The third TEDxBaltimore conference, an independently organized TED conference, drew a record number of attendees to Morgan State University on Friday for a series of talks centered around the theme of “Collisions.”
Seventeen speakers from all over the world presented at the day-long conference.
According to Sarge Salman, licensee and curator of TEDxBaltimore since 2012, this year’s theme helped shape the narrative of the conference and guide the speakers’ talks. He came up with the theme after speaking to several colleagues.
The preparations for this conference lasted a year, and its coordinators began searching for potential speakers right after last year’s event ended.
“The presenters... who are 16 speakers and one dance group, have been invited by a long curation process from vetting, and they’ve come all over the country,” Salman said.
Salman said that the Baltimore event has been gaining more traction every year. TEDxBaltimore sold 1,070 tickets this year, compared to the 800 tickets sold last year and 298 tickets sold in 2013.
“As our third conference, we are getting better at organizing and delivering the awesome conference,” Salman wrote in an e-mail to The News-Letter.
In one talk at the conference, Professor Ruha Benjamin of Princeton University described four instances in which a discriminatory design could either unintentionally or intentionally cause research and public policy to be biased. This in turn could exhort citizens to keep science free of the damaging imposition of assumptions.
Dr. Jimmy Lin, a graduate of the Hopkins School of Medicine, told a personal story about how his friend was affected by cancer and outlined a number of strategic achievements in the war against cancer.
“We are winning the war on cancer,” he said.
Speakers also came from a wide variety of backgrounds. Lucas Benitez, a founder of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, spoke entirely in Spanish about his work to end the exploitation of agricultural workers.
Other speakers included blind artist Kayti Didriksen, Walters Art Museum Executive Director Julia Marciari-Alexander, and Andreas Spilladis, who tied a world record in hula-hooping.
Ardian Latifi, a regular attendee of TEDxBaltimore and the curator for the upcoming TEDxJHU conference, said he was again impressed by this event.
“TEDxBaltimore was amazing as always. As a member of the TEDx community, events like this are what it’s all about,” Latifi, a senior, said.
He hopes to incorporate a few things that TEDxBaltimore had done this year into his planning of this year’s TEDxJHU event.
“As a TEDx organizer, I’m always thinking about ways to improve my event,” Latifi said. “My team and I love to attend events like TEDxBaltimore because it gives us a chance to see how a more established TEDx event is run. The great thing about the TEDx community is that organizers are open to each other to share tips and ideas. It has also got my team and I really excited about our event on March 7.”
Many local students and teachers came to the conference as well. Tracy Woodham, an English and writing teacher at Jemicy School brought along some of her students.
“I love the talks. My favorites have been so far James West and Ruha Benjamin,” Woodham said. “It’s really cool being here with my students who love TED and getting to experience them watch[ing] the TED talks.”
Patrick Kammar, one of Woodham’s students, also said he enjoyed the conference and plans to continue attending TEDx conferences.
“I think it’s a great thing in Baltimore to come to and I think it shows great ideas and I think it is a place where not only ideas can be heard, but also the speakers can get their ideas expressed, and I’m definitely coming back next year,” Kammar said.
The TEDxBaltimore conference was streamed live online on Friday, and the whole show will be uploaded onto YouTube.
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