TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to "Ideas Worth Spreading."

Started as a four-day conference in California, 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives.

Photo: Grant Scott

Jesa Saunders(L), Kit Sauder and Veronica Michalska work on the first picture in front of The Habitat Friday morning.

Since then, TED speakers have included the likes of Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

An off shoot of the TED conference, TEDx offers individuals or groups a way to organize local, independent TED-like events around the world.

On Friday, TEDxKelowna, presented by the Okanagan Young Professionals Collective was held at The Habitat on Leon Avenue.

Andrew Gaucher is the planning lead for the event and he says that after following TED for a while, he was surprised to find there wasn't one in Kelowna.

Friday morning, volunteers took to the streets of downtown Kelowna to create chalk art on the sidewalks to promote the event.

"The theme this year is basically social, environmental or business change as a catalyst for positive change," says Gaucher.

The Collective says they offer a unique approach to changing the culture in Kelowna for 25-45 year-olds.

"The chalk art is really just to generate buzz, both for this year and also for next year," says Gaucher.

"There's going to be a lot of people downtown today. There's only a hundred people that are attending the event today because that was our limitation on tickets. We're hoping that the buzz is generated downtown and people will see it and say 'I gotta be on the list for next year'."

In all, 10 speakers were scheduled to speak to the approximately 100 local community leaders in attendance and create what they call "a lasting ripple effect of change for the Okanagan."

"We brought a whole bunch of local speakers together who are already doing it. I thought that it would be inspiring for the community to get an idea of what's going on here already."

For more information on TEDxKelowna, visit their website.