Their talks were described as "soul-enriching" and covered topics from mental health in schools to cardiac health in workplaces to career burnout.
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Seventeen speakers and one musician brought the global TEDx initiative to Katoomba on Friday, June 30.
A full house of attendees from the Blue Mountains and as far west as Wallerawang and east to Sydney's northern beaches watched the talks at Katoomba Community Hall.
TEDxKatoomba curator Niall Clerkin said "it was a long day but full of highlights".
"Every single speaker produced their best work. To have a few speakers bring their A-game would have been terrific, but for everyone to produce on the TEDx stage was truly amazing," he said.
"I laughed, I cried, I clapped a lot. The buzz in the room was incredible. Everyone was discussing, analysing and digesting information in an energetic and collaborative fashion."
Audience feedback was positive with one guest survey response saying the speakers "surpassed anything I could imagine".
"Taking the day off was soul enriching, I'm inspired by all," they said.
Other responses praised the range of speakers and topics.
"It's a reminder that TED events are global, and one ripple will make a difference," said one attendee.
Nepean Hospital cardiologist Dr Faraz Pathan impressed the audience with his compelling case for a shift in work practices while Blue Mountains Grammar School principal Steven Coote was another attendee's "pick of the day".
Permaculture expert Rosemary Morrow was described as "humble but deeply impactful" while Wentworth Falls resident Will Boag's talk about walking the Camino de Santiago with Parkinson's disease was "just inspirational and deeply human".
Other speakers included neuropathologist Michael Buckland, who talked about the consequences of head impacts in sport, and Sarah Farrell-Whelan, who shared a novel approach to mental health in education adapted from a Finnish model.
It will be a couple of months before the rest of the world gets to experience what the Katoomba audience did as post-production gets underway before the talks are published on the TEDx YouTube channel.
But once they are released on the wider stage, Mr Clerkin is confident the messages from the talks will be even more powerful.
"I could not be prouder of what we achieved, nor prouder of the speakers. I am confident that some of these talks will become viral sensations," he said.
To learn more about TEDxkatoomba and future events sign up to the mailing list at tedxkatoomba.com and follow TEDxKatoomba on Facebook.
