One minute speaker nomination videos: Your questions answered.
Choosing speakers for TEDxColumbus has gleefully become a difficult process. That means we get tons of ideas, nominations and submissions now – versus three years ago when we had to beg people to listen to our explanation of TED and TEDx.
As a result, this year we have changed the TEDxColumbus speaker nomination process. We would ideally like every nominated speaker to submit a one-minute video describing their idea, point of view and what gives them the license to talk about it. Of course, this has lead to many questions, such as: What do you want to hear? How do I film it? Does it need to be a high-quality video? What if it’s longer than one minute? Ruth Milligan, Curator of TEDxColumbus, hopes to answer all your questions in her one-minute video below.
The goal of the video submission is to help the TEDxColumbus curatorial team assess if your idea falls under the theme of “The Future Revealed” and does it fit the TED model: Do you have a strong point of view or compelling story? Do you have data to support your idea? Do you have mastery in your subject? Can you keep to a time limit?
Lastly, remember, the curatorial team will be choosing a handful from the nominations (which also need to fill out the brief nomination form), but we’ll also use these videos in the late summer to help identify folks to appear at the open forum on August 16 and/or be chosen by the attendees of the conference itself.
Please let us know if you still have questions!
To nominate a speaker, please click here.
All video submissions and questions can be sent to TEDxColumbus@gmail.com.
FOLLOW THIS: Alex Bandar
Convergence at the Columbus Idea Foundry: Values in Action
[by Kendra Hovey]
If you were at the last TEDxColumbus, you might remember Alex Bandar, the “visionary, metallurgist, connector” in the black jumpsuit determined to revive the lost art of making. In his talk, Bandar shared the big idea of the Columbus Idea Foundry (CIF) and his big dream to put it on wheels, park it at a high school and begin to transform American education and, along the way, American thinking, industry and innovation.
But the Idea Foundry is about more than a big idea. As the name suggests, lots of ideas come out of CIF, and in all sorts of sizes. One that Bandar had been bandying about—along with cohorts David and Carrie Chew—became a reality last March. A new conversation community with follow-up built-in, Convergence, as the realized idea is called, is a touch TEDx, but a bit more Kickstarter meets American Idol meets Royal Society of London (minus the wigs…sadly). The event is open to the public and due to repeat every three months or so. The purpose is to converge to examine “theories, struggles, and possibilities” for projects and then make those projects financially doable (by actually laying money on the table) and accountable, as well as, potentially continually supported (by following-up at the next Convergence).
There are some guidelines: The project must be “deemed bigger than a single person”; it should be “group-oriented so that members and potential members can learn beyond their expertise”; and the winner must report back on “how the project went, what worked, what didn’t, and what can be learned.”
The very first Convergence was held on March 1st at the Foundry—just off 5th Ave., where Corrugated Way meets Mobility. With the support of Turnstone and TEDxColumbus, the evening started and ended with tours, presentations, food and general socializing. In the middle, three Foundry members shared their projects. Then, the 100 or so in attendance had the opportunity to vote with their dollars. On the table that night: about $700 (an additional $600 or so was raised for the Cougar Robotics Team, a local high school robotics club).
Of the three projects presented…
- A plan by steam-engine enthusiast Chip Rosenblum to build a dual-gauge train track.
- A LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) upgrade for Ethan Dicks’ “tourbot” (a remote-controlled camera, microphone and monitor).
- And, from event co-founder and co-organizer David Chew, a kinetic blue tree sculpture to be made of various sized pipes, possibly with “flame effects,” and to be outfitted with tree-dwelling creatures that could be controlled with switches and bellows by the audience.
…the win goes to…the kinetic blue tree sculpture.
Kendra Hovey is editor and head writer at Follow This. On Twitter @KendraHovey, she blogs at kendrahovey.com
FOLLOW THIS: Barbara Fant
BICENTENNIAL CALLING
[by Kendra Hovey]
Barbara Fant is a performance poet. While this is true, as descriptions go, it’s a bit lacking; not quite capturing her rapid cascade of imagery, shrapnel-origami-kite-bee-hive-honey-lightning-Crayola, nor the swift and choppy flow of a line like, “It’s about be, it’s about be, it’s about bee, like honey, like gold, like glow, like sky.”
