of your diary, and it was something that I had been looking forward to for so long,” she said.

She says she has been a fan of TED talks for years, with the most popular talks attracting tens of millions of views on YouTube.

Ms Tutheridge said she was confused as to why the event was cancelled since tickets sold out.

However, there was an issue with a key sponsor at the last minute.

“We had a sponsor pull out at the last minute, and we couldn’t really go ahead with it,” said Georgina Roberts, the co-organiser for TEDxAuckland.

Ms Roberts said the non-profit organisation relies almost entirely on corporate sponsorships to cover the cost of events.

She said due to issues with the ticketing system, ticketholders did not receive an explanation for the event’s cancellation, but instead a notice was sent saying their tickets had been refunded.

“We totally understand how confusing it was for people,” she said.

Elspeth Caroll, who had given a TED Talk in 2013 for TEDxAuckland, said that she would like to see events like TEDxYouth given funding in the future.

“The whole team is volunteers and producers, so without sponsorship it can’t happen,” she said.

Six of the scheduled speakers for the event will instead present their talks at the main TEDxAuckland event, which will be held towards the end of 2018.

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