TEDx conference to be held at UR

When the ticket registration opened for the first University of Richmond TEDx conference at 6 p.m. on Oct. 19, the event sold out in four minutes.

TEDx is scheduled for Nov. 12, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Ukrop Auditorium at the Robins School of Business.

Daniel Yoo, a sophomore political science and music major, began to organize the TEDx event last year.

“I was surprised at how fast the tickets sold out,” Yoo said. “It’s nice to see the UR community so into the idea of having this event on our own campus. I would encourage people to get on the waiting list if they didn’t get a ticket yet.”

TED conferences, started in 1984 by the Sapling Foundation, are meant to spread ideas by having speakers give presentations on a chosen topic for about 20 minutes. The topics range from science to business to global issues, and are conducted in more than 100 languages globally, according to TED.com.

TEDx conferences are different from the traditional TED talks. They are events that are licensed by the Sapling Foundation to give independent parties the ability to inspire and share ideas and experiences with others in various communities.

A TEDx event must show videos from previously recorded TED conferences and have live speakers who give TED-like talks to the community.

Since this is UR’s first time hosting a TEDx event and none of its organizers have been to a TED talk in the past, the audience can be a maximum of only 100 people, according to TED.com.

“I thought of the idea the first semester of my freshman year, last October,” Yoo said. “I was sitting in my dorm room and realized that a lot of other universities are having TEDx events. So why couldn’t we?”

Two months after sending in the application to the Sapling Foundation, Yoo received a response to his email informing him that he and the university had been granted a license to host a TEDx conference.

Yoo then teamed up with a group of other students and Molly Field, the community engagement program manager for the UR Office of the Chaplaincy, to solidify the conference organization.

“I had been wanting to organize a TEDx event at UR for the past year,” Field said. “When I heard Daniel was doing it I knew I wanted to help. It’s mostly a student-led movement and the chaplaincy is just helping with some logistics of it like booking the venue and catering.”

By emailing tedxuniversityofrichmond@gmail.com with the subject line as “waiting list- [last name], [first name]” you can register to be placed on the waiting list for the event.

“Just because you didn’t get a ticket on time doesn’t mean you can’t go,” Field said. “If for some reason a ticket holder decides not to go or leaves early, then we can easily let people on the waiting list know so they can come and fill the spot.”

The theme for the conference is “explore” and will feature speakers from completely different professions, Yoo said.

“We want speakers who have really interesting individual stories to tell,” Yoo said. “The theme is broad on purpose so that it allows for almost any interpretation. It could range from something like exploring the rainforest to academic exploration. We’re just trying to find great ideas to inspire people.”

The speakers are a secret as of now, Field said. Some are from our campus, and some are coming from elsewhere.

“I can’t reveal too much about the speakers,” Field said. “But the only thing I’ll say is that we are flying in some speakers from outside of Virginia for the event and they are all going to bring different approaches to the theme.”

The speakers will be revealed to the public on Nov. 1 through the TEDx University of Richmond Facebook Page.

Contact reporter Matt Davison at matt.davison@richmond.edu