With a theme of “Through Collaboration, Impact,” the Stevens TEDx took place this past Wednesday in DeBaun Auditorium. Four speakers discussed topics like green infrastructure, mental health, reimagining calculus, and civil defense. One hundred audience members, a live viewing party sponsored by the SGA, and an international live online audience meant a new platform for Stevens researchers.
The event opened with an introduction by Mohammad Dehghani, the Vice Provost of Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Aaron Price, founder of Propelify and NJ Tech Meetup, was the emcee. Price added humor to the event and boosted the audience energy.
Blythe Nobleman, the organizer of the event, was instrumental in not only the success of the event but also in the event coming to campus. Inspired by other universities with TEDx programs, Nobleman brought the idea to Dehghani. They thought it would be a way to place Stevens researchers on a “broad, global platform.” Nobleman said that this program is ideal and “can call upon multimedia and experiential communications to get many thousands of viewers from across the globe to engage with ‘ideas worth spreading’ and bring greater recognition to Stevens.”
Even though TEDx is independently organized, there was still a very specific set of criteria and rules that needed to be followed. Nobleman applied for licenses and engaged in “rigorous negotiations” with TEDx to ensure that Stevens would hold an event that could present the breadth and depth of Stevens research with the integrity of the TEDx program.
“Part of TEDx is to include ‘diversity of topics,’ so we worked very hard to find the right combination and to be inclusive,” said Nobleman. A committee in the Office of Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship worked on vetting different “ideas worth sharing,” the motto of TEDx. The key was to focus on the core idea of the research, not just the presentation. The goal of the talks was to inspire discourse and engage a range of audiences.
The speakers that were selected were Alex Wellerstein, Elizabeth Fassman-Beck, Jan Cannizzo, and and Melissa Zarin. Dr. Zarin stepped in at the last minute to replace Kristie Damell. When Nobleman was asked what it was like to have a last-minute speaker cancellation and to need to find a replacement, she said, “We have no shortage of amazing researchers and administrators… Dr. Zarin was brave enough to step in and work hard to get it done.”
Besides a last-minute speaker replacement, the talk was also rescheduled twice due to snow storms in the spring 2018 semester. Nobleman admitted that the weather cancellations were a challenge, yet the team was motivated, “especially Dr. Dehghani.” The team knew they had to “just keep going.” “Persistence and grit are essential to success, which we all kept in mind as we went forward,” stated Nobleman.
A reception followed the main event. There the speakers got the chance to mingle with the audience members and receive congratulations. Presentations were set up for each speaker, allowing them to expand on their ideas. Cannizzo was seen explaining some calculus problems to some of the attendees.
Many guests had only positive reviews of the event.
Kelland Thomas, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, raved about the event: “I thought all of the presenters, all four speakers, were extremely polished, engaging, interesting, and they really represented the breadth that Stevens has to offer… I really liked that it was a broad-based program and they all represented Stevens marvelously. Marvelous. Fantastic.”
Robert Mikesh, a student, said, “I thought [the event] was great for Stevens… to be able to showcase our research and how we are advancing the various studies that we teach our students and now we can put it on a more global stage for people from the other side of the globe to see it.”
After such a success, the question is what are the future plans for TEDx at Stevens?
“We definitely foresee this as being a campus-wide endeavor with a much broader live audience, including students, of course,” commented Nobleman. For the event to become an annual program, TEDx needs to renew the license.
Even though this event was limited to an audience of 100 people, there are hopes to increase the audience size. The limitation was imposed by TEDx to provide a more intimate setting. For the next event, the plan is to include a larger audience and to expand the event.
Yet, the public can view the talks even after the actual live viewing of the talk. The videos of each talk will be edited and polished, and then uploaded to the TEDx website for viewers around the world. Nobleman was very excited that the researchers will have a different platform that can be easily viewed by millions of people.
TEDx at Stevens could be the start of a new method for Stevens researchers to reach new audiences.
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