Above photo: Entrepreneur Arthur Wylie focused his his TEDx presentation on the importance of persistence and striving for goals. Courtesy of Emily Bowers
By Ryan McGahan
Over 100 audience members eagerly waited outside the University Student Center Ballroom Thursday night for the doors to open at the third annual TEDxUSFSP event as they were accompanied by the sounds of smooth jazz, red and black balloons and talk of podcasts.
Eight speakers presented in front of a crowd in the ballroom while framed by a purple backdrop, the infamous red TED letters and this year’s theme, Author Our Tomorrow. The event was simultaneously streamed live downstairs at The Reef.
Beginning at 6 p.m. with a presentation on public and private success by entrepreneur Arthur Wylie, the event ended over three hours later with a talk about the benefits of being open about your finances by Lisa Rowan, a senior writer for the Penny Hoarder, a locally based personal finance website.
“Right now, only one-third of Americans have an emergency fund. That’s zero dollars in case you chip a tooth, or get a flat tire or drop your phone in the bay because you were trying to take a picture of a dolphin again,” said Rowan.
The tone shifted between funny and personal all night, as presentations ranged from Doug Stanhope-inspired performance art to talks on the importance of etiquette.
Patricia Rossi, host of NBC Daytime’s “One Minute Manners” segment, argued in her presentation on decorum that manners “isn’t just for formal dinners and confusing forks.”
“I think the night went really well,” said Josh Miller, head event organizer.
According to Miller, the RSVP list was closed a few days before the event because it hit maximum capacity.
“The speakers all went incredibly well, we couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to work with, a better group of ideas to run around with, and overall I think we got the community more involved than we had last year as well,” Miller said.
Plans for next year include a Facebook live stream for students unable to be on campus the night of the event.
Audience members included friends of the speakers, local students and a group of middle schoolers from Indi-ED, a local educational non-profit.
The children were to prepare for their own TED talk event at their respective schools, according to Christine Laurenzi, founder of Indi-ED.
“They have the same parameters, they go through the interview process, they have to pitch their ideas, they have to do all of the things,” Laurenzi said.
Laurenzi gave her own TED Talk in Tampa several years ago, and used her experience there to plan a smaller version for her students.
“Right now we’re doing ‘Innovation’ at school, it’s our kind of final unit,” said Benicio Rogers, an eighth grader at Indi-ED. “So we decided this is perfect, we might as well come.”
All eight TED Talks were filmed and will be uploaded to the official TEDx Youtube channel, according to event organizers.
