Utah State cancels TEDxUSU for 2018
Utah State University’s Research and Graduate Studies College will not be hosting the event TEDxUSU this year. The event, which began in 2012, usually takes place in October and speakers are auditioned as early as February or March said Anna McEntire, the senior director of project management for the RGS.
In order to host a TEDx event, an organization must follow strict rules and guidelines set out by TEDx, and it must obtain a license that’s valid for one year after TEDx approves the event. If an organization wishes to host recurring events, as USU has done since 2012, it must reach out to TEDx to renew their license.
On Sept. 17, TEDxUSU announced via Facebook that it would not hold an event this year.
Senior project director Anna McEntire said RGS “renewed our TEDxUSU license immediately after last year’s event concluded”.
One condition of the TEDx license is that the holder must have attended an authorized TED – not TEDx – event in the past. The current license holder, Jeff Broadbent, no longer works at Utah State, so if the event were to continue after this year, administrators would need to send someone else out.
McEntire said that although the program was “successful” the department is “looking closely at our overall marketing effort relative to the limited resources that exist”.
If the event does continue in the future, McEntire said that it will no longer fall under RGS. USU President Noelle Cockett’s office is currently interviewing candidates for a new position: vice president for marketing and communications. This administrator will be the main authority deciding whether or not TEDx will return in the future.
Keeping the event tied to the RGS department gives researchers, like biology professor Josh Wilson, a chance to present their ideas locally and use their findings to educate people. Wilson, who researches bee ecology, spoke last year about what ordinary people can do to “save the bees,” explaining there’s a lot more to it than planting flowers.
However, there’s no ordinance that says TEDx and the researchers who present must be hosted by the research college.
Other Utah universities have organized the event through other departments and organizations. Brigham Young University’s event is managed by the Ballard Center for Economic Self Reliance and when Utah Valley University hosted a TED event in 2015 it was organized by members of the UVU Student Association.
Alicia Gettys, who joined the TEDxBYU team in 2012, believes the important thing isn’t which department hosts the conference.
“It just needs to be allocated to a department that has the bandwidth,” she said.
With some 1200 attendees at the last Utah State conference and a straight year of planning, there’s no question that TEDx is a tremendous undertaking for universities.
However, staff here and at other universities across the state believe that the payoff is profound. Gettys said she loved the talks and learning about a variety of topics in a” tight, well prepared format.”
“Where else can you get exposed to such great presentations in under 20 minutes?” she said.
Dr. Jennifer Sinor, who spoke last year, said TEDx allowed everyone who attended – including herself – “to think about hard questions and to challenge the answers and to figure out how we can become better human beings, the kind who listen, who witness, who are willing to share stories of their own.”
“TEDx allows speakers to connect with a wide audience in a way that feels intimate. There is nothing else like it,” she said.“I honestly believe it has showcased some of the best work we do at Utah State. I am proud to have been part of it and will be forever grateful for the opportunity.”
Although students and administrators hope to see TEDx return in the future, there’s nothing definite planned at the moment.
–annie.faerber@aggiemail.usu