Words by: Melissa Thompson and Annemarie Galeucia
Graphics by: Andre Dugal
Shortly after TEDxLSU 2018, the organizers gathered to start the process of planning for the 2019 event. Yes, it really is a year-long planning process. For much of March and April we spent time reflecting on every detail of the 2018 event, thinking through how each element we planned (and elements that surprised even us) made for an immersive, day-long, intellectual experience for our Baton Rouge community. And somewhere along the way, we started dreaming about and planning for the 2019 event.
A few details quickly emerged and goals were established. And one main goal we were certain of -- the ideas featured on the TEDxLSU stage and experiences our attendees shared needed to shed light on topics that would spur conversation and action in our community. The more we talked about the 2019 event, the more we kept coming back to the phrase shed light...to illustrate...to embellish...to throw light on...to enlighten...to elucidate.
With that, we introduce the 2019 theme...
Graphics by: Andre Dugal
Shortly after TEDxLSU 2018, the organizers gathered to start the process of planning for the 2019 event. Yes, it really is a year-long planning process. For much of March and April we spent time reflecting on every detail of the 2018 event, thinking through how each element we planned (and elements that surprised even us) made for an immersive, day-long, intellectual experience for our Baton Rouge community. And somewhere along the way, we started dreaming about and planning for the 2019 event.
A few details quickly emerged and goals were established. And one main goal we were certain of -- the ideas featured on the TEDxLSU stage and experiences our attendees shared needed to shed light on topics that would spur conversation and action in our community. The more we talked about the 2019 event, the more we kept coming back to the phrase shed light...to illustrate...to embellish...to throw light on...to enlighten...to elucidate.
With that, we introduce the 2019 theme...
There are some things we know, and others that appear only through a glass darkly to us, operating just beyond the forefront of our consciousness. How do we reach through that darkness to grasp new meaning and expand our understanding? We seek to illuminate that which is still only dimly within our grasp.
Illumination is a reciprocal process; what to you is fully illuminated can be only a spark of an idea to another person. To spread that idea, we take care to illuminate our own knowledge for others, and to receive and spread the spark of knowledge that those around us offer.
With that illumination comes a deeper sense of clarity, and from there…
How, you ask, do these themes come about? It starts with a single word or phrase that represents the trajectory and growth of TEDxLSU. But it’s bigger than that - as a team, we take stock of where we are as a growing community, and of what’s happening in our collective timeline as local members of a global experience. And we find a singular element that anchors us as we begin the curate the event.
From there we begin to articulate all the different ways this word manifests, and it becomes bigger than its definition. It becomes a charge to continue to not take for granted that good ideas are worth spreading. The theme becomes a lens through which we can challenge ourselves to make it better, deeper.
From there we begin to articulate all the different ways this word manifests, and it becomes bigger than its definition. It becomes a charge to continue to not take for granted that good ideas are worth spreading. The theme becomes a lens through which we can challenge ourselves to make it better, deeper.