The Insider: Behind the scenes of the TEDxTU event

Every year Tulane University hosts CEOs, slam poets, student activists and filmmakers all under one roof at one of its most popular events of the year: TEDxTU. This huge event is put on by an entirely student-run team. Right now the group is in the midst of its “speaker development season,” which will last up until the March 10 event.  

TEDxTU is hosted in the style of TED conferences, and for such a presentation-oriented event, the quality of the speakers is everything. One of the biggest and most rewarding jobs of the team, according to the TEDxTU president Caroline Campbell, is to nominate, select and then work with speakers on their TEDx talks.  

“[During the nomination process] we look for speakers who bring creative and innovative ideas that will inspire our university population,” says Campbell, a sophomore studying international development.

“My favorite part of TEDxTU is seeing all of our team’s work come together at the final event … the audience is always impressed.”

Caroline Campbell, TEDxTU president

The TEDxTU team then breaks into several mini-teams that offer input when speakers start to narrow down potential topics, create a structure for their talk, and build supplementary slides.

“All team members get the opportunity to work closely with speakers to get the behind-the-scenes experience of what it takes to achieve a great TEDx Talk,” Campbell says. “They work with speakers in forming and presenting their ideas, and they help ensure that memorization is timely and speakers are comfortable on the TEDxTU stage.

This year’s speakers range from a civic design director who specializes in creating public art with a social impact, to a Tulane student who has started her own program to help young adults reenter society and the workforce after incarceration.

“My favorite part of TEDxTU is seeing all of our team’s work come together at the final event,” Campbell says. “Each speaker always presents a great talk and the audience is always impressed.

The TEDxTU student organization is advised by the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking.

Samah Ahmed is a sophomore majoring in public health and political science at Tulane University.