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Traverse City Leader Hand-Selected To Give International Talk

You’ve probably heard one or caught a glimpse on your Facebook news feed.

TED Talks are short, powerful lectures, given by influential people.

Now a community leader in Traverse City is being hand-picked to give one of the inspirational speeches.

Ty Schmidt is most well-known for his work with Traverse City non-profit, Norte.

Now come this spring, he’ll still be well know, but on a much larger scale.

Living in Traverse City, chances are you’ve probably heard of or met, go-getter Ty Schmidt.

“He’s just like the pied piper right now and people are following him like crazy,” says Executive Director of Traverse City Track Club, Lisa Taylor.

“Everybody wants to be with Ty, everybody wants to work with Ty. He just has such enthusiasm and a smile on his face.”

If you haven’t had a chance to meet the community leader, now is your opportunity.

Ty’s been selected to give a speech that will reach people across the globe, a TED Talk.

“We got three minutes to pitch your big idea. My talk was about less stuff, more time, change the world,” explains Schmidt.

“There was like I said, 19 other awesome pitches, and I’m pretty shocked mine was selected.”

TED is a nonprofit that uses the spreading of ideas to change the world.

Their speakers are individuals with the vision and drive to do just that.

“That’s how this started, I made a decision to spend half as much so that I could work half as much,” says Schmidt.

“I just wanted something more and through that decision all these other things happened, and none of them were plans.”

Taylor shares that one of those things, Ty’s own nonprofit Norte, got 800 Northern Michigan kids out and walking to school this winter; “800 kids that’s amazing, and to get kids out and active and purposeful with their exercise is just a huge impact that he’s had, just a small example.”

Ty’s big idea is to get people to fight for their own time because the result, is worth the time-off; “It’s more about an idea and to inspire others to know that there is a different way, that there’s something more than this rat race that we sort of get sucked into it.”

Ty’s TED Talk with be live streamed from Dennos Museum Center on May 17th.

To make sure you get your ticket for the big event, click .

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