Kansas City can’t get enough of TEDxKC
August 28, 2015 | Andrea Essner
Kansas Citians have rushed the stage to buy tickets for TEDxKC.
When tickets for TEDxKC went on sale in early June, they sold out in less than 30 minutes. For those who weren’t able to snag tickets to the live event and simulcast at the Kauffman Performing Arts Center, other area organizations offered watch parties.
Those parties now have also sold out, as nearly 4,000 people around the Kansas City area have purchased tickets to watch TEDxKC, an event featuring national speakers challenging participants to see the world as it isn’t. The enthusiastic response from the community begs the question of whether a larger venue — such as the Sprint Center — is needed for future events.
With the theme set as RE:IMAGINE, TEDxKC Live will take place at Kauffman Center, with simulcast in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre. Watch parties are set at Sprint Accelerator and KU Edwards Campus. Between the three hosting venues, nearly 4,000 people will hear the TEDxKC talks. This is the 7th annual TEDx event hosted in Kansas City.
TED talks will begin at 5:30 p.m., with 10 speakers lined up to share their stories of re-imagination and three performers to entertain the masses.
Meet some of the TEDxKC speakers:
- Ashley Dara Dotz is a humanitarian utilizing 3D printers to disrupt supply chains and black markets in disaster zones.
- Scott Hamilton is one of the most recognized male figure skating star in the world, has won 70 titles and awards, and inspires others as a speaker, philanthropist and cancer and pituitary brain tumor survivor.
- Martin Pistorius is the author of the New York Times best-selling book “Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body.”
- Nikole Hannah-Jones is a reporter for The New York Times Magazine covering civil rights. Her 2014 investigation into school re-segregation won two Online News Association awards, first prize in the National Awards for Education Reporting and was a National Magazine Award finalist.
- Dr. Barmak Heshmatmit is a media Lab researcher exploring the link between science fiction, art and invention. His research dives into a technology that will allow us to change the way we look at the world.
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
KCPS superintendent to city struggling with violence: When do we all come together?
It’s inexcusable for Kansas City to simply accept 130 murders before it’s even December, Mark Bedell said. “Who do you think are committing these crimes?” Bedell, superintendent of Kansas City Public Schools, asked a crowd gathered Thursday for the Lean Lab’s Launch[ED) Day. “Probably people who have been victims of schools that have failed them…
Kauffman Foundation rolls out $1.2M microlending program to help underserved entrepreneurs
Amid a swarm of 160 events as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation announced a new microlending program to spur investment in underserved entrepreneurs. In partnership with four microfinance lenders, the foundation issued a series of grants totaling $1.2 million that a will change the way the nonprofit microlenders capitalize their…
Scared away from networking events? Anti-social introverts can turn to tech
Networking strength comes in numbers — even for anti-social introverts, Jeremy A. Smith told a crowd Tuesday at Global Entrepreneurship Week. “Anti-social people, myself included, hate events,” he said. But like all other entrepreneurs, such introverts still must build and maintain actionable professional networks from which they can request and receive value, Smith said. In-person networking…
Longfellow Farm coworking the soil amid KC’s urban food desert
In a city ripe with coworking office spaces, there’s a hunger for similar environments outdoors, Ami Freeberg said. As with maintaining individual workplaces, traditional urban farming also can be isolating and expensive, the Longfellow Farm manager said. By working together, however, the collaborative process allows for shared resources, greater human expertise and, of course, more…