Next spring, Tulane University will be hosting a TEDxTulane event for students and faculty. TED is “a nonprofit organization that is devoted to spreading ideas through short, powerful talks” to audiences. TEDx was created to allow for independent events that foster the same ideas in smaller communities throughout the world, including college campuses. Junior Crystal Singh is the organizer of TEDxTulane and had the idea this summer. 

“I did a TEDx talk when I was in my freshman year of highschool when I lived in Germany,” Singh said. “TEDx is a nonprofit organization so we did it for community and service. I did a talk on being a third-culture kid because I traveled a lot.”

After giving a TEDx talk, Singh knew that it was something she was interested in doing again. However, the previous TEDx club, Tedx TU, “ended after the 2017 or 2018 school year.” Singh wanted to give others the ability to give their own TEDx talks on Tulane campus, so she created TEDxTulane. TEDxTulane will give members of the Tulane community an opportunity to speak about any topics of their choice and present it in any form the presenter would like at the event. 

“Our mission, and as TEDxTulane, is to share from scientists, entrepreneurs, engineers on campus as Tulane students and just sharing perspectives on ideas that might not have made it to the political eye,” Singh said. “Our theme is Beyond the Conversation … that basically focuses on exploring the developed ideas and motions, inspirations, caused for action that basically serve as the byproducts of conversations and questions that we find ourselves coming across and pondering.”

The TEDxTulane club will be tabling on McAlister Place along with a pop-up table in the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life in order to sign up speakers and attendees for the event this spring. There will be a QR code provided on every poster or flyer distributed which will send an individual to the signup website. 

“In general we are living in a time right now that socially, economically, scientifically, we are making a lot of changes and innovations so I feel like this is the time to do this,” Singh said. “Before people may not have thought they had the platform to say share certain types of experiences but now we are giving them this platform. We are getting pretty good feedback from the Tulane community.”