TEDxUTAustin: A Student-Led Initiative Exemplifying Ambition, Persistence, Change-focus, and Polished Excellence

TED Talks were first posted online in 2006, the year many current college freshmen were born.

So today’s college students cannot remember a time before the acronym, which stands for technology, entertainment and design, was a household word. They grew up with TED Talks — highly curated, well rehearsed, thought provoking and often inspirational — as the standard for lectures and the source of, as the slogan goes, “ideas worth spreading.”

It was natural, then, that when the platform began to expand rapidly with the introduction of TEDx conferences, which follow the formula but are independently organized, UT students wanted to be a part of the phenomenon. In 2017, a group approached the office now known as University Marketing and Communications for institutional sponsorship, and the first TEDxUTAustin Conference, organized by students, was held the following spring.

This Saturday, March 23, marks the 7th Annual TEDxUTAustin Conference. It will be held in the newly renovated Hogg Memorial Auditorium from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

This year’s conference, called Mosaic, will feature 10 speakers:

Melody Afkami, CEO of Melody DanceFit

Nahid Siamdoust, UT Assistant Professor and Journalist

Bavu Blakes, Musician and UT Alumnus

Kareem El-Gayesh, Founder of KG BBQ

Kathy Terry, Cofounder of P. Terry’s restaurant chain

Caroline Rose, Cancer Survivor, Motivational Speaker, and UT Alumna

Alexis Kashar, Civil Rights Attorney and UT Alumna

Richard Reddick, Dean of Undergraduate Studies at UT

Merlin Tuttle, Ecologist and Conservationist

Heather Morgan, Chief of Staff and Strategy of Alamo Drafthouse

Half of the tickets, available here, for the roughly 1,000-seat venue are reserved for UT students and are $20. The remaining tickets are available for $40. All ticket holders get access to a full day of speakers, the Showcase featuring business startups, lunch and an art gallery at the conference.