Speakers flock to Gulf Coast

A world-renowned speakers conference with a focus on creativity will make its U.S. debut in Sarasota later this year.

The conference is PINC — People, Ideas, Nature and Creativity. Modeled after the TED Talks concept, it's been held in the Netherlands for 15 years. The Sarasota version is scheduled for Nov. 6 at Florida Studio Theater. The daylong conference, according to a release, will include presentations from 16 international speakers “who have little shared experience other than extreme passion for what they do.”

Topics on the agenda range from oceanography to orthopaedic surgery and from business innovation to vertical farming. Confirmed speakers include David Gallo, director of the Wood Hole Institute, an oceanography center, who has worked on the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370; transplant surgeon Dr. John Barker; publishing entrepreneur Joost Elffers, who created the line of Tangram puzzles; and British doctor and Antarctic explorer Alexander Kumar.