Organizers of TEDxUtica are looking to share "ideas worth spreading."

Co-organizer Geoff Storm visited WIBX First News with Keeler in the Morning to discuss Utica's first TEDx project, being presented on October 23, 2013.  Excerpts from the interview are below.

Storm said the genesis of TEDxUtica was really when he and Ryan Miller got together with a group of friends and made the decision that Utica could benefit from a TED event and decided to try to organize it.

TED, which stands for “Technology, Entertainment, Design,” has been around since the 1980's for the purpose of sharing ideas that can benefit us all. TED conducts two annual day-long conferences, one of the west coast and one is Scotland.  Thousands of TED presentations are available online.  A few years ago the parent organisation, TED, decided to license events.  Storm and Miller decided to apply to the group to hold a TED event in Utica and were granted the license this year.

The talks, thousands of which are held all over the world, are meant to inspire and get people thinking in a different way.  They are ideas that people can apply to their own lives, or help influence the community to affect change in a positive way, and bring people together to accomplish things.  The theme of TEDxUtica is "Dream, Develop, Deliver."

Topics to be covered may cover everything from community development, sustainability, media technology, education, arts, urban renewal and revitalization.  They are hoping that people will get together at the conference and be inspired from there to effect change.

 


Organizers are looking for ten to twelve speakers who will make presentations that will last from twelve to eighteen minutes.  Interested parties can apply at their website and, if selected to present, successful applicants will be assisted with the development of their talk.

Generally, TED speakers put about eighty hours into their presentations.  Storm says he believes the event can be a catalyst for positive change in the area.

Storm thanked the community and community leaders who have already gotten involved in the project: Human Technologies Corporation, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Community Foundation, Northland Communications, The United Way, the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce, and New York Sash.

The event is a not-or-profit event and there will be a limited number of tickets available.   TED guidelines dictate that there must be no more than one hundred tickets for an inaugural event.

Ideas that may be deemed outlandish, or at least sound outlandish on the surface, but that can be presented well, might find a good audience at a TEDx event.   It is not about proposing a position on something; it is about proposing ideas.

One of the goals of TEDx in general is just to et people thinking, collaborating, and delivering on those ideas.  The range is very broad, just things designed to make the world a better place.

Anyone interested can click the links here for news about tickets, more event information, or a speaker application.

Interested in participating?  Here is TEDxUtica's promotional video:

 

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