Speakers at this month’s big-ideas rally in Asheville include a TIME editor and a centenarian.

by VERVE staff

What’s the buzz about TED? Well, when the first TED conference convened in Monterey, California, in 1984, the subjects speakers covered there were mainly in Technology, Entertainment and Design. But since then, TED conferences themselves have spread all over the globe, and TED Talks, as they’re now known, are available for free online and cover a wide range of topics—from microbes to doodling to filming democracy in Ghana. Now, under the banner of “ideas worth spreading,” there are also independently-organized TED conferences in cities everywhere, and Asheville’s got one.

Blogger and social media consultant Jennifer Saylor organized the first TEDx Asheville in 2009 and had to turn away hundreds at the door of The Orange Peel. Now, techie Brett McCall has taken the organizing reigns, and the lineup of speakers for this month’s event looks fascinating. TIME Magazine’s science and technology editor, Jeff Kluger, will speak on sibling relationships. Asheville’s Leah Quintal, who runs the Gift of Light for Haiti program, will talk about bringing solar lights to Haiti’s tent cities. 101-year-old Florence Ready will talk longevity. Joyce Roush, a Flat Rock resident who VERVE profiled in August, will discuss the benefits of organ donation (she was one of the first people in the country to donate a kidney to a stranger). Armenian folk singer Mariam Matossian will perform, along with a hip-hop dance troupe from the Urban Arts Institute. Sounds like a good chance to mix, mingle and be inspired by both out-of-town speakers and brainy Western North Carolinians.

For details and tickets, visit www.tedxasheville.com. TEDx Asheville takes place on November 13 at Diana Wortham Theatre.