'Lonely Planet' co-founder to speak

Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler has been named as one of the speakers at the inaugural TEDx Queenstown event to be held at the Hilton on April 5.

TED is a non-profit organisation which promotes the message ''ideas worth spreading''.

It began as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago and over the years has featured people such as Sir Richard Branson and Bill Gates as speakers at its annual event.

Locally run versions of TED - called TEDx - are held internationally.

Mr Wheeler will be joined by film-maker Mathurin Molgat who will present a business case for the regeneration of Kauri forests, Te reo Maori teacher Jeromy van Riel who will talk about indigenous people, scientist and PHD student Ella Lawton and Queenstown adventurer Chuck Berry.