Students, faculty and community members are gathering for TEDxBGSU, an independently organized event at Bowling Green State University (BGSU), where speakers share ideas, personal stories and innovative perspectives.
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, which are all common themes to the speeches given at this year’s event.
TEDxBGSU strives to recreate the unique experience of TED and shares ideas around a common theme: ‘the public good.’ The event will feature 17 speakers in total, with five different categories, including creativity, critique, care, conviction and catalyst on March 19 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Bowen-Thompson Student Union, Multipurpose Room, according to the TEDxBGSU website.
Kalista Sampson, a speaker, will discuss ‘Becoming Vibrant in an Era of the ‘Nonchalant’ College Aesthetic’ at 3 p.m.
“My TED talk is about the importance of getting involved as an undergrad student in your university, specifically, BGSU. It’s more of the context as to why you should get involved, especially [for] someone who really struggled with that in their first couple of years of college,” Sampson said.
Sampson said her time at BGSU has helped her prepare to give a speech in front of a large audience.
“Part of me wants to say yes, [I could have done it sooner], but I think, given the nature of my topic, it makes a lot of sense for me to give it now. I also think there’s no way as a freshman or as a sophomore, even as a junior, I would have had the skill set and knowledge that I have now to be able to give one,” Sampson said.
Sampson said she felt inspired by others to apply to TEDxBGSU.
“I always thought about doing it because I’m on the cheer team, and our assistant coach gave a TED Talk when she was still in school. I had listened to hers, and I felt really inspired by it, and so I thought, ‘you know what, I’m just gonna apply,’” Sampson said.
Kalen Dougall, another speaker, will discuss ‘Redefining Masculinity: Beyond Be a Man’ at 4:45 p.m.
“The talk is about how we should consider what we talk about. Considering how ‘be a man’ is a little different than be responsible or be strong, because ‘be a man’ is something that’s tied to identity, not behavior, which implies that there’s a right and wrong way to do masculinity,” Dougall said.
Dougall’s inspiration for this topic came from a class project where he and other students shared impactful life stories.
“The professor basically opened the floor for us to really discuss whatever we were passionate about. Some of the respondents I spoke to directly had some really impactful stories. All those stories just reminded me there’s always something going on in someone’s life, and they may not exactly be comfortable to talk about it,” Dougall said.
Dougall said he feels ready for his talk because of the help of the TEDxBGSU staff.
“They’ve [staff] assured us there’s gonna be a teleprompter, there’s gonna be a tech crew to help us with delivery and everything like that. So I would say I’m more like 60% to 65% excited than nervous,” Dougall said.
To register and learn more about this year’s speakers:
