The students organizing the first-ever TEDxSU event in April will begin selecting speakers after applications closed Friday evening.

Kelvin Sherman, a senior television, radio and film major who serves as communications manager for TEDxSU, said the strongest applicants will be invited for face-to-face or Skype interviews as early as next week. Speakers will be chosen within the next few weeks, possibly by the end of the month, he added.

Applicants range from local officials who want to speak, to professors who want to talk about their concentration, to out-of-town speakers who want to come in and discuss ideas and knowledge they want to share with SU community, Sherman said.

TEDxSU will be held April 9, 5–8 p.m. in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium, Newhouse 3. TEDx is a spinoff of a set of globally spanning Technology, Entertainment and Design conferences.

Because this is the first TEDx event at SU and because no speakers have been selected, Sherman said there are no criteria right now for determining how applicants will be selected. The event coordination committee will be in charge of looking over all of the applications to decide what they think stands out and will best fit the lineup for Syracuse, Sherman said.

“We tailor our theme to the speakers that we choose,” he added.

Although the event coordination team is managing applications and conducting interviews, all students from other committees organizing the event will have a say in speaker selection as well, Sherman said.

The application process was pretty much open to everybody, Sherman said, noting that there were no requirements for applicants other than supplying additional material like videos or supplementary documents.

“It’s not, ‘If you can’t meet the guidelines, you can’t be a speaker,’” he said.

However, Sherman said organizers of the event will definitely be looking for speakers with strong presentation skills.

Sherman said anybody can give a presentation, but if it’s not engaging the audience it doesn’t have the same effect as a TED talk. He added that applicants must also understand the purpose behind TED talks, which TEDxSU’s website says focuses on “the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately the world.”

“We want it to be as thought-provoking and engaging as possible,” Sherman said.

Sherman said the total number of speakers selected will be based on the amount of time each applicant requested for discussion, but he said he estimates around 20 speakers will be chosen for the event since each discussion usually lasts up to 10 minutes.

Timi Komonibo, a first-year graduate student studying public diplomacy, said she applied in December to speak at the TEDxSU event. The former middle school teacher said she has found TED talks to be an effective tool in her classes.

Komonibo said she did not realize TED talks were held at universities, and a friend of hers who heard about the event coming to SU urged her to apply.

“I took a leap of faith and did the application,” she said.

In her talk, Komonibo said she hopes to challenge people to think about philanthropy in a less complicated way and realize that philanthropy is a very feasible option for the everyday person.

Although Komonibo said she worries her lack of large-scale presentational experience will prevent her from being selected, she is still excited for the arrival of TEDx at SU.

“It’s very cool to think anybody can be an expert in their own realm,” Komonibo said. “Age and experience don’t necessarily come hand-in-hand.”

Published on February 3, 2014 at 12:58 am

Contact Kristen: kaeskow@syr.edu