Both examples are from “Handfuls of Honey.” A poem which Fant performed at the last TEDxColumbus and one that speaks pretty effectively to what it is Fant does—from the personification of her words as “a nightmare at the back of my neck seeping through my throat” to the simple and clear-sighted offering: “I don’t know another way—to pray.”
Barbara Fant had been a last minute addition to the program. TEDxColumbus organizers (as every speaker forced to rehearse a million times over already knows) are not too keen on last minute anything, but having seen her a day earlier at TEDxYouth, they found five extra minutes plus 45 seconds. Fant made good use of the time; the audience gave her a standing ovation.
One of those impressed was Doug Kridler, CEO and president of The Columbus Foundation. Kridler commissioned Fant to create an original piece—with “no boundaries,” he says—for the Columbus Bicentennial. Fant read the poem at the Foundation as part of the city’s big birthday bash in February. Kridler calls it “an awe-inspiring and multi-hued articulation,” adding, “What an enduring gift she gave to everyone in our community through that poem.”
“Today Beginning Again,” as Fant titled her ode-of-sorts to the city, is part thank you note: “You geography-ed me,” “river-ed me;” “library-ed myself;” “honeyed me into reflection…” And, it’s part reminder card: “You can’t stop now.”
A video of her performance quickly made the social media rounds.
The 24-year-old Fant was asked to perform the poem again, this time by Mayor Coleman as part of the fanfare around his State of the City address. She can also be spotted in a couple of recent videos, “Voices of Columbus” and “Columbus Young Artists,” both sponsored by 200 Columbus (and various partners). Just last month she was a “feature” (invited guest) at a Poetry Slam in Detroit. Oddly, all this is happening at a time when the poet has been scaling back on performing. Her main focus these days is graduate school.
This may be news to many; a lot about Barbara Fant may be news. Added so late, her name didn’t make it onto the TEDxColumbus program, let alone her story. To fill things in, I caught up with Fant, finding her in Delaware, Ohio where she is nearing the end of her first year at the Methodist Theological School.
From “Handfuls of Honey” I know, to her, poetry is prayer, and when I ask how she would describe her work she calls it “poetic ministry,” so seminary school would seem to be a simple matter of connecting the dots, but when I ask, she quickly puts me straight. “Not at all, ” she says.
Growing up in Youngstown, Ohio, Fant felt the call to preach at a very young age, and she can’t even remember a time in her life when she wasn’t writing. Yet seminary and slams didn’t come into her life till much later, not until after she moved to Columbus for college. “I come from a church where pastors didn’t go to seminary,” she explains, “I didn’t know what it was!”
It was during her last year at Ohio Dominican (she graduated in 2010 with a degree in English) that she first considered seminary, and it was only a few years before that, when she was about 19, that she first performed her poetry. That night was important. It was an open mic, her first, and afterwards, she’d be at the mic three or four nights a week. But when I ask about when she became a poet, she doesn’t mention the mic, she answers by talking about her mom. “She passed away when I was 15,” Fant shares, “I was angry. I had a hard time talking to people…so I wrote.”
Fant wrote—put my pain on pages, as she says in “Handfuls of Honey”—but she didn’t share. While in Youngstown she learned about open mics, saw some on TV, and she knew that as soon as she could find one and get herself there, that’s when she would start sharing. From there, it was only a matter of months before she was competing.
Both as an individual and team member, she’s won a number of Grand Slams, and two years ago, at 22, she published her first book of poetry, Paint, Inside Out, which won the Cora Craig Author Award for Young Women. She’s slowed the pace a bit now that she is in grad school, but Fant still slams and runs the occasional workshop (she’s worked with Transit Arts and Columbus Collegiate Academy, among other organizations). Most recently, she’s been spending some time in the theater—yes, she also acts.
Her approach to writing poetry, Fant says, is to “paint pictures with words.” With “Today, Beginning Again,” for example, she was drawn to the idea of Columbus as a smart and open city, then starts to break that down: “I’ll ask, what does that look like? Open…bursting…firework…and it goes from there…I try to make it come alive.”
