{"id":2125,"date":"2015-10-06T17:43:55","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T21:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/ebuckhor\/?page_id=1779"},"modified":"2015-10-06T17:43:55","modified_gmt":"2015-10-06T21:43:55","slug":"bringing-tedx-to-trinity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-fall2015\/features\/bringing-tedx-to-trinity\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing TEDx To Trinity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TEDx7\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bhumika Choudhary \u201918 spearheads successful effort<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Jim H. Smith
\nPhotos by John Marinelli
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"TEDx1\"<\/a>
Joshua Michtom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first time Bhumika Choudhary \u201918 saw a video of a TED talk was in the summer of 2012, when she was in England, taking summer classes at the University of Oxford. It made a big impression.<\/p>\n

Recorded at Cambridge University, the program featured one of her professors, John Sheffield, co-founder and president of Boston-based Seven Bridges Genomics, a company dedicated to the development of powerful bioinformatics technology to enhance genomic research and accessibility to the scientific community worldwide. Sheffield talked about the rapid evolution of genomics during the first decade of the 21st century.<\/p>\n

When he passionately explained to his audience that \u201cthe speed at which we can read biological information as DNA data has doubled every five or six months (since 2006),\u201d Choudhary instantly understood the power of not only his genomics work but also the medium he\u2019d chosen to inform people about it.<\/p>\n

\"TEDx2\"<\/a>
Nell Gibbon Daly \u201998<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was very excited,\u201d says Choudhary, a bright young woman with an inquisitive mind who had distinguished herself as a performance artist while attending high school. \u201cI started watching a lot of the archived TED talks.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time she returned to her native Mumbai at the end of the summer, she was determined to find a way to become involved with TED. Two years would pass, however, before she created that opportunity for herself at Trinity.<\/p>\n

DECIDEDLY DETERMINED<\/strong><\/p>\n

The hugely popular TED conferences, patterned after an initial one-of-a-kind event in 1984, are an ongoing set of global conferences that have been produced since 1990. The name is derived from the emphasis of the original conferences: technology, entertainment, and design. Their focus, however, has long since been expanded to include a wide range of scientific, cultural, and academic subjects. Since the programs are archived, they are accessible by anyone with a computer and Internet access. And they have been viewed more than a billion times.<\/p>\n

\"TEDx3\"<\/a>
Timothy Patrick McCarthy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TEDx, a spinoff, was launched in 2009. TEDx programs are independent TED-like events, sanctioned by the TED organization, that can be produced by anyone who obtains a free license from TED.<\/p>\n

When Choudhary arrived at Trinity in the fall of 2014, she was very excited about coming to the United States and taking advantage of the opportunity to attend the school that, of the 10 she explored, had most attracted her. She was determined to do something with her education that would compel her to step outside her comfort zone and take some significant risks right away, at the start of her undergraduate experience. It was upon that ground that she decided now was the time for her to engage with TED.<\/p>\n

One day in October, \u201cI read the TED website and the rules and regulations for applying for a license,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a theme for the program in mind. I was just determined to do it.\u201d A few days later, she threw caution to the wind, filled out an application, and sent it in.<\/p>\n

THINK AND \u201cRETHINK\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weeks passed. And then, over the Thanksgiving weekend, she heard from TED. Her application had been approved. Suddenly, she says, \u201cThe reality of what I had done sank in. I had a license from TED, and I had to create a program.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing was immediately clear. She couldn\u2019t do it by herself. So she took to Trinity\u2019s social media networks to recruit fellow students to help her create, organize, and promote the program.<\/p>\n

