On Wednesday, members of the Georgetown community gathered in Lohrfink Auditorium to hear “ideas worth spreading” at the TEDx Georgetown conference.
TED is a non-profit organization that hosts global conferences to showcase new and innovative ideas.
The theme of the Georgetown-specific conference was “Netcetera,” a look at how the Internet has and continues to change modern life.
Ceyda Erten (SFS ’13), chair of the TEDxGeorgetown event committee, was a driving force behind the conference.
“I was so inspired by the ideas in the TED talks and thought we should create a similar environment,” she said.
Funds were mainly provided from the Lecture Fund, where Erten serves as the chief of staff, and Hoya Innovation, an organization led by Michael Wang (MSB ’07). Wang was also one of the event’s speakers; he gave a talk titled “The Internet and the Overachieving Millenial.”
Many of the speakers at the event were long-time admirers of TED and volunteered soon after learning about the event. Bob Corrigan, deputy director of Encyclopedia of Life, began his talk on “The Internet and Citizen Science” with an enthusiastic endorsement.
“I am Bob Corrigan. I love TED,” he said, “I love the TED movement.”
Mike Nelson, a visiting professor in the Department of Communication, Culture, and Technology, devoted his talk to “The Internet and Diplomacy.”
“I’ve been to the original TED in California, and I always got this feeling of being over-caffeinated at the talks like my brain is just tingling,” Nelson, who is also a faculty sponsor of the event, said.
Some student speakers, such as Nick Troiano (COL ’12), were involved in early efforts to bring the conference to fruition. After Troiano took a semester-long leave of absence for entrepreneurial projects, however, he could no longer participate in the organization of the event—but he was happy to be able to speak at the event.
“It’s always been a dream to attend or speak at a conference, so this is really exciting for me,” he said during his talk, which was titled “How the Internet Can Create a 21st Century Democracy.”
“I hope to challenge people’s ideas coming into the conference,” he explained. “Some people think that our two-party system has been around so long and has been so engrained that they can’t change it, but I’d like them to realize that we can by leveraging the Internet and new technology.”
Austin Yoder (COL ’11), who also spoke at the event, blogs about his experiences “travel hacking,” or using Internet resources to find affordable flights and trips. Over spring break, for example, he made it to Yellowknife, Canada for $32.50.
“I want to show people how the Internet can be used to plan out their lives and influence [other] people positively,” Yoder said. “You don’t have to be on a stage to positively impact the lives of the people around you.”
Several dozen people filtered in and out of Lohrfink during the four-hour series of talks. They dealt with topics ranging from “The Internet and Virtual Aliens” to “The Internet and Pets.” Many, however, were disappointed to learn that a talk hosted by Nicolas Jammet (MSB ’07), Jonathan Neman (MSB ’07), and Nathaniel Ru (MSB ’07), the three alumni founders of the local organic salad chain Sweetgreen, was cancelled at the last moment.
Jevon Walton, special liaison to President John DeGioia’s Office, was one of the conference attendees impressed by the offerings, despite the cancellation.
“I came to learn about innovation and how I can apply it to my line of work,” he said. “I liked how organic [the talks] were; each one grew by itself out of a single question.”
Erten was pleased with the event, and hopes to watch it grow in the future.
“What was most impressive was that it was completely based on student volunteer work,” Erten added. “It will get a lot better in coming years, but I think it was a great success.”