Asked, then, about coming from poetry to preaching and the interplay between the two, she sees some commonality, but also a clear divergence: “Both poems and sermons are journeys that the listener allows me to take them on…But I do not perform sermons. I teach and preach sermons. As I minister through poetry, I am able to give people more of me, my journey and my testimony. As a preacher, I surrender myself to being a minister of the Gospel and I allow only God’s word to shine through.”
Kendra Hovey is editor and head writer at Follow This. On Twitter @KendraHovey, she blogs at kendrahovey.com
FOLLOW THIS: Dr. Jennifer Shine Dyer
EndoGoddess Evolution
[by Kendra Hovey]
Meditate, laugh, spend time with friends, eat salmon, sit less, and get your Vitamin D. This prescription doesn’t sound so bad; it might even be fun. Yet, many of us struggle to follow even simple health habits. But what if doctor’s orders are not so fun—what if they’re, in fact, a big fat drag? And what if you’re a teenager, your friends aren’t having to do it, and slacking off may not get you into real trouble until the ancient age of 30?
For those who live with it, “#diabetes sucks.” At the very least, the lifelong daily regimen to stay healthy is challenging. Denial is tempting, more so for teenagers. Pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Jen Shine Dyer gets this. She also gets the very real consequences—disability, early death. So to help her patients follow doctor’s orders, she “met them where they’re at”—she texted them. And it worked.
Dyer shared her texting experiment at the 2010 TEDxColumbus, where she also unveiled her prototype EndoGoddess app that would enable other doctors to offer similar automated, yet personal, patient support with presumably similar positive results.
So a year and a half later, is her hypothesis true, “is texting good health?” The answer seems to be yes…and no. Dr. Dyer has learned a lot since then. Her idea has evolved. So has she.
So what has she learned? Small personal bursts of physician support get powerful results, but that power begins to dim after about three months. The text and the personal relationship behind it was a trigger, but for a sustained effect, two more things were needed: motivation and literacy. Her evolved version of the EndoGoddess app has all three. When users check blood sugar levels regularly, they get points (eventually to be used as credit at the iTunes Store). Along with this “gamefication” motivation, the app also includes educational and inspirational information and it connects users to online diabetes communities—an increasingly essential source of social support and “real-time empathy.”
Another change: this app is for the patient, not the doctor. “The patients are already looking,” she says, “they are ready for change.” The switch did come with a compromise. Instead of just being texting-capable, users now need a smartphone, or an iPod Touch—a popular device among teens.
Dyer’s original inspiration is not exactly lost; it just comes through the backdoor. Because it can be used to log every blood sugar check, the app functions as a manifest of the often unseen but difficult day-to-day work diabetes demands. This can be enlightening to family and friends, who then may become more supportive. Also as family and friends contribute to the user’s iTunes account, they can become more invested, connected and educated. Or, as Dyer puts it, “When Grandma puts in $5, she might be more likely to say ‘I’m proud of you.’”
Immediately following TEDxColumbus, Dyer was inundated with offers to develop the app. She ignored every one, but then, after six months, decided to partner with the Columbus start-up Duet Health. “We’re on the same page,” she says. Released last fall, the 99-cent app has been downloaded over 500 times, and has a 4+ rating.
And why, exactly, is it called the EndoGoddess? Patients typically refer to their endocrinologists as “my Endo.” One of Dyer’s, a young girl who approved of her doctor’s fashion sense, took to calling Dyer “my EndoGoddess.” The nickname is also Dyer’s online identity.
Asked if the name might be a barrier for some, Dyer shares that half of all users are male. Though she makes the point that they are, like her, early adopters: “As a group, we’re not the most usual bunch of people.”
The next major evolution for the EndoGoddess app will be the integration of a medical device—the glucometer. Likely, this won’t be available until 2013, as it will need FDA approval. For now, Dyer has a clinical trial to run. “I’m a numbers person,” she says, “the field of mobile health is exciting, but as a doctor what I care about is that it improves health care, and we need to have a measure of that.” The 3-month self-funded trial is set to begin this month. She hopes to also run a longer trial, but has bumped into the problem that perplexes many providers of mobile and online content: funding.
