The worldwide Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference will be staged in Phnom Penh once again this June, with organisers anticipating a capacity crowd and a trove of interesting speakers.

Founded in 1984, TED conferences have been held annually for more than 20 years with the aim of showcasing interesting and potentially world-changing ideas by politicians, scientists and inventors.

Previous speakers at TED’s main conference in California include former US President Bill Clinton and Microsoft founder Bill Gates and renowned Chilean writer Isabel Allende.

TED grants licenses for other organisations to stage their own local conferences, staged under the moniker TEDx, under the conditions that speakers are not paid a fee and the parent organisation retains the right to distribute their presentations.

June will be the third time that TEDx has been held in Phnom Penh.

Under the theme of “Aspirations, Inspirations, Generations”, organisers are searching for speakers to discuss their personal motivations, where they aspire to lead their country, and the differences in outlook between different generations of Cambodians.

“What we’re looking at is very much the emergence of individualism in a very familial culture,” says Allie Hoffman, TEDx Phnom Penh’s organiser.

“Specifically, how young people in Cambodia are working to find their own future with the pressures of tradition.”

Nominations for local TEDx speakers will close before midnight this Friday, March 23, and can be submitted online at: www.tedxphnompenh.com

The TEDx Phnom Penh will be held on Saturday, June 9, at Pannasastra University’s Norodom Campus

Entry will cost $2.50