On Friday, Sept. 30, the Ron Robinson Theater will be home to Little Rock’s second annual TED event, TEDxMarkhamSt. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature 14 distinguished speakers, many of them from the Little Rock area, and each one with a distinct background and area of expertise, from environmentalism, education and medicine to music, entrepreneurship, communications and more. All speakers will lecture under the theme “New Beginnings.”
The event was developed and organized under TEDx, a nonprofit program designed to allow communities to independently coordinate, record and distribute lectures under the TED name. According to the official TEDx website, the goal of this particular outreach is “to help communities, organizations and individuals to spark conversation and connection through local TED-like experiences.”
“The idea of TED talks has gone way beyond the original concept of technology, education and design,” Barry Goldberg said in an article on Sept. 12 on ArkansasBusiness.com. “And while there are fascinating and well-constructed talks on the main TED stage, I am often more taken with speakers at local TEDx events.”
Last year, Goldberg spoke to the crowd of approximately 300 TED attendees at the Ron Robinson, and he will serve as emcee for the event this year.
“Trust me when I tell you that it takes a lot of courage to walk onto a stage in a community where you do not have the safety of anonymity and advocate for something you believe in, introduce a concept or way of viewing the world that may not be mainstream or simply bare your soul about something you believe matters — with no confidence that the rest of the room will understand or care,” Goldberg said.
For many students and educators, the value of the 18-minute TED Talk has not been lost.
“(TED) has helped me to become more aware of my thoughts and my actions and my behaviors, and just how I see the world,” senior communication studies major Aundrey Flewellen said. “The bottom line is that there’s always a story being told, and that’s what makes it intriguing.”
In addition to the lineup of speakers, the event will feature on-site opportunities for professional networking, as well as an art show in the atrium of the theater. General admission is $40, and will include access to the all-day event, but the program also features a special price of $20 for all active duty and reserve military members, veterans, police officers and firefighters. A limited number of student tickets are available at a reduced price of $15.
“I totally recommend it for anybody,” Flewellen said. “Especially take advantage if you have the time to watch TED Talks as a college student, because your education goes beyond just the classroom setting. You’re always in a place where you can learn new things.”