On hiatus from practicing medicine, Dyer’s been doing a lot of travelling and talking. At SXSW in March and a D.C. conference in April, in late May she is off to Paris to present at Doctors 2.0 (over the winter there was even a TV audition). A doctor when she spoke at TEDxColumbus, Dyer is now also a tech entrepreneur and mHealth pioneer. As such, she has a frontline perspective on new mobile health solutions. Follow This will continue to follow her, especially as new policies and patient-centered incentives are due to go into effect. It’s going to get interesting, she predicts, and exciting and, she says, “good for patients.”
Kendra Hovey is editor and head writer at Follow This. On Twitter @KendraHovey, she blogs at kendrahovey.com
Speaker Nominations Open for TEDxColumbus 2012: The Future Revealed.
TEDxColumbus: The Future Revealed- October 5, 2012
Wanted: Speakers who can inspire, predict, reflect, challenge, educate and/or resonate.
This year’s TEDxColumbus, anchoring the Columbus Bicentennial’s idUS week, aims to answer an aspirational call: showcase some of our best and brightest thinkers, doers and visionaries with ideas that will shatter bias, ignite creativity and move action.
Keeping in mind we are looking for stories that help reveal the future (or a future), they can be in any of these categories:
- an idea worth spreading
- an amazing personal story
- a stunning performance
- a jawdropping technology demo
- a brand new piece of work/research
- a unique “how to”
- a slide show of remarkable images
- a review of a unique trend or set of data with your unique lens
- anything that you think would fascinate, excite, educate, inspire or delight the rest of us.
This year’s process has a new phase which includes an open call for ideas.
Phase 1:
To be considered by the curatorial team (April – June), anyone nominated needs to submit a one minute (and we mean one minute) video of the idea you want to share at TEDxColumbus. You may nominate others or yourself, as long as the video is submitted at the same time as the nomination. We will not consider any nominations during this time that don’t include a video.
So, to nominate yourself or someone else, two things are needed.
1. Fill out this form.
2. Submit a video to this email address: tedxcolumbus@gmail.com.
If you don’t submit a video, we will not remind you or reach to you, we’ll just not review your nomination. You should be notified by July whether or not you were chosen by the curatorial team. We encourage you to submit your videos by May 15th! But read on….
Phase 2:
While the curatorial team will pick approximately 12-15 speakers and performers from our search and general nominations in Phase 1, we will leave three spots open to be chosen in three new ways in 2012:
- A panel of previous TEDxColumbus attendees and speakers will audition up to 10 speakers who will be chosen from the video submissions. Each applicant / nominee will present a 3 minute sample talk. During that same audition, we will open it to up to 20 people (first come, first serve) to present 1 minute ideas to also be considered. These people need not submit a nomination or video in advance. The panel’s choice will present at TEDxColumbus 2012. The audition event is August 16 at Columbus Museum of Art in the Cardinal Health Auditorium from 7-9pm. This audition is open and free to anyone to attend, should you just want to stop in and hear some great short talks!
- Registrants / attendees to TEDxColumbus 2012 will get to vote on a final speaker, also from the open nomination videos. We will submit three videos to the attendees in early September on which they will vote and the winner will present.
- We will pick one speaker from TEDxYouth@Columbus on October 3 (also at COSI). We will scout a speaker or performer that day and offer a surprise invitation to him or her to come back on October 5.
Oh what a month! Thank you Columbus!
In the last month, we’ve hosted a myriad of TEDx events in Columbus. Here’s a quick re-cap to summarize them – and showing what a vibrant, curious, inspired city we have that is supporting and growing each one.
Our signature event, TEDxColumbus, featured 18 speakers and performers (above: Susan Willeke, Jamie Greene and Rose Smith) on stage at COSI on 11.11.11. You can watch all of the speaker’s videos here, or get a glimpse of the full day from still images here. They all celebrated a “Moment in Time,” and did so beautifully.
We had a record turnout of nearly 600 attendees, that’s double where we started two years ago when we hosted the first event at the Wexner center with 300 attendees. Check out this dynamic gallery at COSI!
