Build your brain with TEDxMileHigh and the first-ever TEDxYouth@MileHigh

Prepare to be amazed. Prepare to be inspired. Prepare, perhaps, to reflect less favorably on your own accomplishments. It’s time for TEDxMileHigh, two days of performances and events that start with the first-ever TEDxYouth@MileHigh today from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The main event runs from 1 to 6 p.m. tomorrow at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.

According to TEDxMile High curator Jeremy Duhon, 2,000 tickets are expected to be sold for the annual TEDxMileHigh conference by tomorrow morning. Last year’s inaugural event sold out completely, inspiring the smaller, more intimate TEDx Mile High Salon in January to open the experience to different perspectives and several hundred people.

Tomorrow’s extravaganza focuses on the theme of “Risk and Reward,” which builds off of its predecessor, “Inspired Citizenship.” Across five hours, eighteen guests (not including a still-secret musical act) will speak or perform pieces devoted to the TED model’s focus on “Ideas Worth Spreading.” The California-based project asks speakers to present their stories of a lifetime, which will be recorded and displayed online for free soon after. Many new faces appear — and repeat throughout today and tomorrow — while at least one will be familiar from last year: Dr. Allen Lim, a cycling specialist with a burgeoning small business, spoke at the 2011 conference and closed out the 2012 salon.

New this year is the Exhibits Lounge, an interactive area split from the stage where people can participate in smaller workshops and discussions. It will be open on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. before speakers begin, during intermission from 3 to 4 p.m., and after the speakers finish from 6 to 8 p.m.

Click through to see the full speaker lists for both events.

The 2012 TEDxYouth@MileHigh lineup:

Chris Davenport, two-time World Champion skier and TV commentator
Natalie Baumgartner, PhD, clinical psychologist and co-founder of RoundPegg
Kelly Brough, president and CEO of the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce
Jennifer Chipman, AECOM water resource engineer
Kayvon Coffey, violin prodigy and member of Denver Young Artists Orchestra
Bianca Griffith, Executive Director of Sante Natural
Adam Lerner, director and chief animator of the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver
Samantha Lobato, recent graduate of Career Education Center Middle College and a youth leader for Project VOYCE (Voices of Youth Changing Education)
Ryan Martens, founder of Rally Software and CEO of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado
Kimbal Musk, The Kitchen Community
Slam Nuba
Evan Walden and Nathaniel Koloc, ReWork, co-founders of ReWork, a startup that connects professionals with companies that are making the world a better place
Woody Roseland, five-time cancer survivor and comedian

Click through for the TEDxMileHigh lineup.

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