NOW, WHICH ONE OF YOU IS TED? Audience members and TED speakers came together at intermission and the post-talk reception to further their topics of discussion.

Many of you have probably seen a TED Talk. Some kind of expert – be it a scientist, artist, professor, citizen, etc. – gives a short presentation on one of his or her own big ideas. TED Talks are designed to get people thinking about what kind of positive impact they can have on the world and in their communities. “TED” stands for Technology Education Design, and usually the talks loosely fall under one of those categories.

For the first time, UW-Stout hosted its own TEDx event on Oct. 23 in the Memorial Student Center, establishing itself as not only a new member of the TED community, but also as an institution that’s got some pretty good ideas of its own. TEDx events falls under the TED umbrella, but they’re 100 percent independently organized – and in Stout’s case, the entire impressive production was put on by students. Everything – including video production, stage design, signage, and coordination – was the work of Blue Devils.

And even though the TEDxUW-Stout event wasn’t without hiccups here and there (a brand new thing on this scale is bound to stir up some nerves), that didn’t change the fact that it was an amazingly cool thing to happen here in the Chippewa Valley. It also paves the way for future TED-related events to pop up around here.

All seven speakers – Dan Zabrowski, Amy McGovern, Ursula Murray Husted, Sir Aaron Mason, Greta Munns, Nels Paulson, and Kobi Shaw and Steve Russell – were affiliated with the university in one way or another; some were alumni, some were current professors, others were faculty members involved in housing and community programs. And the theme for the night was “EDGE: Explore, Discover, Grow, Engage.” The event’s planning committee underwent a rigorous process to narrow down their speakers from a pool of 89 candidates, and used topics that range from making a statement with your art to making communities sustainable to the importance of whimsy to explore that theme.

Then at intermission and the post-talk reception, audience members had the chance to meet and bounce ideas off each speaker, maybe glean some more wisdom from them or shoot out a big idea of their own. Most of the TED Talks you’ve probably seen have been within the confines of your computer screen, but the cool thing about being there in person for a TED event is this palpable air of collaboration between speaker and audience. In an attempt to foster good discussion and really get the audience thinking deeply about the theme and each speaker’s topic, there an intentionally small crowd of fewer than 100 (with 300 more watching live-streaming video in an adjacent theater).

On the whole, it’s important to note that there are some brilliant ideas a-swirlin’ ’round these parts. And if more events like this can continue to happen, people from across the world will tune in and hear from some of the Chippewa Valley’s brightest and best through the medium of TED.