We were supported these amazing corporate and community partners: resource interactive, The Columbus Foundation, Barnes and Thornburg, The Limited Brands, Alliance Data, The Ohio State University, and GSW Worldwide. Support from WOSU, COSI and a host of other in-kind donations made the event possible.
We had a unique and very special partnership with LOTH/ STEELCASE / TURNSTONE to outfit the event gallery for our two days of events (see TEDxYouth below). The feedback on our event was so spectacular in part thanks to the great furniture and environment they helped to build for us. We were delighted they could carry through our dream!
The day before TEDxColumbus, we hosted TEDxYouth@Columbus also at COSI, where 18 speakers and performers also took the stage and inspired an audience of nearly 150 high schoolers. Curators Andy Aichele and Christian Long were aided by community volunteers who were also mentors in the afternoon, the day-long event turned out to be a needed and inspired addition to our TEDx line-up. And the kids had a blast, too.
After we cleaned up from TEDxColumbus and TEDxYouth@Columbus, on December 1, for the second year in a row, The Columbus Foundation hosted a livestream of TEDxWomen, a national TEDx event that was broadcast from LA and NY. Over 60 women joined us for the viewing and lots of great conversation between riveting talks. See an additional story here from our live speakers Maryanna Klatt and Theresa Flores who joined us with their TEDxColumbus talks at lunch.
And for us, we closed out the month with a webinar featuring our own InsideOut Project along side TEDx organizers from Aviero, Portgual, Manchester, NH and Athens, Greece. I have been hosting some of these webinars for two years now – bringing together knowledge and experience for TEDx organizers around the world. This one was pretty special as we had JR, the artist and recipient of the TED Prize and Amy Novogratz, join us to discuss InsideOut. The webinar will be linked here when it’s live.
All in all, the community has had an exhilarating month – thanks to everyone who’s helped to make these great moments possible!
2011 Speakers and Performers Revealed
We’re thrilled to announce the 2011 TEDxColumbus line up. After many months of nominations, interviews, conversations and research, the list is complete.
“The heart-and-soul of a TEDx event is the passion, talent, data, perspective and determination that comes through in every talk. This year at TEDxColumbus the speakers and performers will offer a delicate balance of primary research, unbelievable life journeys, fascinating analyses and overall, really big ideas that will stretch every mind in the room.” said Ruth Milligan, Event Curator. “Everyone is assured to walk away with their own personal time capsule of experience and knowledge.”
In alphabetical order, those who will present include:
Alex Bandar- Visionary, Metallurgist, Connector
For a guy that doesn’t sleep much, Alex has an amazingly coherent vision for the world. Concerned with the death of “shop,” his vision for bringing a “maker” experience to the students in Columbus is only one part of his story. He’ll share how that vision is informed by his morning, noon and night passion (yes, different than his day job), where he’s quietly built one of the most dynamic collaboratives of engineers, artists and tinkerers in the region.
Mark Berman- Naturalist, Educator, Entomologist
Who cares about the bug? Mark does. And thinks you should too. He’ll bring a unique lens to the two, four or ten legged creatures that in his opinion, can bring you perspective and maybe in return, a little respect.
David Burns- Innovator, Antagonist, Educator, Father
The pathway that David took to being a pioneer in the STEM/ 21st Century Learning Movement is a fascinating journey. But what this leader knows about education makes him question: is education system viable anymore? He’ll uncover his own trepidation on this topic, fueled both by the irrelevant standards he faces in his daily work but also by the challenges of his three teenaged, college-contemplating children and how this impacts them.
Mike Figliuolo - Traveler, Teacher, Entrepreneur
While travel creates great stress and anxiety for many, some find it an amazing set of moments that illustrate the human condition. Today Mike will share a different angle on his journeys and the interesting places they have taken him – and now, all of us.
Theresa Flores- Warrior, Vigilante, Advocate
Theresa’s passionate advocacy for one of the most vulnerable segments of our society is inspired by her own horrifying experience. As she introduces you to a world far beyond your mind’s reach, she’ll show it can really be found next door. And how one answer to it all might be found in a tiny bar of soap.
