But a bunch of school kids is showing how it's done well, snaring stellar speakers usually found on Q&A and working on a legacy of past festivals that have resulted in tangible change.

It is a tradition for year 12 students at Radford College to each year single-handedly organise the Dirrum Dirrum Festival, a forum for  exploring "dangerous ideas" and sparking action.

This year, the students have secured eight high-profile speakers including  Youth Without Borders founder Yassmin Abdel-Magied, former crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi, Emergent chief executive officer Holly Ransom, Nauru detention centre whistleblower Toby Gunn, quadriplegic farmer Sam Bailey and theologian Sarah Bachelard. Global Poverty Project director Michael Sheldrick has also accepted the invitation.

 And how did they do it? "We asked," year 12 student Huw Davis said. "We started about 11 months ago. We put our heads together and thought, 'Who do we want to see?'."

The theme of this year's festival is "For the Common Good", with two sessions of speakers  at Radford on Saturday, August 5, exploring that theme in all its permutations. The event is open to the public. Huw said the speakers were surprised when they realised the festival was organised by school students.

"That is definitely something that does shock people, that we're organising something on this scale," he said.

 We're doing something that isn't normally done and really trying to create something that we're passionate about.”

And Dirrum Dirrum is not set up to be another well-meaning but ineffective talkfest. The 2015 and 2016 festivals saw students volunteer to assist CSIRO scientists Richard Stirzaker make more of his soil "chameleon" devices for farmers in Zimbabwe. The festival also inspires confidence in the students.

Rosie Goggs, 18, is in the communications team, organising all the advertising for the event. "You learn brilliant organisational skills," she said. The Dirrum Dirrum Festival will be held at Radford College in College Street, Bruce on Saturday, August 5.