Unraveling the meaning behind TEDx: Part 4

TED is a non­prof­it devot­ed to spread­ing ideas, usu­al­ly in the form of short, pow­er­ful talks. But what does the acronym TED, and its spin-off TEDx, stand for? We explore the phi­los­o­phy, the mean­ing and the spir­it behind the TED con­fer­ences, one let­ter at a time.

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x is for …

… all of you!

TEDx was cre­at­ed in the spir­it of TED’s mis­sion, “ideas worth spread­ing.” It sup­ports inde­pen­dent orga­niz­ers who want to cre­ate a TED-like event in their own com­mu­ni­ty.

The “x” in TEDx rep­re­sents com­mu­ni­ty. For TEDxSalem, it rep­re­sents every­thing about the TED con­fer­ences that is unique and rel­e­vant to Salem, and that makes Salem spe­cial. It goes beyond the offi­cial TED name because it’s local­ly, inde­pen­dent­ly orga­nized by indi­vid­u­als who want to make Salem the very best ver­sion of itself.

And, of course, it rep­re­sents you. You are our com­mu­ni­ty, and by your inter­est and par­tic­i­pa­tion in TEDxSalem, you, too, are mak­ing Salem the very best it can be.

Our TEDxSalem speak­ers have shared sto­ries that are hilar­i­ous and sto­ries that are deeply mov­ing. They’re doc­tors, artists, advo­cates, movers and shak­ers. They teach us about incred­i­bly com­plex tech­nolo­gies and invite us on pro­found jour­neys. They make us think about our­selves, our com­mu­ni­ty, our state, our coun­try and our world. And then they take every­thing we think we know and they turn it upside-down.

TEDx has also had a glob­al impact. There are hun­dreds of TEDx events that occur around the world each year. You can read more about these events, and the unique impacts they’ve had in their own com­mu­ni­ties, on the offi­cial TED blog.

Tick­ets are avail­able for $50 for gen­er­al admis­sion and $40 for stu­dents at https://tedxsalem2015.eventbrite.com. One tick­et includes a full day of talks, enter­tain­ment, recess activ­i­ties, swag, snacks, lunch and an after-par­ty.