Chiefs’ victory parade forces TEDxKC to call an audible, move sold-out event to June
February 4, 2020 | Tommy Felts
The sold-out return of TEDxKC will see a delay of game, as organizers push the popular event back four months to make room for the Kansas Chiefs’ Super Bowl victory parade and rally Wednesday.
Mike Lundgren, TEDxKC co-founder and curator
“For a couple of weeks, we have been doing the calculus on what we would do if the Chiefs won the Super Bowl — and then the city picked Wednesday to hold the victory parade. That just happened,” said Mike Lundgren, TEDxKC co-founder and curator, in an early morning Monday email to speakers, performers, partners and organizers.
The event is now set for June 2.
Kansas City’s come-from-behind 31-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Sunday’s Super Bowl complicated plans for Wednesday’s TEDxKC. Its venue — the Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts — is along the parade route, said Lundgren.
“For those of you traveling in for this event, you must be wondering why this would even matter,” he said. “When the Royals won the World Series in 2015, just shy of 1 million people showed up for their parade, and the city pretty much shut down into the early evening hours. … So, it is with an abundance of caution and pragmatism that our backup plan is kicking-in.”
Schools across the metro have canceled classes because of the parade and rally, with students and adults alike expected to brave wintry weather to celebrate the Chiefs’ historic Super Bowl win. Wednesday’s 1 Million Cups gathering at Plexpod Westport Commons also has been nixed.
Click here for Wednesday’s Super Bowl parade and rally event details.
The decisions to move the TEDxKC date — and the logistics that go into rescheduling — were no easy tasks, Lundgren added, emphasizing organizers were making every effort to keep plans for the event identical, simply shifting the date to early June.
“Everyone had worked so hard to cross the finish line for Wednesday, especially the speakers,” he said. “It takes so much effort to be ready to step into the red circle — and no small amount of angst.”
TEDxKC last appeared on Kansas City calendars in August 2017.
In May 2018, organizers announced a new focus on women and youth events, putting the overall TEDxKC on hiatus.
The 2020 TEDxKC return was set to feature a slate of speakers, from a poet and a filmmaker to scientists and entrepreneurs.
Click here to learn more about the lineup.
Tommy Felts
Tommy is editor-in-chief for Startland News, a Kansas City-based nonprofit newsroom that uses storytelling to elevate the region’s startup community of entrepreneurs, innovators, hustlers, creatives and risk-takers.
Under Tommy’s leadership, Startland News has expanded its coverage from a primarily high-tech, high-growth focus to a more wide-ranging and inclusive look at the faces of entrepreneurism, innovation and business.
Before joining Startland News in 2017, Tommy worked for 12 years as an award-winning newspaper journalist, designer, editor and publisher. He was named one of Editor & Publisher magazine’s top “25 Under 35” in 2014.
Related Posts on Startland News
Frustrated by the fit, this traveler-turned-swimwear founder crafted 10 pairs himself; now his trunk show is going global
Opening a popup swimwear store in one of Atlanta’s most upscale malls represented a surge of momentum for Tristan Davis’ high-end brand that began not on a beach or a runway, but in Kansas City’s tight-knit startup community. “We’ve gone from an idea in a handmade bathing suit to a high fashion mall in less…
How KC transformed entrepreneurship from counterculture into a model for the mainstream
Veteran ecosystem builders returned to the Heartland this week, urging a new generation of entrepreneur advocates to embrace Kansas City’s style of experimentation and its uniquely collaborative startup culture. “Entrepreneurship is not spreadsheets and business plans,” said Jonathan Ortmans, who founded the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) — the nonprofit parent of Global Entrepreneurship Week —…
On the map and in the mirror: 1 Million Cups contrasts international eship visitors with KC startup scene
The fail-fast mindset and high risk tolerance many American entrepreneurs employ in their quests to build unicorn startups are arguably foreign concepts to business builders on the other side of the globe, said Lucy-Llonna Larbi. Her experiences in Germany reflect a slower, security-first focus, she said, expressing admiration for the American approach. “We think that…
1 Million Cups relocating back to Kauffman Foundation, renewing weekly meetup’s energy, sense of purpose
After more than six years connecting entrepreneurs in Midtown, 1 Million Cups Kansas City is returning to its roots — relocating the weekly event series April 9 to the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center where the now-coast-to-coast morning meetup series first percolated. Changing the brew for the Wednesday entrepreneur pitch showcase came from the same voices…