Community leaders from LSU and Baton Rouge will gather to share their ideas for social, civic and commercial progress in Louisiana at TEDxLSU 2014. The event, which will take place at the LSU Shaver Theatre on March 29, has undergone improvements after the success of last year’s inaugural TEDxLSU event.
TEDxLSU is an evolution in the Communication across the Curriculum, or CxC’s, effort to highlight innovative thinkers from LSU and the greater community. Before TEDxLSU, the student organized LSU Digital Media Fest provided a platform to share work in digital media from the most recent generation of LSU students.
Rebecca Burdette, Associate Director at the CxC, said that TED sponsorship was an opportunity to take the event to another level by setting a higher standard for ideas and inviting speakers from different disciplines rather than just digital media.
“LSU is our flagship for the state, we are an incubator for knowledge, training and developing students to be informed and productive citizens,” Burdette said. “When you have passionate people like at LSU, it creates the opportunity for a great event.”
Burdette said the first TEDxLSU event was planned and executed in only 75 days. This year Communication across the Curriculum had more time to plan and strategize.
“Anyone who came to last year’s event will see the difference,” Burdette said. “This year the event will be more focused, with fewer speakers giving higher quality talks.”
Last year, the event sold out at 250 tickets. This year, the CxC managed to reduce the price to $75 for general admission and $50 for students and is on course to sell all of its 400 tickets. Burdette said that the extra time for planning also gave the event’s Curator, Joey Watson, an opportunity to work individually with speakers and cultivate their speeches.
The event comprises three 60 minute sessions with two 30 minute breaks in between. As a part of the TED theme, speakers are asked to give the “talk of their lives” in 18 minutes or less. At TEDxLSU, a specially selected team of individuals will speak for eight-12 minutes to optimize the number of speakers attendees will hear.
“Last year, we talked about how our community was changing through the theme ‘evolve,’” Burdette said. “This year, we want to talk about the exciting things that are happening when we ‘enact.’”
The event will last from 1-5 p.m. Visit the TEDxLSU website, www.tedxlsu.com, for more details and a list of speakers. “Like” the TEDxLSU Facebook page, www.facebook.com/tedxlsu, and follow on Twitter, @TEDXLSU, to get the most up-to-date information.
DOMINIQUE RICKS
· poet, playwright and education advocate
· Baton Rouge, La, native
· sociology and political science senior at University of Wisconsin-Madison
LAUREN COLLIGNON
· entrepreneurial artist, cancer survivor
· Baton Rouge, La., native
· LSU art history alumna
· jewelry designer and owner of Flaming Lotus Jewelry