\"TEDx4\"<\/a>
Front row: Eleanor Clerc \u201917, Sherisa Abbaspour \u201918, Bhumika Choudhary \u201918, Dayana Aleksandrova \u201915; back row: Lorenzo Puopolo \u201918, Carolyn Kimmick \u201915, Ursula Granirer \u201917, Nicholas Recka \u201917, Taylor Ogan \u201918, Gio Quattrochi \u201916
Photo by Milosz Kowal ’18<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almost immediately students began submitting applications. When Choudhary returned to India at the end of the first semester, she took the applications with her. By the time she returned to Hartford, she had identified many of the committee members of what would be called TEDxTrinityCollege. The team would ultimately include Sherisa Abbaspour \u201918; McArdle Family Scholar Dayana Aleksandrova \u201915; Jill G. and Peter S. Kraus \u201974 Presidential Scholar Eleanor Clerc \u201917; Joy Tomlinson \u201979, P\u201913 Scholar Ursula Granirer \u201917; Carolyn Kimmick \u201915; Taylor Ogan \u201918; Lorenzo Puopolo \u201918; Gio Quattrochi \u201916; and Nick Recka \u201917.<\/p>\n

Each brought varied skills and goals to the project. Quattrochi, a psychology major who had developed his communications skills through his work for the College\u2019s Communications Office, joined because the project offered \u201can excellent opportunity to further an understanding of what it takes to run an event like this, technically.\u201d Clerc, a biology major with a strong interest in social media, saw TED as \u201ca special opportunity to distinguish Trinity and get more students and the Hartford community involved with the College.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Ogan who suggested the theme of the program \u2013 \u201cRethink.\u201d Choudhary and her team began reaching out to friends and professors for suggestions of possible speakers who could offer brief, compelling talks about new paradigms for a variety of subjects.<\/p>\n

By March they had a final list of speakers, including a Trinity professor and a successful alumna. With the clock ticking, they settled on Saturday, April 18, and poured their energies into the myriad details, from finding a venue to promoting the program, that are essential to the success of any event.<\/p>\n

LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"TEDx5\"<\/a>
Sandra Lopez-Leon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A good-sized crowd showed up at Trinity\u2019s Vernon Social on the day of the event. They were not disappointed. The speakers were informative and engaging, and they covered eclectic territory.<\/p>\n

But there were a few minor hiccups. The date chosen for Trinity\u2019s first TEDx event turned out to be a meteorological marvel, the first truly nice day after a brutal winter that set records for snowfall and cold temperatures. When an intermission ran a bit long, that beautiful weather conspired to lure attendees away. Choudhary\u2019s team also ran into issues with one of the most predictable special-events gremlins, audiovisual problems.<\/p>\n

But TEDx is, by definition, a learning opportunity. One of the ways in which learning takes place is through the development and execution of the program. And beyond a postmortem analysis of how they could learn from those mistakes, all eyes quickly focused on the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cProducing this event was both scary and thrilling,\u201d says Choudhary. \u201cWe learned a lot from doing it, and we\u2019re determined to produce a new TEDx event in 2016.\u201d She expects to convene a meeting of the team as early as possible in the fall semester, with a goal of mounting a new production in February.<\/p>\n

\"TEDx6\"<\/a>
Aaron Pascal Mauck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That eye to the future doesn\u2019t surprise Laura Whittemore, Trinity\u2019s director of student activities, involvement, and leadership (S.A.I.L.). \u201cBhumika worked tirelessly on this event, despite a full course load, the challenges of being so far away from home and her family\u2019s support network, and being a first-year student,\u201d Whittemore says. \u201cIt was a pleasure having the opportunity to get to work with her one-on-one during the planning process and being able to support all the student planners the day of their event, as well as being able to see Vernon Social utilized as the event location in such a unique way.\u00a0Her drive to make this event successful, despite having no funding at the start, was inspiring to me as very rarely do we see such passion and commitment in first-year students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that this has started a wonderful and exciting tradition for Trinity College, and I know that Bhumika and the students involved in this event will continue to build upon the success of this program to bring TEDx to a higher level in the coming years.\u201d<\/p>\n

View pictures from Trinity TEDx Trincoll on flickr<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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