TEDxSMU 2015: Unexpected

It’s about you. It’s about Dallas. It’s about everything.

TEDxSMU is an all-day TED-style conference for the SMU and Dallas communities. An active participant in the TEDx program since its inception in 2009, TEDxSMU has built its reputation on bringing together ideas and interesting people from around the world and around the corner. Stories have the power to move us, to change the way we feel. Stories of success, big ideas and even failure have the power to change the world.

Since the first event in 2009, TEDxSMU has been a hub for those stories told here in Dallas and then spread across the World Wide Web. Over the years we have hosted more than 150 speakers and their talks to date have generated nearly 2 million views on YouTube.

2015 was our 7th annual conference. When curating the speakers, we asked ourselves what stories do we want to tell. What ideas do we want to spread?  We are excited to say we found some amazing speakers, over half of which are local. Dallas is a community of passionate, creative thinkers and doers; TEDxSMU 2015 was a celebration of this collective.
 

 

Check out pictures from TEDxSMU 2015!

Session 1: Disrupt

Maria Dixon Hall | Associate Professor of Communication Studies | SMU

Cristina Girod | Catalyst Arts Movement

Jessica Shortall | Author | Work. Pump. Repeat.

Alice Laussade | The Mother of Meat Fight

Candy Peterson | Marit Peterson Fund for Melanoma Research

Trevor Douglas | American Idol and loves science

Scott Sherman | Director | Transformative Action Institute

Session 2: Spark

Tracy Brown | Author & President | Diversity Trends

Jake Minton | Kindergarten Teacher | St. John’s

McKinney Boyd High School Living Roof Team

Miranda Wang + Jeanny Yao | BioCellection

Julia R. Barton | Editor, producer & writer | PRI

Mike Baughman | Union Coffee | Community Curator

Kristina Newman-Scott | Director of Culture Dept. of Economic & Community Development | State of Connecticut

Ethan Decker | Vice President, Insight & Strategy | The Integer Group

Session 3: Ripple Effect

Noelle LeVeaux | Chief Marketing Officer | Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau

Joaquin Zihuatanejo | Street Poet

Ann Ranson | President | Intentions Work and By the Grace of Tea

Mant Hawkins | Principal & CEO | 4D Circle

Jon Stolk | Executive Director | Caruth Institute for Engineering Education at SMU

Seth Fairchild | Chahta Foundation

Al Letson | Host & Creator of radio show State of the Re:Union

Tania Luna | Surprisologist