Student Sara Minaeian, 15, speaks at the TEDxKids@TheHill event in Ottawa Tuesday. (Kate Porter/CBC)

About a hundred Ottawa-area youth attended a special conference Tuesday designed to open their minds to big ideas.

The TEDxKids@TheHill event — a locally organized one-day conference inspired by the renowned TED lecture series — was held at Ottawa's Canada Agriculture Museum. Young people in attendance watched inspirational videos and speakers, and also joined in various group projects that encouraged them to exchange ideas, while hatching new ones.

"I think Ottawa needs a lot of shaking up," said event organizer Lindsay Aranoff.

"In my own experience going through high school, I just felt there was this real sheep mentality, and it seems there's this massive energy and potential that we're just wasting."

Students heard about initiatives their peers had already launched, including videos about healthy eating, blogs that track compassionate acts and community gardens built at schools.

The students also watched videos from TED speakers about how to form social movements, and how to turn dreams into something real.

"Ideas worth spreading," is the TED mantra, and students like Imaan Sandhu, a Grade 12 student at Glebe Collegiate, said she will definitely take ideas back to her classmates.

"I think there's so many new ideas that normally in school we're not exposed to," Sandhu said.

"With TED we can hear so many speakers and new things that are happening in the world that can affect us and we can get involved in."

Many other students said they felt "inspired," and that the conference made them feel as though they could make a difference.

While the event went well, Aranoff said what happens next is what really matters. "We're starting a community, and this is going to be a long-lasting thing," she said.

Organizers hope the students that took part in Tuesday's event will stay "looped in." That's something they'll need to do if they hope to accomplish their goal to change the world.