Jamie Greene- Planner, Architect, Collaborator
As our city has a moment in time as it turns 200 next year, Jamie will help guide hundreds of initiatives, events, promotions, exhibits, books and more into a year-long, collective commemoration. But at the heart of it all, we’re curious, why does it matter? In a brief reflection, Jamie will bring clarity to this question and inspire us to join in the movement.
Denny Griffith- Artist, Administrator, Visionary
Most creative individuals end up with more than one persona in life. How do they support, conflict and interact with each other? Denny will reveal his vulnerable insights from years searching for the balance between his public and private personas.
Claudia Kirsch- Radiologist, Artist, Pioneer
Claudia spends her life looking for hitchhikers, the kind that take ‘free rides’ along your nerves carrying cancer. Through her blend of science and a little art, she’s redefining how radiologists look at the most congested traffic site in our bodies: the head and neck. Her discoveries will inspire and may someday even save your life.
Maryanna Klatt- Researcher, Yogi, Teacher
The impact of chronic stress on our health, productivity, and overall wellbeing can be catastrophic. But how do you reduce it without adding one more thing to your life? Maryanna will reveal from her significant research initiatives that learning stress reduction techniques within the very ecosystem where we spend our days may be the most viable solution.
Dirk Knemeyer- Provocateur, Entrepreneur, Thinker
Dirk argues humanity took a wrong turn, but is getting close to finding its way again. After centuries of industrial production in inhuman ways and scales we now have the opportunity to turn our substantial capacity for remaking the world toward the most promising and unexplored of frontiers: ourselves. Dirk challenges us to view the future through the lens of the self.
Randy Nelson - Professor, Neuroscientist, Researcher
Dr. Nelson has a deep curiosity about the dark side of light at night. His research will reveal that our passion for electrification has more complex consequences than can meet the sleeping eye.
Bart Overly- Futurist, Architect, Thinker
As our population rapidly ages and lives much longer, how so might the habitats we have constructed for our comforts adapt to this change? A global review of attitudes towards this longevity crisis (or opportunity) might enlighten design and development’s reaction towards it. As a student of architecture, Bart will share his perspectives on this ever dynamic and somewhat troubling dilemma.
Janet Parrott- Filmmaker, Storyteller, Professor
The exploration of hospice was not one that Janet had planned to take, but found herself in South Africa doing just that. As a filmmaker, Janet was equipped with tools to tell the story of a very different approach to what we embrace in America as hospice, but challenged by the pathway that took her there, having lost many personal friends to HIV/AIDS herself. Janet will reveal the struggle that ensues when the creator becomes a part of the creation.
The Salty Caramels- Musical gumbo
With a suitcase bass drum, cast-iron skillet, heavy-gage chain and a musical saw as ingredients in their “musical gumbo”, you’d expect for the Salty Caramels to stand out, and that’s exactly what they do.
Adam Smith- Multi-Instrumentalist, Composer
His passion for fusing his Film and TV music experience, jazz idioms, art installations and free-improvised directions creates an extremely unique landscape for the adventurous musician and listener.
Rose Smith – Poet
One of our many shared ‘moments’ at TEDxColumbus, Rose will delight us with her provocative poetry and engaging delivery.
Trent Tipple - Survivor, Father, Scientist
In a touching reflection on the fragility of our existence, Trent will question our ability to truly appreciate what life has offered. He should know, he’s faced his own mortality three times. And fortunately for his family, his patients and the world, he’s here to openly share that appreciation of his own.
Susan Willeke – Ethicist, Teacher, Steward
We’re told to keep an open mind, so why would Susan argue that we need some bias in our lives? As an ethics trainer, she will compel you to recognize why your bias is helpful in keeping some societal order, but on occasion, how it drags us into some of our most regrettable mistakes.
Student Scholarships!
Thanks to a few generous sponsors who can’t use all of their TEDxColumbus tickets, we have now opened up a student scholarship lottery for seats TEDxColumbus on 11.11.11 at COSI.
If you are a student and cannot afford to attend but would like to, please register for the lottery here. Only students who can produce a student ID the day of the event will be eligible.
We will announce the winners on November 7th when every applicant will receive an email notifying them of the winners.
If you would like to help offset costs for students to attend, we welcome donations to the TEDx fund through this link
Thanks to all for your support!