The TEDxMississauga conference taking place this summer at the Living Arts Centre is going to be more expansive than any that have happened in the city before.

Rhyan Ahmed, executive director of TEDxMississauga, organized and staged the previous event in the fall of 2015. That conference was capped at 100 seats and was only allowed to run for a few hours, said Ahmed quoting the rules of TED, the organization that began in 1984 as a conference covering technology, entertainment and design that continues to present talks from inspiring speakers on a variety of topics.

However, thanks to Ahmed and the Mississauga conference hitting a few milestones and fulfilling some other requirements, the size and scope of the local event was allowed to increase.

Now, they have room for 1,000 audience members and it’s going to be an all-day gathering, where it was previously held over several hours in the evening.

TEDx events are presented under the TED license but are independently organized and planned at the local level.

This year’s theme is community and Ahmed said, while the speakers might be local, what they will be talking about has a wider appeal beyond the city’s borders.

University of Toronto Mississauga professor Dr. Ronald Buliung is one of the speakers and his research focuses on disability in children. He’s the father of a five-year-old with a degenerative neuromuscular disease.

Other speakers include former child bride Samra Zafar. Married as a teenager and forced to leave her family and home in the United Arab Emirates to settle in Mississauga, she was in an abusive relationship for over a decade before escaping and has since become an advocate for survivors of domestic violence.

Also speaking is Mississauga’s Joel Dembe, a four-time Canadian national wheelchair tennis champion and Paralympian. Also part of the conference is Jagneet Singh, who will talk about a two-year span in his life when he gave up material possessions and searched for a greater purpose. Brady Wilson, the co-founder of Juice Inc. and author of four books about improving employee performance and business results, will also speak.

Mississauga’s Ian Khan, a two-time TEDx speaker, author and technophile, will also give a talk. He’s billed as being passionate when it comes to helping people understand technology.