TEDxIndianaUniversity’s first event took place at 7 p.m. Friday in the IU Auditorium.
The event’s eight speakers ranged from IU faculty to a physicist to a painter.
Welcoming each speaker to the stage was the night’s host Jeff Nelsen, an IU music professor.
“I believe there are two types of people in the world: those have never seen a TED Talk and those who are obsessed with TED Talks,” Nelsen said.
Nelsen said he hoped everyone would leave the night belonging to the latter group of people.
Each speaker talked about a different topic. However, they all followed the same theme: “Eyes on the stars, feet on the ground.”
Rachel Overpeck and Natalie Leon, IU sophomores, said they enjoyed how each speaker was able to talk about something so different yet still follow the same overall theme.
“I liked how they all had small ideas about putting positivity into the world and how individuals can make changes,” Leon said.
Sylvia McNair, two-time Grammy Award winner, added music to her talk, making it stand out from the others. She opened with “Fly Me to the Moon” and ended with “What a Wonderful World.”
McNair said everyone has a different light and each person needs to find what that light is and let it shine.
“Your voice, like your fingerprint, is one of a kind,” McNair said.
Following a similar message, Ben Brabson, IU physics professor emeritus, called the audience “extraordinarily clever” throughout his talk, emphasizing the importance of using that cleverness to make a change.
“It is amazing how powerful your mind really is,” Brabson said.
Before giving the audience a sneak peak of her new collection, artist Alyssa Monks talked about her mother’s battle with cancer and how it changed her painting forever.
She stressed for the audience to accept change and difficult times.
“Fall to your knees, be humbled and stop trying to change it,” Monks said.
Along with these messages, the speakers discussed topics such as water preservation, space exploration, an HIV outbreak and moon ownership.
Steve Fleischli, senior attorney and director of the Water Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, discussed the importance of water and how individuals can do small things to preserve it.
“Water can be a blessing or a curse ... We must respect water,” Fleischli said.
Last to speak was Ceasar McDowell, founder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Co-Lab and co-founder of Engage The Power.
His talk was titled “Democracy from the Margins.”
He started by discussing numerous protests happening recently around the world, including Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street.
He said it is important for people to work together because that is how change is made.
“In nature, nothing exists alone,” McDowell said.
Before ending the night, Nelsen urged the crowd, after leaving the auditorium, to talk to people around them and start spreading ideas they learned throughout the night.
“TED was created to do just this, spread ideas,” Nelsen said.
