TEDx coming to BSU campus later this month

02/12/2015

By Marissa Bean

Arts Editor

Photo courtesy of BSU Student Government Association on Facebook. — The first ever TEDxBSU will take place on Feb. 23 at 5 p.m., and it will be live-streamed for viewing in Conant 120. Photo courtesy of www.bridgew.edu.

TEDx is coming to BSU in the coming weeks for the very first time.

According to Anthony Hebert, Vice President of the Student Government Association, “A TEDx event is an officially licensed and independently organized TED event. TED is the parent organization, which licenses out its brand to people all over the world to host these kinds of events.”

The TED website describes the TEDx program as being “created in the spirit of TED’s mission, ‘ideas worth spreading.’ It supports independent organizers who want to create a TED-like event in their own community.”

The program was “designed to help communities, organizations and individuals to spark conversation and connection through local TED-like experiences,” according to TED.com.

The event is being put together by SGA and the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership.

The list of eight speakers was announced last week, and it includes students, faculty, staff, and community members.

According to the school website, the speakers are Lisa Boragine, Queen Butahe, Ed Cabellon, James Hayes-Bohanan, Mia Holland, Amma Marfo, Jenny Shanahan, and Madhavi Venkatesan.

“What is Our Future?” is the theme for the TEDx event.

According to Hebert, “Each speaker will have their own topic to speak on that they came up with themselves; however, each talk will tie back into the overall theme by trying to answer that question in its own unique way.”

The speakers were chosen “by a search committee made up of a group of Senators from the Student Government Association,” according to Hebert, who led the committee.

TEDxBSU will take place on February 23 beginning at 5 p.m.

TED has strict guidelines about the number of people allowed to be in the audience, according to Hebert.

“We are only allowed 100 people in the actual room where the event is taking place,” Hebert said. “Due to this restriction, the Student Government Association has invited 100 distinguished individuals from around the University, mostly students but also some faculty and staff, to attend TEDxBSU.”

However, others wishing to watch the event are encouraged to watch the live-stream in Conant Mathematics and Science Building Room 120. Hebert said, “We would like as many people as possible to be a part of TEDxBSU so we are also live-streaming this event.”

For those individuals who cannot attend the live-streaming, a link will be available online, “so anyone on or off campus with internet access can view TEDxBSU,” said Hebert.

Hebert hopes that people will come away from the event with new perspectives.

“I want them to listen and to absorb a whole host of new ideas that will impact the way they live their lives,” Hebert said. “We want to spread powerful ideas to the next generation of leaders and through these ideas the graduates of Bridgewater State University will change the world for the better.”

Marissa Bean is the Arts Editor of The Comment. Follow her on Twitter @MarLaur16.

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