TEDx

    On November 11, GSB and Blair students spent the day together at Blair Academy participating in a TEDx event. TEDx events mirror TED events. They are built around speeches, or talks, that typically explore big ideas and personal stories.  At TEDx events, TED videos are shown to further expose participants to wide range of ideas.
    The Blair-GSB collaboration was very much a student affair. Four student hosts - two from each school - made introductions and kept the program moving along. 

GSB hosting responsibilities were ably handled by 
Elisabeth Middleton and Kennedy Whitehead

   Seven speakers - four from GSB and three from Blair - spoke on a wide variety of topics all connected to the conference theme: Innovation and Social Change. An eighth speaker, a doctoral candidate from the Rutgers University School of Public Health, provided the day's keynote talk. Students recorded the day's proceedings as photographers and videographers. And student moderators helped to keep conversations lively in the break-out sessions.

Students from GSB and Blair get ready to listen to a student speaker.

    I've been involved in many student activities over the years. I don't remember any that were more intellectually grounded.  A simple recital of the TEDx Talks we listened to gives you a good idea of the depth and breadth of the day. (Click on the speech title for a YouTube link to the speech.)
    Martine DiDomenico, GSB '17 - Isis and Twitter: An Uncomfortable Alliance

Martine discusses how ISIS uses social media to recruit new members, 
a topic that has taken on particular significance 
as we follow the news of the Paris attacks on the weekend of November 14.

    Pia Bhatia, GSB '17 - Social Media and Cultural Appropriation: Let's Be Kind

Pia's talk on cultural appropriation spurred significant conversation in the breakout sessions.

    Kaitlyn Sleyster, GSB '17 - The Two Faces of Being Charitable in the Age of Social Media

Kaityn encourages participants to think about the relationship between social media and charitable giving. 

    Evan Druskin, GSB '17 - The Humanity of Machines  (Please note: Due to technical difficulties, this link goes to a posted video of a practice speech Evan recorded a couple of weeks before the TEDx conference.)

Evan's talk explored how evolving technologies in machines will alter the economic landscape in the decades ahead.

    Yueqi Du, Blair '16 - Math, Music and Me
    Max Bonzulak, Blair '17 - Social Authenticity, Anxiety and Beme
    Sanjay Paul, Blair '16 - It's complicated: Zero Sums and Relativity (recording unavailable at this time.)
    Daniel Giovenco, Rutgers University School of Public Health - Vaping: A Disruptive Technology

TEDx speakers
Back, L to R: Pia Bhatia, Yueqi Du, Dan Giovenco, Kaitlyn Sleyster, Martin DiDomenico
Front, L to R: Evan Druskin, Max Bonzulak, Sanjay Paul

    I'm certain the best way to learn about the day is to hear from the student presenters. Click on speech topics above for posted videos. Additionally, the two TED videos we saw are also posted below. They were selected by students from the two schools, and both are thought provoking.

Chris Milk: How virtual reality can create the ultimate empathy machine

Joshua Foer: Feats of memory anyone can do