Monta Vista TEDX, a club dedicated to the promotion of TED’s mission of communicating “Ideas Worth Spreading” to MVHS’s community, hosted its annual spring conference on May 17 in the Black Box. Speakers began presenting at 3:15, and speeches, each lasting around 20 minutes, continued to around 4:30. The event featured four guest speakers: Cupertino Mayor Sheila Mohan, Apple engineer Marcus Plutowoski, Santa Clara University history lecturer Meg Eppel Gudgeirsson, and University of California Santa Cruz astrophysics professor Raja Guhathakurta.
MV TEDx centered the event around the theme of “The Stories We Tell,” highlighting the key lessons guest speakers had learned through their life which they hoped to impart on audience members. Mohan explained her experiences as the mayor and her approach to the challenges that came with her responsibility such as improving quality of life and bridging together the community. Though she says she didn’t know what to expect going in, she believes the event was a fulfilling experience for both herself and fellow speakers.
MV TEDX president Olivia Ho also believes that the club not only excelled at finding a diverse roster of speakers, but also made improvements regarding event promotion.
“We definitely were satisfied with the turnout,” Ho said. “That’s our biggest concern in planning these events, because students tend to not want to stay after school for extra events like TEDX. So we do look to invite local community members as well. Through the Eventbrite that we posted and other marketing methods, we were able to get a pretty good turnout.”
Ho notes that there are still areas for potential improvement in the event planning process, such as performing more extensive promotion through Eventbrite, a platform designated to help users discover local events such as concerts, conferences, and conventions. Additionally, the club hopes to improve on controlling distractions during the event.
“I think making sure people stay throughout the whole conference [is an area for improvement],” Ho said. “During the conference there were people stepping out or just issues with locked doors that made it difficult to focus [on the speakers].”
Nevertheless, Mohan believes events like TEDX allow community members to broaden their horizons and experience the unique stories and perspectives of other community members.
“There are many messages that we need to listen to,” Mohan said. “We need to listen to opinions that are contrary to our own opinions. We need to be respectful to other people, respectful to other opinions, and respectful to other positions and recognize that everyone has the interest of the city at heart. We just look at it differently at times.”
